Overland Track

Information

Distance

65.0 km

Duration

6–10 days

Max elevation

1,617 m

Country

Australia (AU)

Difficulty

Moderate to strenuous — Australia's most iconic backcountry trek with varied alpine terrain

Best Season

November–April; mandatory booking applies 1 October–31 May

Permits & Fees

Booking required 1 October–31 May; quota of 60 hikers per day; fee about AUD 200 per person; free outside peak season with self-registration

Description

The Overland Track is Australia's most celebrated multi-day bushwalk, spanning 65 km from Cradle Mountain south to Lake St Clair through Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park — part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The route traverses glacial moorlands, ancient temperate rainforest, wild rivers, and alpine plains, with optional side trips to summit Cradle Mountain and Mount Ossa (Tasmania's highest peak at 1,617 m). A mandatory booking system limits daily starters to 60 walkers from October to May to protect the fragile environment. Comfortable mountain huts are spaced along the entire route, and endemic Tasmanian wildlife — wombats, echidnas, quolls, and Tasmanian devils — frequently appears alongside the trail.

Trail Highlights

Cradle Mountain, Barn Bluff, Lake St Clair, a side trip to the summit of Mount Ossa (1,617 m — the highest in Tasmania), alpine peat bogs, endemic pencil pine rainforest, the Labyrinth tarns, and Tasmania's distinctive wildlife: wombats, echidnas, quolls, and Tasmanian devils