Discover the Huon Valley’s magic for yourself during Mid-Winter Fest, when bonfires are lit (and danced around) and a pagan costume competition is held. Also in winter, local favourite The Farmhouse Kitchen hosts Winter Warmers cooking masterclasses in which Giuliana White teaches novices (and know-it-alls) how to transform regional produce with classic Italian techniques.

Feel the cool kiss of alpine air on your shoulders and take in the dreamy scene as you sink into the steam of a private outdoor hot tub at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge. Set into the deck of the premium King Billy Suite, the wood-clad tub looks out into the frosty bush while, inside, a wood-burning fireplace maintains the cosy mood. At the property’s Waldheim Alpine Spa, treat your warmed self to a 75-minute Sacred Nature Face and Body Ritual that includes a facial, scalp therapy, foot treatment and a neck and shoulder massage.

It’s wild, subversive, creative and iconoclastic – and it takes over Hobart every June. Dark Mofo returns for its tenth year with exclusive exhibitions at Mona, the indulgent Winter Feast, gigs by cult international acts (including Black Flag and Eartheater) and the city’s annual abandoning of inhibitions, the Nude Solstice Swim. Book early, try everything (at least once) and lose yourself in the artistic energy that transforms the Tassie capital.

Live the simple life and taste the spoils of bucolic north-west Tasmania’s winter harvest at Compass Hut, a pair of tiny houses on the 34-hectare organic farm where owners Kylie and Tamika Bell grew up. Check into the cosy, minimalist Barnhaus or Arc Pavilion – both petite but perfectly equipped for two – and cook to your heart’s content using produce and recipes from the farm. Plant some Tasmanian native grass in the garden to help offset your footprint as you soak up the space.

Bare-skinned bathers bounding into the River Derwent for Dark Mofo’s Nude Solstice Swim may make headlines but wild winter swimming is a thing all around Tasmania. Brace yourself! There’s the Floating Sauna on Lake Derby, where you can do an invigorating post-sweat plunge; a Wild Wellness Fire and Ice Walk on kunanyi / Mount Wellington that jumpstarts your system with a dip in the North West Bay River. 

Ski jackets, pants and boots might not be on everyone’s packing list but a stress-free day playing in the snow should be on everyone’s Tassie winter hit list. Enter Ben Lomond Snowsports, who’ll provide all the gear you need and a ride up the vertiginous Jacob’s Ladder road to scenic Ben Lomond’s peak on a Winter Wonderland Explorer day trip. Between snowball fights, toboggan rides and happy snaps, breathe in lungfuls of clean, alpine air and ready yourself for the hairpin turns on the return drive back to your car parked below.

During Tasmanian Whisky Week in August, more than 30 distilleries across the Apple Isle celebrate the barley-bree in meet-the-maker masterclasses and tasting sessions. Seek out award-winning drams at the Hobart cellar door of pioneering Lark Distillery. To experiment with something next-gen, find single malts influenced by the wind and water of the Derwent Valley at Lawrenny Estate or a maritime-style spirit at Flinders Island’s Furneaux Distillery. For the ultimate Tasmanian tonic, meet Heidi Weitjens at her small-batch King Island Distillery and taste the first-ever garlic spirit made in Australia.

With more than 100 unspoiled beaches, finding a patch of Flinders Island to call your own isn’t tough. But you can’t beat the private beach that stretches in front of Sawyers Bay Shacks. It’s the perfect spot to witness Tasmania’s wild moods. Through floor-to-ceiling windows, watch storm clouds rush over the tiny islands of Bass Strait while you nurse local red wine by the fire. In the placid conditions of a pinkish dusk, hundreds of wallabies and other local characters come out to graze on the farmland surrounding your hut.

The subterranean world comes alive in winter, when rainfall acts as an elixir inside Mole Creek Caves. Spend a day exploring the tunnels and caverns, an hour’s drive south of Devonport, where brimming reflection pools gleam, waterfalls fizz and lush ferns bring green to the gloom. Wild Cave Tours provide all the gear and encouragement (first-timers are welcome), as well as lunch and help with capturing the otherworldly environment on camera.

If you love belting out hits in the car or serenading an imagined audience in the shower, the Festival of Voices (held annually in July) is for you. You don’t have to be polished – just passionate: the program is packed with workshops to improve your singing technique and even learn new ones, such as gospel and a cappella. For the ultimate release, close your eyes and give it all you’ve got alongside fellow revellers at the Big Sing Bonfire that happens on one joyful night in Macquarie Point.

Behind a neat brick facade and heavy double doors, a quirky and utterly charming world awaits at The Secret Bank Society in the small town of Ringarooma, amid dairy land a 90-minute drive from Launceston. This characterful former bank sleeps four guests and enchants with its theatrical trompe l’oeil wall in the dining space, collection of historical curios and wood-burning fireplace. If you can tear yourself away, the property is nearby excellent hiking at Mount Victoria and the famous Floating Sauna at Lake Derby.

Forget racing against nightfall – the mountain biking action ramps up after dark on a guided Night Rider tour of the single-track and cross-country loops surrounding Railton in the state’s north-west. Keep your eyes wide, your wits about you and tune into the sounds of the bush as you bump along tracks lit only by your 1100 lumen bike light. Even in daylight, winter – when dewy conditions tamp down the dust and the crowds – is a great time to do Tasmania’s celebrated off-road trails. Tracks around Derby lead to the Floating Sauna where you can steam your muscles then jump into chilly Lake Derby. If you’re on the north-east coast, stay in a bike-friendly apartment at St Helens on the Bay and skid toward a white sandy beach on the Bay of Fires Trail.

During the day, the top of kunanyi / Mount Wellington offers endless views across Hobart and southern Tasmania but it's the celestial sights revealed in winter’s long, inky nights that will really dazzle. Rug up and join the 90-minute Explore the Southern Stars experience, during which you’ll gaze into the dark, guided by a member of the Tasmanian Astronomical Society, or hear Aboriginal cultural stories from a member of the palawa community. Keep warm by the fire with a hot drink and gourmet treats.

The mighty Franklin River snakes through Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park for 125 kilometres, tumbling over rocks, gliding past stands of myrtle and leatherwood trees and rushing through sheer gorges. Fewer than 500 people attempt to raft its length each year and most choose summer. If you want to really push your boundaries, Water By Nature Tasmania will pick you up from Hobart and take you on the seven-day Winter Solstice Trip. Explore caverns at their most ethereally beautiful and ride chilly, challenging rapids. After tackling the river, you’ll refuel with meals made from winter produce and bed down in cosy wilderness camps.

There’s snapping a memory with your phone camera and then there’s really capturing nature in the moment. On the seven-day, 1000-kilometre guided North West Tasmania tour with photographer Alfonso Calero, you’ll learn to master the light, composition and your tech to photograph the wonders around the takayna / Tarkine rainforest, Strahan and Arthurs Lake. You’ll shoot rushing and reflective water, sunrise and sunset and, after dark, learn the secrets of astrophotography with stellar results thanks to the season’s clear nights.

When the temperature drops, the beauty of Tasmania’s iconic alpine landscape deepens. And the crowds on bucket-list walking tracks disappear. Do the six-night Overland Track Winter Trek in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and you’ll have spectacular scenery of frozen lakes, fluffy wombats frolicking in the snowfall and snowy summits all to yourself.

As winter’s end approaches, Tasmanians celebrate the coming of longer days. During the Winter Light festival curated by the Salamanca Arts Centre in Hobart, a spirit-lifting program of music, theatre, queer and trans cabaret, yoga and music video screenings shakes off the chill at sites around the city.