Salamanca Market: Hobart Travel Guide (4.5★)

A Saturday strip of sandstone and canvas

The stalls go up in rows on Salamanca Place. On one side stands a line of honey-coloured Georgian sandstone warehouses, built in the 1830s and 1840s when Sullivans Cove was a whaling and shipping port. On the other side are the plane trees of the old waterfront. The market has run here since 1972, and it fills the whole street from St David’s Park towards the harbour.

Stalls fall into a few broad groups:

• Produce: Tasmanian apples, berries in season, cheese, honey and bread from around the state
• Timber: bowls, boards and turned pieces in Tasmanian woods such as Huon pine and blackwood
• Craft and clothing: knitwear, ceramics, jewellery and prints
• Hot food: dozens of vendors, with plenty of choice for an early lunch eaten on the park lawns

Getting there and timing it

It runs on Saturday only, from 8:30am to 3pm. Sunday through Friday the street is just Salamanca Place, with no stalls.

From the Elizabeth Street Mall in central Hobart, walk downhill past Franklin Square towards the water. The walk takes about ten minutes. Salamanca Place is closed to traffic while the market runs. Driving means finding a car park nearby, and spaces near the waterfront fill quickly on Saturday mornings.

Two to three hours covers the full length at an easy pace. If you’re also heading to MONA, the ferry leaves from Brooke Street Pier, a short walk along the waterfront. Take the market in the morning and the ferry after lunch.

Working the stalls without the crush

This is one of Hobart’s best-known attractions and draws heavy Saturday crowds. Plan around the busy times; don’t expect to find it quiet.

• Go early. Arriving near 8:30am usually puts you ahead of day-trippers and cruise passengers. Produce sellers also have their best stock first thing.
• Do a lap before you buy. Similar crafts show up at several stalls, so walk the full length once and then go back.
• Pay by card, carry some cash. Most stalls take cards and tap payments. Smaller producers may prefer cash, and the queue moves faster if you have it ready.
• Tipping isn’t expected at food stalls. Australian prices already include service.
• Ask about the wood. Timber makers will tell you which species a piece is and where in Tasmania it came from. That’s useful to know before you take a Huon pine board home through customs.
• Bring a tote bag. Fruit, jars and a wooden bowl get awkward to carry over the length of the street.
• Eat off the street. St David’s Park has lawns and shade, away from the foot traffic.

Prices are on the stall signs or on the goods themselves. Ask the vendor if you can’t see one.

Beyond the last stall

Halfway along Salamanca Place, a narrow lane leads to Kelly’s Steps. This sandstone stairway, cut in 1839, climbs to Battery Point, Hobart’s oldest residential quarter. Up there are cottage-lined streets and Arthur Circus, a small round green ringed by tiny Georgian houses.

Back at the bottom, Parliament House and its gardens sit at the harbour end of the street. Constitution Dock and the fish punts are a few minutes further on. On a clear day, kunanyi / Mount Wellington rises behind the city, and you can see it from almost every gap between the warehouses. Most of those warehouses now house galleries, cafés and pubs that stay open after the stalls pack up at 3pm.