What's on in Launceston, Australia through the year

Peak crowds — Festivale, Summer holidays in Australia

• Festival

  Festivale

  25 Jan – 10 Feb · usuallyMajor festivalCrowded

  Three days of Tasmanian food, wine, beer and cider under the oaks in City Park, with bands on until late. It is the one weekend Launceston behaves like a much bigger town. Source ↗

Still on: The Basin pool opens (1 Dec – 31 Mar (usually))

Busy — Festivale

• Season

  Tamar Valley vintage

  20 Feb – 10 May · usuallyHarvest

  Pinot and sparkling base come off the vineyards up the Tamar and over at Pipers River from late February into April. Cellar doors are busy and dusty and the crews are working, which is the point of visiting then. Source ↗

Still on: Festivale (25 Jan – 10 Feb (usually)), The Basin pool opens (1 Dec – 31 Mar (usually))

Busy — one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in March.

Still on: Tamar Valley vintage (20 Feb – 10 May (usually)), The Basin pool opens (1 Dec – 31 Mar (usually))

Busy — Autumn / Easter break in Australia, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Autumn in the parks and the gorge

  15 Apr – 20 May · usuallyAutumn colour

  Launceston was planted with northern-hemisphere trees and they all turn at once — City Park, the Gorge, the streets around the Cataract. A fortnight, and the first hard frost ends it.

Still on: Tamar Valley vintage (20 Feb – 10 May (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Tamar Valley vintage (20 Feb – 10 May (usually)), Autumn in the parks and the gorge (15 Apr – 20 May (usually))

Busy — Winter (July) break in Australia, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in June.

Busy — Winter (July) break in Australia, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in July.

Quiet — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in August.

Busy — Spring break in Australia, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Junction Arts Festival

  17–20 SepMajor festival

  Four days of work put into laneways, shopfronts and the riverbank rather than a venue, so the city itself is the programme. Free at the edges, ticketed in the middle. Source ↗

Busy — Spring break in Australia, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in October.

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Busy — Summer holidays in Australia, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  The Basin pool opens

  1 Dec – 31 Mar · usuallySummer season opens

  The free pool at First Basin in Cataract Gorge is staffed and open for the summer only, a fifteen-minute walk from the middle of town. The chairlift and the suspension bridge run either side of it.