From Strahan · About 6 Hours · Lunch on Board
Gordon River Cruise
Two operators cruise from the Strahan waterfront out to Hells Gates and up the World Heritage-listed Gordon River, with a rainforest walk at Heritage Landing and a guided walk on Sarah Island. Gordon River Cruises checks in at its terminal, 24 The Esplanade, from 8:00 am.
- 4.8 / 5 469+ Reviews
- 6 hours Duration
- About 6 hours Strahan to Hells Gates, up the Gordon River to Heritage Landing and back by Sarah Island, departing 8:30 am
- 290 km By road from Hobart to the Strahan waterfront, about 3 hours 55 minutes; check-in opens at 8:00 am, so stay the night before in Strahan
- Free Cancellation
The Experience
What Your Ticket Includes
About six hours on the water, two walks ashore, the guides' commentary and a buffet lunch. Getting to Strahan and the parks pass are up to you.
Highlights
- Feast while on the water with a freshly-prepared, delicious buffet lunch
- Experience the beauty of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage area
- Soak up the serene beauty of western Tasmania through full-length windows
- Visit Sarah Island, a former convict settlement and shipyard
- Have the chance to experience the famous Gordon River reflections
What's Included
- Gordon River cruise
- On-board guides
- Character-based interpretation with Captain James Kelly and Lady Jane Franklin
- Chef-prepared buffet dinner
- Two on-shore walking tours (Heritage Landing and Sarah Island)
- Restroom on board
- Tasmanian red, white, and sparkling wines, beer, juice, tea, and espresso coffee (if option selected)
- Premium leather recliners with full-length windows (if option selected)
- Access to the private viewing deck and lounge area (if option selected)
- Canapés (if option selected)
Good to know: Infants are free provided they do not occupy a seat · This tour is wheelchair accessible on the main deck only (motor scooters are not permitted due to size limitations) · This experience requires a minimum number of travelers (in the highly unlikely event that it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund) · A cash bar is available on the vessel's main deck · Seating is ticketed and allocated, however, you are free to move around the vessel and use the open-air decks · The weather on Tasmania’s west coast can be variable but that’s part of the attraction. Guests are encouraged to bring a rain jacket and a warm layer for when you step off the cruise into the World Heritage rainforest · Sturdy footwear is advised · The closest accommodation in Strahan is at Strahan Village, less than a 2-minute walk · All day 'Pay & Display' parking is located 250m away from the terminal ( it is suggested that you bring coins to the value of 10 AUD) · Not Included: Hotel pickup and drop-off, Drinks and snacks available to purchase at the licensed galley
Strahan to the Gordon River, Step by Step
From check-in on The Esplanade to the boat back at the Strahan wharf, about six hours.
Check In on The Esplanade
At the Gordon River Cruises terminal, 24 The Esplanade, Strahan, from 8:00 am; collect boarding passes by 8:15 am. All-day pay-and-display parking is 250 m away.
Out to Hells Gates
The Spirit of the Wild leaves at 8:30 am and crosses Macquarie Harbour to Hells Gates, the narrow harbour mouth, then stops at the fish farms for a taste of the salmon and trout.
Up the Gordon River
On quiet electric motors into the World Heritage Area, with a guided boardwalk through the rainforest at Heritage Landing and a buffet lunch on board.
Sarah Island, then Strahan
A guided walk among the ruins of the 1822-1833 penal settlement on Sarah Island, then back across the harbour to Strahan, about six hours after you left.
Photo Gallery
Hells Gates, the River and Sarah Island
Macquarie Harbour from the water: the harbour mouth at Hells Gates, the fish farms, the rainforest banks of the Gordon River and the ruins on Sarah Island.
Book Your Experience
Check Availability & Prices
Pick a date on the calendar. This listing allows free cancellation up to 3 days before.
Before Strahan
The Gordon River Cruise, One Question per Page
The two operators side by side, getting to Strahan, Sarah Island, the cruise or the railway, weather at Hells Gates, and when to go.
Prices are each page's featured tour: GetYourGuide checked November 2026. GetYourGuide and Viator prices are per person in US dollars; the two operators' seat fares, the railway and the parks pass are in Australian dollars.
The Two Morning Cruises, the Evening Cruise, or the Train
Gordon River Cruises and World Heritage Cruises in the morning, the summer evening cruise, and the West Coast Wilderness Railway from Strahan. Time, what you see, food and who each suits. Listing prices with the month they were checked.
| Feature | THIS PAGE Gordon River Cruises, 8:30 am | World Heritage Cruises, 9 am | Evening cruise with dinner (summer) | Cryptic Express train from Strahan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What You Pay | From US$116 per person (checked November 2026) | From US$116 per person (checked November 2026) | From US$112 per person (checked November 2026) | A$40 an adult, A$20 a child, standard class (November 2026) |
| Time | About 6 hours from 8:30 am | 9 am to about 3 pm | About 6 hours from 3:30 pm | 1 hour 45 minutes return, 10 am |
| What You See | Hells Gates, the fish farms, the Gordon River, Heritage Landing, Sarah Island | The same stops, with Sarah Island first and a Huon pine sawmill | Hells Gates, the river, Heritage Landing and Sarah Island | Rainforest from the carriage window on a heritage line |
| Time Ashore | Heritage Landing boardwalk and a guided Sarah Island walk | A 1-hour guided tour of Sarah Island, then Heritage Landing | Heritage Landing and a guided Sarah Island walk | A short return trip on the line, with a honey tasting |
| Food and Drink | Buffet lunch; drinks from the bar | Lunch served to your seat; drinks from the bar | Buffet dinner | Premium class adds a menu on board |
| Who It Suits | Most people: the river first, quietly, on electric motors | Anyone keenest on the convict history of Sarah Island | Summer visitors who arrive in Strahan during the day | A second day in Strahan, or anyone not keen on boats |
| Check dates | See this cruise | See the evening cruise |
More Ways onto the River
Evening Cruises and Longer Trips
The summer evening and afternoon cruises with dinner, and the 5- and 7-day Tasmania circuits that stop two nights in Strahan, where the cruise is an extra at your own cost. One card per listing.
SUMMER EVENING CRUISEFrom Strahan: Evening Dinner Cruise on the Gordon River
Gordon River Cruises' evening sailing aboard the Spirit of the Wild from Strahan, about 6 hours: Hells Gates, the fish farms, the Gordon River with the Heritage Landing rainforest walk, and Sarah Island, with a chef-prepared buffet dinner on board. Main-deck seats or the Premier Upper Deck with drinks included. A summer departure, listed by NRMA Tasmania.
AFTERNOON DINNER CRUISEAfternoon Gordon River Dinner Cruise
World Heritage Cruises' afternoon cruise aboard the Harbour Master, 3 pm to 8:30 pm daily from 27 December to 16 January only: the same route as the morning cruise, with Hells Gates, the fish farms, a guided tour of Sarah Island and the Gordon River with the Heritage Landing boardwalk, and dinner freshly prepared on board. Check in 30 minutes before at the booking office on the Strahan wharf.
TASMANIA IN 5 DAYSFrom Hobart: 5-Day Tasmania West & East Coast Tour
Under Down Under Tours' 5-day circuit of Tasmania from Hobart, with 4 nights in motels and cabins, in groups of up to 24: Mount Field, Lake St Clair, Nelson Falls and Queenstown on the way to two nights in Strahan, then Cradle Mountain, Launceston, the Bay of Fires and Freycinet. The Strahan day is Montezuma Falls, Henty Dunes and Ocean Beach, or the Gordon River cruise as an optional extra at your own cost: the cruise is not included in the price. Park fees are included; meals are self-catered.
TASMANIA IN 7 DAYSTasmania: 7-Day West to East Tour
Under Down Under Tours' 7-day circuit of Tasmania from Hobart, with 6 nights in cabins and motels: the 5-day west-to-east route with two nights in Strahan, Cradle Mountain, the Bay of Fires and Freycinet, then Bonorong, Richmond, kunanyi / Mount Wellington and Port Arthur. In Strahan the Gordon River cruise is an optional add-on at your own cost, not included in the price. Park fees, Bonorong and the Port Arthur entry are included.
Strahan, Macquarie Harbour, and Six Hours on the Water
How the Gordon River Cruise Works
Where you check in, the two operators, what the day covers, what it costs, who it suits, and what was disrupted on the west coast when this page was checked.
The Gordon River cruise is a day on the water from Strahan, on Tasmania’s west coast: about six hours across Macquarie Harbour to Hells Gates, up the World Heritage-listed Gordon River to a rainforest walk at Heritage Landing, and ashore on Sarah Island, the ruins of an 1822-1833 penal settlement, with lunch on board. Two operators run it from the Strahan waterfront, a few doors apart on The Esplanade. Gordon River Cruises checks in at the Gordon River Cruises terminal, 24 The Esplanade, from 8:00 am and sails at 8:30 am; that cruise is Strahan: Gordon River Cruise with Lunch & Sarah Island Walk, from US$116 a person (checked November 2026), with 469 reviews.
The short answer
Both cruises cover the same water and the same three stops, and both cost the same at the bottom: A$165 an adult for a main-deck centre seat (November 2026). Book Gordon River Cruises if you want the earlier start (8:30 am), the hybrid boat that goes quiet on electric motors on the river, and the Sarah Island walk at the end of the day. Book World Heritage Cruises if you want the family-run boat, a 1-hour guided tour of Sarah Island first thing after Hells Gates, a 9 am start and a Huon pine sawmill demonstration back in Strahan. Either way you need your own way to Strahan, and both operators require a national parks pass.
The ways to book it: pick yours
Strahan: Gordon River Cruise with Lunch & Sarah Island Walk
The Spirit of the Wild, a hybrid catamaran that runs on electric motors on the river. Heritage Landing, then a buffet lunch, then the Sarah Island walk on the way home.
Check dates →Strahan: World Heritage Cruise on Gordon River with Lunch
The Grining family's catamaran Harbour Master II. A 1-hour guided tour of Sarah Island, lunch served to your seat, the river and Heritage Landing, and a Huon pine sawmill visit in Strahan.
See this cruise →Gordon River Cruise departing from Strahan
The same 8:30 am cruise on Viator, with its three seating classes: Main Deck Central, Main Deck Window and the Premier Upper Deck.
See it on Viator →Morning World Heritage Cruise on the Gordon River from Strahan
The same 9 am cruise on Viator, with four seating options on the main and upper decks.
See it on Viator →Prices, ratings and review counts from the listings (GetYourGuide checked November 2026; Viator checked November 2026). Operators price by date and season, so treat the figures as the shape of the market, not a quote.
Where everything is
Strahan is a small town on the north shore of Macquarie Harbour, a long body of water on the west coast of Tasmania that opens to the Southern Ocean through one narrow gap, Hells Gates, at Macquarie Heads. The Gordon River flows into the far south-eastern end of the harbour out of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Sarah Island sits in the harbour near the river mouth. Both cruise operators are on The Esplanade by the Strahan wharf: the Gordon River Cruises terminal at number 24 and the World Heritage Cruises booking office at number 18. Strahan is 290 km by road from Hobart, about 3 hours 55 minutes; getting to Strahan has the routes from Hobart, Launceston and Cradle Mountain.
The cruise, step by step
Gordon River Cruises opens its check-in at 8:00 am, and boarding passes must be collected by 8:15 am. The boat is the Spirit of the Wild, a 33.8 m hybrid catamaran launched in 2018 for up to 192 passengers. It leaves at 8:30 am and crosses the harbour to Hells Gates, the harbour mouth, which Tourism Tasmania puts at less than 500 m wide and which the convicts named. On the way back it stops at the fish farms for a taste of the salmon and trout, then heads up the Gordon River, switching to electric motors on the river. At Heritage Landing you walk a boardwalk through the temperate rainforest with a guide, and the buffet lunch is served as the boat heads down to Sarah Island for a guided walk among the convict ruins. The whole cruise is about six hours.
World Heritage Cruises runs the same ground in a different order: Hells Gates and the fish farms, then a 1-hour guided tour of Sarah Island, then about two hours on the Gordon River with the Heritage Landing boardwalk, lunch on board, and a Huon pine sawmill demonstration back in Strahan, from 9 am to about 3 pm. The two cruises compared sets them side by side.
What it costs, and what the price buys
On GetYourGuide, Gordon River Cruises and World Heritage Cruises are both from US$116 a person (checked November 2026); on Viator, Gordon River Cruises is from US$118 and World Heritage Cruises from US$118 (checked November 2026). The operators price by seat. Gordon River Cruises: Main Deck Central A$165 an adult and A$80 a child aged 3 to 16, Main Deck Window A$200 and A$90, and the Premier Upper Deck A$355 for any age, which adds a gourmet lunch, an open bar and a private viewing deck. World Heritage Cruises: Main Deck Centre A$165 and A$75, Main Deck Window A$205 and A$99, Upper Deck Centre A$215 and Upper Deck Window A$230 for any age, with morning tea and a drink on the upper deck (both operators’ own pages, November 2026). Lunch is included in every seat on both boats.
A national parks pass is extra: both operators say one is required, and neither sells it. The Parks and Wildlife Service charges A$24.55 a person or A$49.15 a vehicle for a daily pass, or A$98.35 a vehicle for a holiday pass of up to two months (November 2026), which makes sense if you are also visiting Cradle Mountain or Mount Field.
Sarah Island, the reason for the walk
From 1822 to late 1833 Sarah Island was a penal settlement for male convicts, up to 385 of them, and for a while its shipyard was the largest in Australia, building more than 100 vessels (Parks and Wildlife Service). What is left are ruins. You can reach it only by cruise boat or private charter, and both cruises include a guided walk there. Sarah Island has the history and which cruise gives it more time.
Weather, seasickness and who it suits
Strahan is wet: about 1,500 mm of rain a year and about 180 days with rain at the Bureau of Meteorology’s Strahan Aerodrome station. Both operators sail in most weather on enclosed catamarans; World Heritage Cruises says it does not cancel for weather, and Gordon River Cruises calls a weather cancellation very unlikely. The harbour is enclosed: its one opening to the Southern Ocean is the narrow channel at Hells Gates, which is as close to the open sea as the cruise goes. Bring a rain jacket and a warm layer for the walks. Both boats are wheelchair accessible on the main deck. Weather and Hells Gates has the detail.
What was disrupted, and when to go
When this page was checked on 3 November 2026, the Parks and Wildlife Service listed no closure for Strahan, Macquarie Harbour, the Gordon River, Sarah Island or Heritage Landing, and Tasmania Police listed no road closures. Nearby, the Montezuma Falls viewing platform has been closed since 26 August 2026, a seasonal campfire ban has applied on reserved land since 26 October 2026, and Targa Tasmania may close roads around the state from 18 to 22 November 2026. On the West Coast Wilderness Railway the Teepookana and the King journey is suspended, so there is no full train run between Strahan and Queenstown. H5 bird flu has been in Tasmania since August 2026, and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment reported a case in a silver gull at Strahan on 4 September 2026: do not touch sick or dead birds or animals, and report them on 1800 675 888.
World Heritage Cruises sails every day except Christmas Day and is closed for maintenance from 1 to 31 August 2027. The evening and afternoon cruises with dinner run only around the Christmas holidays and in February. When to go goes month by month.
Longer trips that stop in Strahan
The two Tasmania circuits carded below both spend two nights in Strahan, and on neither is the Gordon River cruise included. On the 5-day circuit from Hobart, the Strahan day is a walk to Montezuma Falls, the Henty Dunes and Ocean Beach, or the Gordon River cruise as an optional extra at your own cost; the 7-day circuit offers the same add-on at your own cost. On the 5-day circuit, cruise passengers rejoin the group for Ocean Beach in the afternoon. For the full comparison of the multi-day tours, portarthurtour.com sets them side by side.
The Gordon River from the Water
About six hours from Strahan: Hells Gates, the rainforest at Heritage Landing and the convict ruins on Sarah Island, with lunch on board. The main deck is wheelchair accessible. Starting from US$116 per person.
See datesMore from Strahan
Cruises and West Coast Trips with Open Dates
Gordon River cruises and other trips on Tasmania's west coast with live availability. Times, what is included and cancellation terms are on each listing.
Gordon River Cruise: Questions
Where it leaves from, how long it is, what it costs, the two operators, Sarah Island, the parks pass, getting there, weather, children and the railway.
At 24 The Esplanade, Strahan TAS 7468, on the Strahan waterfront. It is NRMA Tasmania's check-in point for Gordon River Cruises: check-in opens at 8:00 am, boarding passes must be collected by 8:15 am, and the cruise leaves at 8:30 am and returns there. All-day pay-and-display parking is 250 m away. World Heritage Cruises' booking office is a few doors along at 18 Esplanade. See getting to Strahan.
About six hours. Gordon River Cruises sails at 8:30 am; World Heritage Cruises sails at 9 am and is back about 3 pm.
From US$116 a person with lunch (checked November 2026). Both operators charge A$165 an adult for a main-deck centre seat. Window seats are A$200 (Gordon River Cruises) or A$205 (World Heritage Cruises), Gordon River Cruises' Premier Upper Deck is A$355, and World Heritage Cruises' upper deck is A$215 or A$230 (operators' own pages, November 2026). See the two cruises compared.
They cover the same stops; the order and the details differ. Gordon River Cruises sails at 8:30 am on the hybrid Spirit of the Wild, goes up the river first and visits Sarah Island last. World Heritage Cruises sails at 9 am on the Harbour Master II, gives Sarah Island a 1-hour guided tour first, and ends with a Huon pine sawmill demonstration. See the comparison.
Yes: both operators say a national parks pass is required, and neither sells it. The Parks and Wildlife Service charges A$24.55 a person or A$49.15 a vehicle for a daily pass, or A$98.35 a vehicle for a holiday pass of up to two months (November 2026).
Twice. At Heritage Landing for a guided boardwalk through the rainforest, and on Sarah Island for a guided walk among the ruins of the 1822-1833 penal settlement. See Sarah Island.
Not realistically. Strahan is 290 km by road from Hobart, about 3 hours 55 minutes, the cruise leaves at 8:30 am or 9 am, and no day tour from Hobart includes it. Stay the night before in Strahan. See getting there from Hobart.
Mostly sheltered, and rarely cancelled. Macquarie Harbour takes little ocean swell because its one opening to the sea, Hells Gates, is narrow and shallow; that is the stretch where you may feel the sea. World Heritage Cruises does not cancel for weather, and a weather cancellation at Gordon River Cruises is very unlikely. See weather and Hells Gates.
Yes on the main deck. Both boats are wheelchair accessible on the main deck. Children aged 3 to 16 pay a child fare on the main deck (A$75 to A$99, depending on the operator and seat) and under-2s travel free; the upper decks charge the adult fare at any age.
Only in summer. Gordon River Cruises' evening cruise sails at 3:30 pm from 27 December 2026 to 2 January 2027 and from 14 to 24 February 2027; World Heritage Cruises' afternoon cruise runs from 3:15 pm to about 8:30 pm from 27 December to 16 January. Both serve dinner. See when to go.
Both, on different days. The cruise takes most of the day; the railway's Cryptic Express from Regatta Point in Strahan is 1 hour 45 minutes return at 10 am, A$40 an adult in standard class (November 2026). The full Strahan-to-Queenstown run is not on the timetable. See the cruise or the railway.
Not the two circuits carded on this site. Under Down Under Tours' 5- and 7-day circuits from Hobart spend two nights in Strahan and offer the Gordon River cruise as an optional extra at your own cost.
Still have questions? Email us at info@gordon-river-cruise.com