Overland Track bookings open the first Tuesday in July, 34 walkers a day, and summer sells out in hours. Fees, the north-to-south rule, cancellation terms (25% fee at 14+ days) and how cancelled permits come back.
The numbers that matter
The Overland Track is 65 km from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair through the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, usually walked in six days. During the booking season, 1 October to 31 May, you must book a departure date, pay the fee, and walk north to south.
- 34 departures per day. Not 34 groups; 34 people.
- Bookings open the first Tuesday in July each year for the following season, at 9am AEST, with a waiting room from 8am.
- Fees (2026–27): A$312 adult, A$272 child (17 and under) and concession, reviewed annually against CPI. The fee includes park entry for the walk and the shuttle bus from Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre to Ronny Creek. It does not include the Lake St Clair ferry at the end.
- Winter season (1 June to 23 September): no fee or booking, but you register, carry a parks pass, and can walk in either direction.
All from Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania.
How fast it sells
For the 2026–27 season, bookings opened on Tuesday 7 July 2026. By 4pm that day 5,805 people had booked, and the December to March period was fully booked by 2pm (Pulse Tasmania, 8 July 2026). November and April had limited places left; October and May still had good availability.
The queue is randomised: everyone in the waiting room before 9am gets a random position when bookings open, and later arrivals go to the back. Groups of up to eight can be booked online; bigger groups go through the booking team.
The next release, for the 2027–28 season, should be Tuesday 6 July 2027. We'll confirm when PWS announces it, and we'll email anyone watching the Overland Track the day before.
What a booking is
Your booking is for a departure date only. It doesn't reserve a bunk: huts are first come, first served, and PWS requires you to carry a tent in case a hut is full. You can set your own pace after the first day, add rest days or side trips, and come out when you're ready.
Online bookings are paid in full by Visa or Mastercard at the time. You collect your Overland Track Pass at Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre after a walker briefing, with your confirmation, ID, concession cards and a completed Walker Safety Checklist.
Changing or cancelling
From the Overland Track terms and conditions (June 2024 edition):
- Changing your date: by email or phone to the booking team, to another date within the same walking season, subject to availability. You can't do it through the website.
- Cancelling 14 days or more before departure: refund less a 25% cancellation fee.
- Cancelling less than 14 days before departure: no refund.
- Illness or injury: with a medical certificate, PWS may offer an alternative date or a full refund, for the ill walker and one accompanying adult (plus their children), not the whole party.
- Bushfire closure or a BoM Bushwalkers Weather Alert for the Central Plateau: full refund or alternative date.
- Substituting a walker: the original booker can swap a party member by email; allow 14 days. Whole bookings can't be transferred.
- Refund applications must be in within 14 days after the booked departure date.
So the economics are: if you know by two weeks out that you can't go, you cancel and get 75% back. Inside two weeks you don't, and people in that situation often try to substitute a friend instead.
There is no waitlist, and cancellations are live
This is the bit that matters if you missed out in July. From the PWS FAQ: "There is no waitlist for the Overland Track," and "should there be a cancellation, availability in our booking site will update in real time."
That means every one of the 34 places on a sold-out summer day is still, potentially, available. Someone cancels, the counter goes from 0 to 1, and whoever checks next gets it. PWS suggests checking back on your preferred dates; it doesn't tell you when.
Aussie Camp Alerts watches the Overland Track availability for you. Set a watch for your departure window (say, any day from 10 to 24 February), and we'll alert you when a day in it goes from booked out to having places, with a link to the PWS booking page, where you check there are enough for your party. Free: one watch, email, 15-minute delay. Summer Pass: up to 10 watches, instant email, Telegram and push, A$29 once for 12 months. You book on the PWS site yourself; we never book or hold places.
Where cancellations come from, in rough order: people who booked multiple dates in July and settle on one; parties that shrink; and the 14-day cut-off, which produces a wave of cancellations about two to three weeks before each popular date as walkers realise their 75% is about to become 0%.
Planning around the date you get
- The walk ends at Narcissus Hut. Most people take the Lake St Clair ferry (book it separately, privately operated) rather than walk the extra 17.5 km along the lake.
- Almost half the track is above 1,000 m. Snow is possible in any month, and PWS's page notes deaths have occurred in summer among unprepared walkers. Carry a tent, a PLB and proper gear.
- Not recommended for children under eight.
- Fuel stoves only, no drones, no dogs.
- PWS strongly recommends travel insurance that covers cancellation and evacuation; ambulance cover is separate in Australia.
Overland vs Three Capes
If you're choosing between the two Tasmanian walks, the Three Capes Track is a different proposition: 48 km, four days, hut-based, no tent, 48 people a day, A$650, and bookable most of the year rather than on one July morning. We compare them properly in Three Capes vs Overland: which to book, and the Three Capes booking guide covers its own cancellation rules.
Both walks are on the Great Walks hub.
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