Three Capes Track: 48 walkers a day, A$650 adult, 4 days/3 nights in huts from Port Arthur. How booking works, the 75% refund at 14+ days, date changes, annual closures and how cancelled places come back.
What the Three Capes Track is
The Three Capes Track is Tasmania's hut-based coastal walk: 48 km over four days and three nights along Australia's highest sea cliffs in Tasman National Park. You check in at Port Arthur Historic Site, take a Pennicott Wilderness Journeys boat to Denmans Cove, walk via Surveyors, Munro and Retakunna cabins, and get a bus back from Fortescue Bay to Port Arthur at the end.
It's Grade 3, built to a "dry boot" standard, wide enough to walk two abreast, and designed, in PWS's words, "as an achievable experience for a wide range of ages and abilities". No tent needed; you carry food, a sleeping bag and clothes.
A maximum of 48 walkers depart each day, all starting on the same boat day and sleeping in the same cabins.
Fees and what's included
From Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania (page updated 1 July 2026):
- Adult A$650. Child and concession A$515. Reviewed annually against CPI.
- A winter promotion of A$485 per person applied to new bookings departing 1 July to 31 August 2026; watch for a similar offer in 2027.
- Included: three nights in the cabins, the boat cruise from Port Arthur, Port Arthur Historic Site entry (valid two years), parking and lockers at Port Arthur, the bus back from Fortescue Bay, the "Encounters on the Edge" guidebook, and park entry for the walk plus a day either side.
Payment is in full by Visa or Mastercard at booking. The fee is fixed whether or not you use every component; there's no discount for skipping the bus or already holding a parks pass.
When and how to book
Bookings are made at threecapestrack.com.au. Unlike the Overland Track there's no single release day: dates are sold on a rolling basis and PWS reserves the right to set how far ahead you can book. In practice, summer weekends and the Christmas–January period sell out well ahead, and midweek shoulder-season dates are easier.
Only people 18 and over can make a booking. Children (3–17) are welcome with an adult responsible for no more than three; infants need PWS approval before booking. Commercial guided groups aren't permitted on the public booking; educational groups have their own process.
Annual closures
The track closes for about two weeks each autumn for planned burns and maintenance. PWS has published the proposed dates:
- 2027: Monday 5 April to Sunday 18 April
- 2028: Monday 24 April to Sunday 7 May
- 2029: Monday 9 April to Sunday 22 April
The closure also affects Bare Knoll campground and the Old Cape Pillar Track.
Changing or cancelling
From the Three Capes Track terms and conditions (December 2025 edition):
- Changes must go through the booking team (1300 827 727 on business days, or threecapestrack@parks.tas.gov.au), not the website, and depend on availability on the new date. Change at least 3 business days before departure and there's no extra charge. Change with less notice and you pay 100% of the fee again.
- An altered booking must be completed within two years of the original booking date.
- Cancel at least 14 days before departure: 75% refund.
- Cancel 13 days or less before, or don't show: no refund (though you may still request a new date under the change rules).
- 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 (and children in their care).
- If PWS cancels before you've started (fire, weather, operational reasons): 100% refund or a reschedule. If you're evacuated mid-walk: 50%.
- Reservations are not transferable without PWS approval.
- Refunds go only to the card that paid.
Changes and cancellations are processed in business hours, 9am to 4:30pm Monday to Friday.
No waitlist; cancellations go back on sale
The PWS FAQ: "We do not have a waitlist for bookings on the Three Capes Track." It recommends checking the availability page regularly, because spaces open up when other walkers change or cancel.
With 48 places a day and a 14-day refund cut-off, the pattern is predictable. People who booked early and can't go cancel in the two to three weeks before their date, when 75% is still on the table. Groups shrink by one or two. Someone moves their date and frees their original one. All of it lands back on the booking site silently.
Aussie Camp Alerts checks Three Capes availability for the dates you want and alerts you when a start date goes from booked out to having places. Check on the booking site that there are enough for your party. The link goes straight to the PWS booking site, where you book it yourself. Free: one watch, email 15 minutes after we see it. Summer Pass: up to 10 watches, instant alerts by email, Telegram or push, A$29 once for 12 months.
Because changes go through the booking team during business hours, Three Capes cancellations tend to appear on weekdays during the day, which is a nice contrast to the Overland Track's real-time online cancellations at any hour.
Walking it
- Check in at Port Arthur at least 90 minutes before your boat departure time, and be at the meeting point 20 minutes before. Miss the boat and your booking is treated as cancelled unless there's a later boat with space.
- You must walk Denmans Cove to Fortescue Bay, one night at each cabin in order (Surveyors, Munro, Retakunna), no skipping and no doubling up.
- Bunks are allocated by the host ranger; book as a group of five or more if you want a room to yourselves during busy periods.
- Fuel stoves only across Tasman National Park (except designated Fortescue Bay sites). No smoking in cabins.
- Port Arthur is about 90 minutes south-east of Hobart on the A9. Avoid driving in the park at night.
- PWS strongly recommends travel insurance covering cancellation and evacuation.
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