At any other luxury retreat, being kept up by noisy neighbors would be grounds for a strongly-worded note to the front desk. On Picnic Island, the sounds send me sprinting into the night with a red light torch. That’s because the only other guests on this private island are penguins, and it’s impossible to be annoyed by a penguin. Especially when it’s a Little Penguin, the world’s smallest penguin species, which makes a squeaking noise that sounds like the tiniest kitten. You’ll learn this, and other important things, during a stay at Picnic Island, an all-inclusive private island retreat that’s home to about 60 mated pairs of penguins.
It was past dark when I first met them, sitting alone on a narrow path under a sky so full of stars I could trace the Milky Way down to the brilliantly shining Southern Cross. No light pollution, no noise from the human world, no worry that another person would come along and trip over me. Just the moon lighting the view of the colony coming home for the night, settling into their burrows, calling out to their mates.
I sat on that path for hours watching the parade. I realized I hadn’t thought about my inbox, the news, or anything that had previously felt pressing. Watching them waddle home under all those stars, fat and unbothered and magnificently unaware of everything happening elsewhere in the world, I felt insignificant in a good way.
That feeling of being far removed from everything is part of what makes Picnic Island so special. It’s a tiny dot in the Tasman Sea, spotted along the path to Wineglass Bay Lookout—one of Tasmania’s most iconic views, a half-moon of white sand curving alongside turquoise water. From up there it looks like the kind of place you’d fantasize about being dropped off on, Robinson Crusoe-style. As it turns out, that fantasy is bookable.
Getting here requires commitment, which is part of the point. Picnic Island is an island off an island off an island—a small outcrop off Tasmania, which is itself off the southern coast of Australia. Tasmania’s tourism slogan, “come down for a breath of fresh air,” is not marketing fluff. Parts of it have the cleanest air on earth. But there are still cities and McDonald’s and other people, so if you want to really get away from it all, you go one step further still.
That’s exactly what the new owners of Picnic Island did, except they didn’t just visit. While staying at a resort with a view of Picnic Island, they asked about it, learned it was for sale, and bought it. They’ve since transformed it into a luxury retreat that feels less like a hotel and more like staying in a very well-appointed friend’s vacation home—one that happens to sleep up to eight people and is only ever booked by one group at a time. What they built reflects that instinct: three structures that sit lightly on the land without sacrificing anything in the way of comfort.
The largest is a communal living space that cantilevers over the high-water mark, anchored by a suspended open fireplace and a kitchen stocked with local snacks and drinks from small Tasmanian producers. This is where a private chef prepares three meals a day using fresh local ingredients. On my visit, highlights included golden Pacific oysters from Blue Lagoon Oysters just down the coast and produce picked that morning from the chef’s friend’s garden.
The second building is a standalone host suite with floor-to-ceiling windows framing Freycinet National Park’s iconic Hazards Mountains, sustainably sourced Tasmanian timber interiors, and a gym that blends seamlessly into the space with a wooden Nohrd exercise bike. Even the shower looks out over open water, with floor-to-ceiling windows and frosted glass placed discreetly where it needs to be. The third building has a primary bedroom with a private ensuite and two additional bedrooms sharing a luxurious bathroom, bringing the total capacity to eight guests.
You’ll get a hint of how personalized a trip to Picnic Island will be before you even depart, when a questionnaire about dietary preferences and hopes for the trip lands in your inbox. Casually mention you’re looking forward to sampling the cheese and fresh fruit Tasmania is famous for, and a platter will be waiting when you step off the boat. And what a boat it is: a custom-built luxury vessel that converts from an open-air wildlife-spotting deck to an enclosed panoramic cabin depending on the weather, making the five-minute ride from Coles Bay feel like an adventure in itself.
Once on the island, you can build an itinerary as action-packed or relaxed as you like—a guided hike through Freycinet National Park, a trip to an oyster farm, or nothing at all but a sun lounger and the sound of the waves. The retreat is entirely all-inclusive, but not in the way you usually think of. No wristbands, no checks to sign after every meal, no “top shelf” drinks that aren’t actually included. The self-service bar is stocked with an impressive selection of Tasmanian whiskies, including one chosen especially for the island. The owners visited the renowned Waubs Harbour Distillery on Tasmania’s East Coast, where barrels age just meters from the Southern Ocean, absorbing the salt air that gives these spirits their distinctive maritime character, and selected a private cask exclusively for Picnic Island guests. When they later brought several options back to the island for a blind tasting, everyone unanimously chose a different whisky than the one they’d originally selected at the distillery. Something about the island changes things.
That’s by design—the owners built the luxury around the wildness, not over it. Before renovations began, they partnered with leading seabird ecologist Eric Woehler to ensure construction and future guests wouldn’t disrupt the colony.
A group of penguins in the water is called a raft: sleek, purposeful, built for the ocean. The moment they hit land, the group becomes, officially, a waddle. It may be the most descriptive word in the English language. I watched one waddle out of the water, immediately realize he’d taken the wrong exit, pop back in, and re-emerge a few feet further down the shore in a better position. I laughed as another belly-flopped onto the path just outside his burrow, too full of fish to make it the last few steps.
The nights here are just as extraordinary as the wildlife. I’ve been to dark sky reserves around the world, and Picnic Island rivals them all. First the sun sets in long ribbons of pink. Then a blanket of stars unfurls, so clear you can see the Milky Way. If you’re lucky, the Aurora Australis dances across the horizon. There are other penguin colonies you can visit, other dark skies you can find, but they come with crowds and guided tours and the feeling of being at an attraction rather than inside something real. Picnic Island is the only place in the world where you can sit alone among an active seabird colony in the dark, and then retreat to a luxurious room to fall asleep to the sound of them settling in outside your window.
It’s just a few minutes by boat from the Tasmanian mainland, but it is emphatically somewhere else. Go to Australia. Make the journey down to Tasmania and breathe that clean southern air. Then go one step further still, and take the boat to the island off the coast of the island off the coast of the island.
The penguins will be waiting.
