Saturday 10 October 2026 · Gutteridge Gardens · Wynyard, Tasmania

Tulip season, and the Wynyard Tulip Festival 2026.

Every spring the paddocks on top of Table Cape turn to stripes of red, yellow and violet, and on Saturday 10 October the whole of Wynyard comes out to celebrate. Here is how to see Tasmania's tulip season properly.

The Wynyard Tulip Festival returns to Gutteridge Gardens, on the banks of the Inglis River, on Saturday 10 October 2026 — from 11am through to a fireworks finale over the water that evening. Entry is free, and around twenty thousand people come for the day: live music on the riverbank, food and craft stalls, and free shuttle buses running every half hour up to Table Cape Tulip Farm, where the real spectacle grows. The farm's tulip season opens on 26 September and runs to late October, with the fields usually at their fullest in the first two weeks of October — long striped rows of colour running to the edge of an extinct volcanic headland, the lighthouse at the end and Bass Strait beyond. It is one of the most photographed places in Tasmania, and for those few weeks it earns it.

The North West Coast does spring quietly well beyond the tulips. The drive from Devonport to Wynyard is about fifty minutes along the Bass Highway, hugging the coast through Ulverstone, Penguin and Burnie, and it is worth taking slowly — Penguin's seafront main street deserves a coffee stop, and Boat Harbour Beach, ten minutes past Wynyard, is the white-sand surprise nobody expects this far south. If you can, visit the farm itself on a weekday morning for the softest light and the thinnest crowds, and keep festival Saturday for Gutteridge Gardens, the stalls and the fireworks.

A comfortable base makes the difference on a trip like this. Annie May is a seven-room bed and breakfast in a restored heritage home on Formby Road, Devonport — on the Mersey riverfront, adults only, with breakfast included and the Spirit of Tasmania terminal five minutes away. Devonport sits at the natural centre of the coast: tulips one day, Cradle Mountain or Stanley the next, dinner on foot when you get back.

Event details and tickets

The Tulip Weekend, booked direct

Stay over the festival weekend and book direct with the house before 30 September, and she will add a late checkout for your last morning, a small hamper of North West produce in your room, and a complimentary bottle of Tasmanian sparkling. Mention the tulips when you book.

Good to know

Festival daySaturday 10 October 2026, 11am–9pm, Gutteridge Gardens, Wynyard. Free entry.

Tulip seasonTable Cape Tulip Farm opens 26 September to late October; the fields are usually best in the first two weeks of October.

Getting thereWynyard is about 50 minutes from Devonport on the Bass Highway. On festival day, free shuttles run between Hogg Street and the tulip farm, 9am–5pm.

BringA jacket for the evening — spring on Bass Strait is bright but brisk — and a camera for the cape.

Why stay with her

The right room,the right distance.

IDevonport is the sensible base for tulip season — fifty minutes to Wynyard along the coast, with the Bass Highway drive itself part of the day.

IIAdults only and properly quiet, which matters after a festival day among twenty thousand people.

IIIBreakfast is included and served early enough to have you at Table Cape for the morning light.

IVOff the Spirit of Tasmania and checked in within minutes — arrive overnight, wake to tulip season.

VBook direct with the house and the Tulip Weekend extras below come with the room.

The shape of the stay

IFriday — arrive by ferry or flight, settle in, and walk the Mersey riverfront to dinner. Ask the house about the coast road so tomorrow is already worked out.

IISaturday — breakfast downstairs, then the coast drive to Wynyard for the festival: Gutteridge Gardens from 11am, the shuttle up to the tulip farm in the afternoon, fish and chips by the river, fireworks after dark.

IIISunday — a slow morning and a late checkout, then Table Cape again in the quiet morning light if Saturday's crowds kept you from the fields — or point the car at Stanley and The Nut on the way through.

She’ll keepa room for you.

Breakfast included · adults only · book direct with the house

Check availabilities