Cheap flights to Hobart will not be needed by those sportsmen and women who take part in the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. For several days every day around Christmas and New Year’s, the yachts and their crews celebrate at Constitution Dock. The arrival of the yachts is a high point of the Hobart Summer Festival with its 10 days of food, wine, arts and entertainment. The most delicious part of the festival is the Taste of Tasmania – more than 70 stalls setting out the very best of the state’s eateries and wineries.

Hobart is heaven for the seafood lover. The must-eats are blue-eye trevalla, scallops, crayfish and, of course, oysters and mussels. The wineries of the Derwent, Coal River and Huon Valleys specialise in the finest pinots, chardonnays, sauvignon blancs and Rieslings. Then, there are the soft fruits and berries from the orchards of South Tasmania. Founded as a penal colony, there are several grand buildings. There’s nowhere better to savour the architecture than around the dock and Battery Point, which is reached from the Salamanca Market by Kelly’s Steps. For sumptuous views and, perhaps, to work off the goodies from the Salamanca Market, Mount Wellington, standing 2589 feet above Hobart, is just 12 miles or so from the city.