Cradle Chalet Boutique Luxury Lodge is at 1422 Cradle Mountain Road, Moina, in north-west Tasmania, close to the national park that gives the area its name. It is a boutique wilderness lodge and a romantic retreat, and it does not accommodate children.
This page covers the Cradle Chalet Boutique Luxury Lodge itself, then the country around it: the mountain, the weather, the drive from other parts of the state and the tours that head into the park. For the wider picture, start with our Cradle Mountain destination guide.
About Cradle Chalet Boutique Luxury Lodge
The lodge is set on 18 acres of private wilderness near Moina. It is privately owned and operated, and it caters to smaller numbers of guests with a more personal level of service. The main Lodge is a wooden building with a lounge, dining room and licensed bar, and a fire-warmed interior. The accommodation is separate, in chalets and suites placed away from the Lodge in secluded forest settings.
There are four chalets, two of them with a double spa, and four deluxe suites. All are open-plan, with antique-style queen beds, a lounge area with sofa bed and TV and stereo, and an individual private veranda. All carry a 4.5-star rating. The Deluxe Spa Chalets add double-size spa baths, fully tiled private bathrooms with a separate corner shower, and a viewing veranda on all four sides looking over the forested grounds. We reckon a spa bath is a sensible idea after a long day on the track.
Dining
The Cradle Chalet Restaurant serves traditional comfort food alongside more contemporary dishes using fresh, local produce. It is open to guests and visitors, with a sunny balcony for summer and a fire for winter. Check current prices and times with the lodge before you go.
To compare other places to stay, see our Cradle Mountain accommodation page, or browse Cradle Mountain luxury accommodation and Cradle Mountain resorts.
The mountain on the doorstep
Cradle Mountain stands 1,545 metres above sea level, the sixth-highest mountain in Tasmania, inside Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. It is named for its resemblance to a gold-mining cradle. The mountain has four named summits: Cradle Mountain, Smithies Peak at 1,527 metres, Weindorfers Tower at 1,459 metres and Little Horn at 1,355 metres. It rises above the glacially formed Dove Lake, Lake Wilks and Crater Lake.
The rock is an igneous dolerite sill that intruded older sedimentary layers, with caps of dolerite left behind by Pleistocene glaciation. Route C132, Cradle Mountain Road and Dove Lake Road, enters from the north and runs south to Dove Lake, where it ends.
Walking
The area has a large number of day walks and is one end of the Overland Track, which runs 80.8 kilometres south to Lake St Clair, Australia's deepest lake. Walkers climb the mountain nearly year round. It is a strenuous return hike from the Dove Lake car park, with a recommended six and a half hours, and involves scrambling over large boulders for several hundred metres. The whole climb is exposed to weather that can arrive quickly, and winter ice and snow can make the upper slopes dangerous. From the summit you see Dove Lake, Barn Bluff and Mount Ossa. More ideas are on our Cradle Mountain activities page.
A short history of the place
Explorers Joseph Fossey and Henry Hellyer were the first Europeans to summit the mountain, in 1827 and 1828, while surveying for the Van Diemen's Land Company. Trappers worked the area from the 1860s until the fur trade collapsed in the 1950s, and King Billy pines were logged until the 1910s, with further logging on adjacent private land from 1943 to 1972.
In the 1910s Gustav and Kate Cowle climbed the mountain, and Gustav declared it must be a national park for the people for all time. They set up a popular chalet the following year. The area became a scenic reserve in 1922, a wildlife reserve in 1927 and a national park in 1947. In 1931 fur trapper Bert Nichols blazed the Overland Track.
Cradle Mountain weather
The climate is subpolar oceanic, with cool summers, cold and very snowy winters, and heavy rain all year that peaks in winter. The figures below come from an altitude of 903 metres on the exposed western slopes, and snow can fall in any month, averaging 47.9 snowy days a year. Pack for four seasons whenever you go.
| Month | Max (C) | Min (C) | Rain (mm) | Rain days | Sunny days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20.1 | 8.5 | 71.5 | 10.3 | 25.7 |
| February | 20.3 | 8.8 | 55.9 | 9.1 | 24.0 |
| March | 18.2 | 7.7 | 74.7 | 11.5 | 25.6 |
| April | 14.3 | 5.7 | 85.8 | 13.2 | 23.8 |
| May | 11.2 | 4.2 | 110.8 | 16.5 | 22.0 |
| June | 8.8 | 2.9 | 119.9 | 16.6 | 21.7 |
| July | 8.1 | 2.3 | 138.1 | 19.4 | 21.3 |
| August | 8.7 | 2.2 | 150.8 | 20.2 | 22.0 |
| September | 10.5 | 2.8 | 125.7 | 17.8 | 22.0 |
| October | 13.1 | 3.8 | 99.3 | 15.8 | 24.9 |
| November | 15.5 | 5.5 | 87.8 | 14.1 | 23.7 |
| December | 17.5 | 6.8 | 80.8 | 12.7 | 24.8 |
February is the driest and warmest month, with 55.9 mm of rain and highs of 20.3 degrees. August is the wettest, at 150.8 mm over about 20 days.
Getting to Cradle Mountain
By road, Cradle Mountain is 149 km (about 125 minutes) from Launceston and 148 km (about 132 minutes) from Strahan. Hobart is 329 km away, about 259 minutes.
| Route | Distance | Drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Cradle Mountain to Strahan | 148 km | about 132 minutes |
| Cradle Mountain to Launceston | 149 km | about 125 minutes |
| Cradle Mountain to East Coast Tasmania | 291 km | about 240 minutes |
| Cradle Mountain to Freycinet Peninsula | 308 km | about 255 minutes |
| Cradle Mountain to Hobart | 329 km | about 259 minutes |
Without a car, Tassielink runs buses to and from Devonport and Queenstown or Strahan, and McDermott's runs buses between Cradle Mountain and Launceston, though not every day. For general trip planning, the official state tourism site is Discover Tasmania.
Tours into the park
If you would rather leave the driving to someone else, several guided options are listed on this site.
- The Dove Lake guided hike with lunch is a 10-hour day tour with a guided 6 km loop around Dove Lake, from AUD 265.
- The Cradle Mountain day trip from Hobart runs 15 hours in total, with five hours of guided hiking, from AUD 250.
- The 2 day Cradle Mountain tour from Hobart includes accommodation and small groups of up to 13, from AUD 445.
Staying in a van or cabin instead? Discovery Resorts at Cradle Mountain offers powered sites and cabins.
Wildlife and plants
Wombats are a common sight, and pademelons, Tasmanian devils and echidnas can also be seen. Birds include green rosellas, black currawongs and pink robins, while peregrine falcons and wedge-tailed eagles nest on the cliffs. Tiger snakes, which are highly venomous, are found in the area, so watch your step.
The deciduous beech is a colourful oddity, since most Australian native plants are evergreen. Valleys hold thick temperate rainforest of myrtle beech, pandani, sassafras and King Billy pine. More background is on the Wikipedia page for Cradle Mountain.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Cradle Chalet Boutique Luxury Lodge?
It is at 1422 Cradle Mountain Road, Moina, in north-west Tasmania, near Cradle Mountain National Park.
Can children stay at Cradle Chalet?
No. The lodge does not accommodate children and is aimed at couples, singles and other adult groups.
How long does it take to drive from Launceston?
Cradle Mountain is 149 km from Launceston by road, about 125 minutes.
