Photo: courtesy of Saffire Freycinet
On the Freycinet Peninsula, a stingray-roofed lodge of 20 all-inclusive suites looks across Great Oyster Bay to the Hazards, with oysters from the bay and a spa that uses the mountains’ own granite.
The setting
Saffire Freycinet sits half-hidden in coastal bushland on Tasmania’s east coast, on land that was once part of a protected national park. Its main building, designed by Hobart practice Circa Morris-Nunn Architects, takes the shape of a stingray, its roofline framing the Hazards range across Great Oyster Bay.
“Saffire is proof that isolation, when well-designed, can feel like the ultimate indulgence.”
The Hazards are the main event. The five granite peaks, Mount Parsons, Mount Baudin, Mount Dove, Mount Amos and Mount Mayson, turn pink with the setting sun, a colour that comes from orthoclase feldspar in the rock. The lodge’s name nods to that palette and to Coles Bay, which holds one of the few natural sapphire deposits in Tasmania.
Federal Group, the Farrell family’s privately owned Tasmanian company, opened Saffire in 2010 and marked its 15th anniversary in 2025. The lodge says most of its suppliers and partners are Tasmanian-owned, and it is one of the Luxury Lodges of Australia.
The rooms & villas
The suites are set out in a line along the shore so that each faces the Hazards. Interiors use Tasmanian timbers, including local oak and celery-top pine, with Australian designer touches.
Luxury Suites cover 80 square metres, with an internal courtyard drawing light into the living and sleeping areas and a private deck facing the coast. Signature Suites add a deck lounge and a deep-soaking bath that looks over Great Oyster Bay. Private Pavilions are the most secluded, with a separate bedroom and dining area, a kitchen, and a courtyard plunge pool.
From December 2026, the Saffire Jewel adds a three-bedroom private villa of about 800 square metres, set above the main lodge, with an 18-metre heated infinity pool, a Jacuzzi, an elevated wine cellar and its own guide and concierge team.
Eat & drink
Stays are all-inclusive: breakfast, lunch and dinner, Tasmanian wines and other drinks, canapés or afternoon tea in the lounge, and an in-suite minibar restocked daily. Ingredients rarely travel far. Oysters and seafood come from Puthimiluna / Great Oyster Bay, wines from nearby cool-climate vineyards and produce from local farms.
Palate is the restaurant, where petrified-wood “eyes”, formed over millions of years, sit alongside the windows. The Lounge changes through the day, from morning coffee to pre-dinner cocktails as the Hazards turn red. In-suite dining is available too.
The Signature Experiences are where food and place meet. Guests can wade into the shallows on a Freycinet oyster farm to harvest oysters and eat them with local sparkling wine, or try beekeeping. Guided walks around Wineglass Bay and Freycinet National Park, and a Connection to Country experience, round out the programme.
Wellness
The spa menu covers holistic and therapeutic treatments, signature rituals, baths, massage and facials. The signature Mountain Dreaming, a 90-minute treatment designed as recovery after a hike in the national park, combines an Ancient Stone Back Massage, facial, scalp therapy and foot ritual. The stone massage uses smooth pink granite from the Hazards along with volcanic basalt hot stones.
Beyond the resort
Alongside the included programme, the guest services team books longer outings. A half-day Wildlife & Wilderness Cruise on Saffire’s private vessel follows the Freycinet coast to remote spots between Wineglass Bay and Schouten Island, home to a colony of fur seals. The Cape Tourville Lighthouse Walk loops along a raised boardwalk to the cliff edge for views of the Hazards, Wineglass Bay and The Nuggets, and an over-18s tour visits Waubs Harbour Distillery in Bicheno, where single malts mature metres from the sea. Inland, the Currawong day pairs guided dry-fly fishing on still lakes with clay target shooting.
At the lodge itself, a one-hectare free-range enclosure is home to retired Tasmanian devils from the government’s devil breeding programme, and guests can see them on the Tasmanian Devil Experience. On clear nights, Saffire After Dark offers an hour of guided stargazing through Celestron telescopes beside a fire.
When to go
Freycinet has a temperate climate. The lodge puts summer, from December to February, at about 22–25°C, warm and dry, and winter, from June to August, at about 12–14°C by day. It recommends late spring (October to November) and early autumn (March to April) for the most consistently mild weather and fewer crowds; spring also brings wildflowers. The cooler months are best for stargazing, and on rare occasions the aurora australis appears on the horizon. Humpback and southern right whales pass along the coast on their migrations. Saffire is open all year, though some experiences shift with the seasons or the weather, and the lodge shares a tailored schedule on arrival.
Who it’s for
Saffire suits couples and food-minded travellers who want Tasmania’s produce and wilderness with every detail handled, and walkers who want to see Freycinet with a guide and return to a spa. The all-inclusive model keeps the bill predictable.
Suites are designed for two or three guests, so families should wait for the Jewel or speak to reservations. Travellers who want nightlife or a town on the doorstep will find Coles Bay quiet.
Researched independently from the property’s published information and independent sources. Our editors have not stayed at the property, and Cosmopolitan Courier was not compensated for this guide.
