Pumphouse Point
Daily price line
Upcoming nightly rates
Review
Character and identity
Pumphouse Point occupies a 1940s Art Deco industrial building marooned in the middle of glacial Lake St Clair, Australia's deepest lake, connected to the forested shore by a 240-metre flume. Across 19 rooms split between the three-storey Pumphouse, the converted Shorehouse substation and a standalone lakeside Retreat, interiors lean on Tasmanian timbers and industrial-style fixtures. Dinners and breakfasts are communal in a single lakefront dining room, three guest lounges run honesty bars stocked with cool-climate Tasmanian wines and spirits, and service has an unforced, outdoorsy local warmth that matches the wilderness setting.
Who's it for
Best for:
Couples and solo travellers drawn to remote landscapes, serious walking (the property sits at the southern end of the 65-kilometre Overland Track) and the conviviality of communal tables. Design-literate guests who appreciate adaptive reuse, and anyone keen to explore Tasmania's cool-climate drinks scene from deep sofas by a log fire.
Should look elsewhere:
Families (under-18s aren't accepted), gourmands expecting refined tasting menus (the kitchen feeds hikers with hearty seasonal cooking rather than fine dining), and anyone wanting a full-service spa, room-service privacy, or quick access to a city. The 2.5-hour drive from Hobart or Launceston is part of the deal.
Bottom line
The setting is the point: a heritage industrial building stranded in a Gondwanan rainforest lake, with hiking, rowboats and platypus sightings at the door. Book one of the dozen rooms inside the Pumphouse itself for water lapping beneath the floor, or stretch to The Retreat if you want total seclusion. Come for the landscape and the camaraderie, not the cooking.