Launceston is an elegantly laid-back city in the north of Tasmania where three rivers meet and flow down to the ocean. It's just 45 minutes flying time from Melbourne, and 95 minutes from Sydney.

Launceston has the largest collection of 19^th century buildings in Australia. Yet it is also a city of contrasts, where modern marinas meet graceful Georgian and Victorian streetscapes and parks - and you’re seldom without a view of the Tamar River or surrounding valley.

'Lonnie' has all the charm and pace of a regional centre, but with facilities you'd expect from a much larger city, minus the queues or traffic (60% of our population gets to work or school in less than 20 mins).

One of the best ways to sense Launceston is to walk it. With a population of 98,000, it's compact and easy to navigate. Pick up a copy of the Launceston Heritage Walks Souvenir Map ($2) from the downtown Travel & Information Centre that links all the main attractions. Or join a guided walk: from ghost tours and historic tours of the City, to 'Gorgeous Walks' in the famous Gorge Reserve (a piece of wilderness just minutes from the City Centre).

Along the way, you'll discover intriguing little shops tucked into arcades, and café dining spilling onto  tree-lined streets and malls.

If your appetite is for sport, catch an A-League Soccer or AFL game at Aurora Stadium York Park. It's Hawthorn Football Club’s second home, and holds the record attendance for a VFL/AFL crowd in Tasmania (20, 961) set on June 18, 2006 (Hawthorn v Richmond).

Or if your passion is design, don't miss Australia’s only museum collection of contemporary wood design at City Park. The Tasmanian Wood Design Collection brings together the beauty of the state's natural timber resources and the design skills of its fine craftspeople - a showcase for everyday elegance. So, too, is the National Automobile Museum - a collection of motor vehicles and motorcycles from the 1900s to the 1990s.

A short walk from the centre is the renowned Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (QVMAG) at the historic railway yards of Inveresk, which tells the fascinating story of Tasmania's past and holds superb collections of Australian Colonial Art, Contemporary Craft & Design, and Tasmanian Natural Sciences. Nearby, Launceston Tramway Museum pays homage to Launceston’s early tramway system.

The QVMAG's Planetarium (at the museum’s separate Royal Park site), with its displays of the southern night sky, is one of only a handful in Australia and pays homage to Grote Reber, the world's first radio astronomer who lived and died in Tasmania. The nearby North-West of Tasmania is renowned for having the cleanest, purest air in the world - which means the Milky Way is as clear as diamonds.

Launceston Photo Gallery