---
title: "Western Arthurs booking and registration guide"
short_title: "Booking the Western Arthurs"
subtitle: "Twelve walkers a day, no huts, and a start date you have to win. Here's how registration works and what to do when your date is full."
description: "How Western Arthurs bookings work: PWS walker registration, the 12-a-day cap, group limits, parks pass costs, and how to get on when your date is full."
published: "2026-11-04"
image: "/images/western-arthurs-hiker.png"
image_alt: "A hiker with a backpack on a quartzite ridge of the Western Arthur Range, looking out over jagged peaks above a green glacial tarn"
image_class: "object-cover object-center"
locations: ["western-arthurs"]
cta_splash: "/images/watercolour-lime-splash.png"
cta_wash_filter: "saturate(0.43) hue-rotate(19deg)"  # sage-green, same hero as the Western Arthurs location page
---

## Western Arthurs booking at a glance

There's nothing to book on the Western Arthurs in the hotel sense: no huts, no
bunks. A Western Arthurs booking is the Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS)
overnight walker registration, and every overnight walker needs one for their
start date, including parties only going as far as Lake Cygnus or Lake Oberon.
A maximum of 12 independent walkers can depart on any day. Registration is free; you pay for a parks pass. If your date is full, keep reading,
because places on this calendar come back without warning.

| | |
|---|---|
| Where to register | [PWS walker registration](https://registrations.parks.tas.gov.au/Walk/Details/14) (online) |
| Who needs it | Every overnight walker, full traverse or part of it |
| Max daily departures | 12 walkers |
| Group size | 6 recommended, 8 maximum |
| How far ahead | Up to one year |
| Max stay | 12 nights |
| Huts | None. Tent platforms at several campsites |
| Parks pass | Required, bought separately |
| Waitlist | None. Cancelled places go straight back on the calendar |

## When registration opens

There's no release day. Registration runs on a rolling calendar and PWS opens
dates up to one year in advance, so each date becomes available about a year
out and stays open until its 12 places are gone. PWS doesn't set a registration
season for the range: if you're camping overnight, you register, whenever you
go.

Twelve places a day doesn't take long to fill, and PWS's own advice is blunt:
"register early to avoid missing out". The range also asks for a weather
window, so the dates people want tend to cluster in the same few summer weeks.

A greyed-out date isn't always a full one. PWS says dates can be unavailable
because of track closures, because departures are limited to certain days, or
because the date isn't open yet. Check the
[PWS alerts page](https://parks.tas.gov.au/alerts) before you write a date off.

## How to register, step by step

1. **Make a walker registration account.** It's separate from any parks pass
   account, and your parks pass login won't work. Sign up with email (verify
   the link, set a password) or with Google or Facebook. Email logins also
   need a verification code sent to your inbox each time.
2. **Open the Western Arthur Range Traverse calendar.** Log in, choose
   "Register your walk", pick the Western Arthur Range Traverse and click
   "Register now". The calendar shows how many places are left each day,
   flagged as many, few or none.
3. **Pick a start date for the whole party.** Choose the day, select the
   number of walkers from the drop-down, and enter contact details (name,
   email, phone and postcode). PWS recommends groups of 6 and caps them at 8,
   and asks bigger parties to stagger departures by 15 minutes. Larger groups,
   clubs, schools and commercial operators go through the group registration
   enquiry form instead.
4. **Register the trip you'll actually walk.** Partial trips need registering
   too. PWS puts the full traverse at 5 to 7 days and an out-and-back to Lake
   Cygnus or Lake Oberon at 3 to 4. The maximum stay is 12 nights, which leaves
   room for the weather days the range is famous for.
5. **Buy your parks pass and sign the logbook.** PWS wants the logbook at the
   trailhead filled in as well as the online registration, and you sign out at
   the end.

PWS's suggested itinerary runs from the Huon Campground at Scotts Peak across
the Arthur Plains to Junction Creek, up Alpha Moraine onto the range, then
along the crest via Lake Cygnus, Lake Oberon, High Moor and Haven Lake, down
Kappa Moraine and back across the plains. The section after Lake Oberon is
where it gets "significantly harder and more dangerous", with pack-hauling,
intermittent cairns and scarce water, and PWS says you may need 20 m of rope to
haul packs. The Huon Campground is 81 km west of Mount Field on the Scotts Peak
Road via Maydena, with no fuel past Maydena and no public transport.

## Prices, changes and cancellations

Registration itself is free. You do need a valid parks pass
for Southwest National Park. Prices are in AUD as listed by PWS at the time of
writing (November 2026); they're reviewed annually by CPI, so check the
[parks pass page](https://parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-parks/know-before-you-go/park-passes-and-entry-fees)
before you buy.

| Pass | Covers | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Daily Pass | Up to 24 hours, per vehicle (up to 8 people) | $49.15 |
| Holiday Pass | All parks for up to 2 months, per vehicle (up to 8 people) | $98.35 |
| Holiday Pass | Per person, travelling by bus, cycle or on foot | $49.20 |
| Annual Pass | All parks, up to two registered vehicles | $104.75 |

A week on the range outlasts a Daily Pass, so a one-off trip usually means the
Holiday Pass. Children under 5 are free.

**Changing your date.** Log in, go to "view my registrations" and click "edit".
You can move to a new date if it has space, and update walker numbers and
details. Going from a party of four to a party of six only works if the date
has two more places.

**Cancelling.** Click "cancel" in "view my registrations" and confirm. PWS asks
walkers not to sit on registrations they won't use, and if you cancel by
mistake you'll need to register again, if there's still room.

**Weather.** PWS's advice is that if a severe weather warning or bushwalker
weather alert is out before you start, you should cancel and register for
another time. On a range where the crest is "very exposed to the weather" and
the hardest sections should "only be completed in fair weather", that advice
gets taken, and every cancelled party hands its places back.

## Booked out? How to still get on

PWS doesn't run a waitlist. Cancelled or moved registrations go straight back
onto the calendar, and with only 12 places a day, one party of four dropping
out can be a third of a date. Western Arthurs plans are fragile: a forecast
turns, someone in the group isn't ready, the trip gets pushed to next summer.
Each of those frees places with no announcement.

The catch is that someone has to be looking at the right moment. Spotbagger
does the looking. Set a watch on the [Western Arthurs](/locations/western-arthurs)
for your start date and party size, and we check the PWS registration calendar
often and tell you the moment the date has room for your whole group. You
register yourself on the PWS site, while the places are still there.

If you can be flexible, widen the watch to a few start dates around your
preferred one. And if the range is full right through your window, the
neighbouring [Mount Anne](/locations/mount-anne) circuit and the
[Eastern Arthurs](/locations/eastern-arthurs) sit on the same registration
system. Our guide to
[Tasmania's capped wilderness walks](/guides/tasmania-wilderness-walks-booked-out)
covers how they compare.

## Common questions

### Do you need to book the Western Arthurs?

Yes, if you're camping overnight. Every walker needs a PWS walker registration
for their start date, including parties doing only part of the traverse, and
each date is capped at 12 departures. You also need a parks pass.

### How many people can start the Western Arthurs each day?

Twelve independent walkers. Within that, PWS recommends groups of 6 and caps
them at 8, so two full-size groups can take a date almost on their own.

### How much does the Western Arthurs cost?

Registration is free, so the main cost is park entry. At the time of
writing a Holiday Pass, covering up to two months, is $98.35 per vehicle or
$49.20 per person on foot or by bus. Food, gear, a PLB and the TASMAP Western
Arthur map PWS recommends are extra.

### Which direction do you walk the Western Arthurs?

PWS's suggested itinerary climbs Alpha Moraine first and comes down Kappa
Moraine, passing Lake Cygnus, Lake Oberon, High Moor and Haven Lake in that
order. Registration is for a start date, not a direction, and the walk notes
call it a suggestion rather than a rule.

### Is there a waitlist for the Western Arthurs?

No. Cancelled places go straight back on the calendar for whoever's looking,
which is why a watch on your date is the most reliable way to catch one.