Wilsons Prom Lightstation
A night at the southern tip of the mainland
- Booking
- Year-round (Parks Victoria)
- Stay
- Shared cottage rooms (bunk beds)
- Access
- On foot only (~19 km from Telegraph Saddle)
- Setting
- Southernmost point of mainland Australia
- Booked
- Per room, per night
- Check-in
- From 2pm at Tidal River Visitor Centre
Track booked out?
Live availability
Many dates availableMost dates have room right now. Checked 2 hours ago.
About the stay
The Wilsons Promontory Lightstation is the southernmost settlement on mainland Australia: a working lighthouse and a cluster of heritage keepers' cottages perched on a granite headland above the wild seas of Bass Strait. There's no road in. The only way to reach it is on foot, along the Southern Prom hiking tracks, which is exactly why a night in the cottages is one of the most sought-after stays in the park.
You walk in (most people via the Telegraph Track, roughly 19 km from Telegraph Saddle), settle into a historic cottage below the light, and wake up at the end of the continent. In the colder months it's a front-row seat for whales migrating past the point.
Booking the cottages
Accommodation at the lightstation is booked through Parks Victoria, per room, per night. The shared cottage rooms are booked by the room (so you don't share a bedroom with strangers), with bunk beds, a mattress and a pillow provided; you bring your own sleeping bag, towel and food. (Banks Cottage and the winter-only whole-cottage bookings open seasonally.)
Because there are only a handful of rooms and the setting is unique, the lightstation books out early for weekends, holidays and the whale-watching months, and stays "unavailable" for long stretches. But a walk-in stay is weather- and plan-dependent, so rooms are given up more often than you'd expect, and a single freed room can reopen a date that looked gone for the season.
If your dates are full, it's worth watching. Spotbagger checks the Parks Victoria booking page often and alerts you the moment a lightstation room reopens for your dates, so you can book it before it's snapped up again.
Getting there
The lightstation is a serious walk in, not a drive-up. Plan to start early: Parks Victoria asks hikers to check in at the Tidal River Visitor Centre before departing, to begin walking at least six hours before sunset, and to arrive before dark. Carry lightweight food, a stove (campfires are banned), and enough water or the means to treat it. Check-in at the lighthouse is from 2pm; check-out is 10am.
What to bring
The cottages are comfortable but remote: resupply is your own two feet. The essentials:
- Sleeping bag and towel: rooms have mattresses and pillows, no bedding
- Stove: no campfires anywhere in the southern section
- Food for the whole trip: no shop at the lightstation; carry your rubbish out
- Rain and wind layers: the point is exposed and the weather is Bass Strait's
- Headlamp: for the last of the walk and the cottage after dark
- Water treatment: carry water and/or know how to make it safe
Other tracks we watch
Overland Track
Cradle Mountain–Lake St Clair National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Three Capes Track
Tasman National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Milford Track
Fiordland National Park, Southland, New Zealand
Routeburn Track
Mount Aspiring & Fiordland National Parks, Otago & Southland, New Zealand
Kepler Track
Fiordland National Park, Southland, New Zealand
Heaphy Track
Kahurangi National Park, Nelson Tasman & West Coast, New Zealand
Tongariro Northern Circuit
Tongariro National Park, Central North Island, New Zealand
Paparoa Track
Paparoa National Park, West Coast, New Zealand
Rakiura Track
Rakiura National Park, Southland, New Zealand
Whanganui Journey
Whanganui National Park, Manawatū-Whanganui, New Zealand
Abel Tasman Coast Track
Abel Tasman National Park, Nelson Tasman, New Zealand
Hollyford Track
Fiordland National Park, Southland, New Zealand
Frenchmans Cap
Franklin–Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Walls of Jerusalem
Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Federation Peak
Southwest National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Western Arthurs
Southwest National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Mount Anne
Southwest National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Lake Rhona
Franklin–Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Eastern Arthurs
Southwest National Park, Tasmania, Australia
Wilsons Prom Southern Circuit
Wilsons Promontory National Park, Victoria, Australia
Can't get a booking?
We'll watch for you.
Spotbagger checks the Wilsons Prom Lightstation booking page often. The moment a spot opens, we'll tell you.