Your 'Do and Don't' List When Visiting Derby, Tasmania

Derby is Australia’s iconic mountain biking destination. When you visit, you are most definitely going to want to make the most of your stay. Below is our list of ‘do and don’t’ when visiting Derby for your next mountain biking adventure. 

When planning a trip to Tasmania, you become quickly aware that although this island is small, there are many amazing places to experience. 

Derby is a network of hundreds of kilometres of purpose-built mountain biking trails. This means a one-day visit will only just scratch the surface. 

Our most popular luxury adventure mountain biking Experience is our 3-Day Iconic Experience for this reason. On this mountain biking trip, you will get to ride all of Derby’s iconic trails as well as the incredible Blue Tier Trail. Furthermore, having a mountain biking guide will mean less time spent understanding the network, and more time riding the mountain biking trails. 

The image of riding through a deep canopy of ‘green’ has become synonymous with riding in Derby. It is a privilege to have trail that traverses through such landscape, so we highly recommend ensuring you get on some of the longer trails in Derby if you can. Our favourite trails for a deep rainforest riding experience are: 

• Blue Tier Trail – 22km rainforest trail, which also encompasses the amazing Big Chook trail. We ride this trail on all our 3-Day and 4-Day mountain biking Experiences. 
• Atlas Trail – 8km of rainforest which links on to Dam Busters trail. We can ride this trail on all our mountain biking Experiences. 
• First 13km of Bay of Fires Trail – The Bay of Fires Trail’s first 13km is dense, green and delicious rainforest riding. We ride this trail as part of our 4-Day Bay of Fires Experiences. 

The township of Derby is a quaint one street town on the banks of the Ringarooma River. The town itself is a 100% mountain biking town. All the locals, shops and general town infrastructure is centred around bikes… We love bikes! This means we have an unofficial/official rule in Derby… Give way to bikes! Yep, you’ll see them on the road, foot paths and trails, keep your eyes peeled… this town is all about bikes.

The Derby Tunnel is a 400m long tunnel found on a green/beginner trail close to the township of Derby. While you may think this one isn’t for me, given the easier grading of this trail, you can be assured it’s a hit for everyone. Don’t miss this fun and completely unique experience to ride through an old mining tunnel!  

We can find time to ride this the Derby Tunnel on all of our mountain biking Experiences. 

Derby’s mountain biking riding is so good that you can be tempted to just ride... non-stop. Now of course, this is a lot of fun. But sometimes, you just need to stop and take in the surrounds. Some of our favourite spots to stop include; 

• Platypus Spotting at the Ringarooma River – As you ride along the Ringarooma River in Derby, stop for just a moment, cast your eyes over the river and look for bubbles to appear. What you’re trying to spot here is the resident Platypus! 
• Lookouts – Throughout the network, lookouts have been crafted to have you stop and take in the views... Take that moment. We love admiring the Derby township from Sawtooth or the impressive Cascade Valley from De La Vue lookout. 
• Twisties – On the way up Axehead the famous rockwork around the ‘twisties’ trail is so impressive. The craftmanship is worth admiring. 

Branxholm is the small township 10 minutes out of Derby. You can easily just drive straight through Branxholm because you’re itching to get to Derby. But this little town boasts one of the cutest and best providers in the region; Seasons Pantry (2 Scott St, Branxholm). Stocked with small scale, seasonal and local produce, stop in here to stock up on gourmet local produce that can be hard to find elsewhere.

Derby boasts over 80,000 visitors a year and of course, some months are more popular are than others! Don’t be deterred by riding in the cooler months, it can be some of the best riding in the middle of winter. Not to mention, how green the rainforest gets at this time of year.  

As you ride around the Derby Lake, you’ll see Derby’s Floating Sauna. Floating on Derby Lake, this wood-fired sauna is one you should make sure you get time to experience while in Derby. A day of riding followed by a wood-fired sauna is an exceptional day in our books! 

Good news, on any of our mountain biking Experiences you can easily add the Derby Floating Sauna as an extra to your booking. We’ll then organise this sauna for you on your behalf and weave it into your itinerary.