Tasmania’s Freycinet Lodge on the island’s sparkling east coast has announced it is the winner in the travel category in the inaugural Marie Claire Sustainability Awards.

Recruiting the help of an esteemed panel of experts, the Marie Claire Sustainability Awards 2024 judges have settled on just eight winners from a list of 28 incredible eco-warriors across a range of categories from fashion and food and wine to travel and design. The full list of winners is available here.

Just 2.5 hours’ drive from Hobart or Launceston, Freycinet Lodge is one of the few accommodation options in the Freycinet National Park, known as the ‘jewel of the east coast’ and characterised by its knuckles of granite mountains surrounded by azure bays and white sand beaches, providing habitat for a superb array of plants and animals.

Freycinet Lodge offers visitors front row seats to the dramatic Hazards Mountains and Oyster Bay and is just a short distance from Wineglass Bay. Clever, environmentally sustainable design allows gets to tread lightly on this precious landscape.

Freycinet Lodge opened in 1932 and has continually invested in infrastructure and operations over the years to ensure its ongoing environmental sustainability and to preserve the landscape for future generations.

All lodge facilities and cabins are linked by raised boardwalks to preserve nature and let the native animals continue exploring. The lodge kitchen has a very local food philosophy, with more than 90 percent of the ingredients on its restaurant menus sourced from Tasmania, all seafood sourced from the east coast, within a 60-kilometre radius and 80 per cent of the wine list from Tasmania.  From Cape Grimm beef and Coles Bay oysters to Freycinet Vineyard Riesling, the lodge’s acclaimed menus and wine list are a love letter to local produce.

Freycinet Lodge is accredited by the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania as part of the 'Australian Tourism Accreditation' program. The lodge also proudly holds an EcoStar Tourism Accreditation for its environmentally friendly operation and small footprint.

In addition, the team at Freycinet Lodge has worked hard to establish the operation as free of single-sue plastics, it has an enviable recycling program in place, it uses energy efficient lighting and equipment and employs water saving equipment and practices.

Freycinet Lodge General Manager Trent Thompson said the team at the lodge prided itself on showing off the area’s great natural beauty while making the smallest eco-impact.

“We place the highest priority on our sustainable practice here at Freycinet Lodge and so it’s a real nod to the whole team to have our efforts recognised in the Marie Claire Awards,” Mr Thompson said.

“We love to see our guests immersing in the rugged beauty of the Freycinet National Park in a way that doesn’t impact on the land and seascape, instead enjoying a swag of outdoor activities from guided walking tours to e-bike riding and kayaking and then returning for a delicious, low food miles dining experience and a taste of Tasmanian’s finest food and wines,” he said.