Canberra

Worth seeing in and around Canberra

10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.

1. 01
   National Library of Australia

   The National Library of Australia, formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act 1960 for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the Australian people", thus functioning as a national library. It is located in Parkes, Canberra, ACT. Created in 1960 by the National Library Act, by the end of June 2019 its collection contained 7,717,579 items, with its manuscript material occupying 17,950 metres of shelf space.

   400 m · national reference library in Canberra, Australia · Wikipedia
2. 02
   Australian National University

   The Australian National University is a public research university and member of the Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and institutes.

   1.8 km · national research university in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory · Wikipedia
3. 03
   Australian House of Representatives

   The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.

   1.7 km · lower house of the Parliament of Australia · Wikipedia
4. 04
   Australian Senate

   The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chapter I of the federal constitution as well as federal legislation and constitutional convention.

   1.7 km · Upper house of the Parliament of Australia · Wikipedia
5. 05
   National Gallery of Australia

   The National Gallery of Australia, formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia and one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory, it was established in 1967 by the Australian Government as a national public art museum.

   1.2 km · National art museum in Canberra, Australia · Wikipedia
6. 06
   Parliament House

   Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the legislative branch of Australia's federal tier of government. The building also houses the core of the executive, containing the cabinet room and offices of the prime minister and other federal ministers.

   1.7 km · house of parliament for Australia · Wikipedia
7. 07
   Lake Burley Griffin

   Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was created in 1963 by the damming of the Molonglo River, which formerly ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle.

   1.2 km · man-made lake in Canberra, Australia · Wikipedia
8. 08
   University of Canberra

   The University of Canberra is a public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is 2.5 km from Belconnen Town Centre, and 8.7 km from Canberra's Civic Centre.

   7 km · university in Canberra, Australia · Wikipedia
9. 09
   Australian War Memorial

   The Australian War Memorial is a national war memorial, museum and archive dedicated to all Australians who have died as a result of war, including peacekeeping duties. The AWM is located in Campbell, a suburb of the Australian capital city of Canberra.

   2.4 km · national war memorial and museum in Canberra, Australia · Wikipedia
10. 10
    National Museum of Australia

    The National Museum of Australia is a national public museum in Canberra, Capital Territory, Australia. It is operated and funded by the federal government of Australia.

    500 m · museum in Canberra, Australia · Wikipedia

Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What Wikivoyage says to see

Canberra, as the national capital of Australia, contains a lot of government buildings, and many of them are often open for tours. By far the most significant one is Parliament House in Capital Hill, but other important buildings include the High Court of Australia, Old Parliament House, the Government House, the Royal Australian Mint and The Lodge, though not all of them are always open to the public.

From Wikivoyage: Canberra, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Things to do

See the districts articles for more listings. Ride Canberra's Mountain Bike Trails: There are several locations around Canberra to ride mountain bicycles, many of which are considered some of the best in Australia. See Canberra Off Road Cyclists (CORC) for locations. Canberra is also home to the largest 24-hour Mountain Bike Race in the world, held in early October each year.

From Wikivoyage: Canberra, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Where to eat

Canberra has many fine eateries, but beware – many will be closed on Sundays. There are large clusters of restaurants in Civic, Braddon, Dickson, Kingston and Manuka. An unusual feature of the Canberra dining scene is that some of the city's best restaurants are hidden away in small suburban shopping centres – locals often nominate these as their favourites. All public buildings territory-wide are smoke-free.

From Wikivoyage: Canberra, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.

Getting to Canberra

Airports

Sydney Kingsford Smith (SYD), 240 km

Stations

Canberra Airport, 6.4 km · Canberra railway station, 3.5 km

• Sydney (Mascot) → Canberra

  242 km · quickest by road, 4h 18m · A$34–46
  GuideToday
• Williamtown → Canberra

  371 km · quickest by road, 6h 55m · A$55–75
  GuideToday
• Melbourne → Canberra

  466 km · quickest by road, 9h 55m · A$80–105
  GuideToday
• From anywhere

  The planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
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Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.

No local-transport research exists yet for Canberra

Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Canberra. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.

If you know how people move in Canberra – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.