ACT redirects here. For Waco, Texas' regional airport's IATA code, see Waco; for Ascot's railway station code, see Ascot Canberra was built to be the capital city of Australia, taking up all of Australian Capital Territory surrounded by the southeast of New South Wales. A planned city with national monuments, museums, and galleries all built around large man-made lakes. The bush capital - Canberra is also a great place to enjoy the outdoors, with excellent cycling, gardens, parks, bushwalking and nature reserves.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons contributors.
Queanbeyan is often regarded as Canberra's fifth town centre if you exclude Gungahlin, and in many respects, it has closer connections to the ACT and all major roads towards Queanbeyan pass through the ACT in some way or another, but it is in New South Wales and hence not covered here. The same goes with some other minor towns in the area like Bungendore (though it's accessible via road without going through the ACT) and Wallaroo. The Jervis Bay Territory (JBT) is a small coastal area three hours' drive away.
After a long tussle for supremacy between Melbourne and Sydney, the Australian constitution at federation in 1901 specified that a new Australian capital city would be built between the two, and seven years later the site for what would become Canberra was established. A design competition was held for the city in 1911 which was won by Chicago-based architect Walter Burley Griffin in 1912. The name "Canberra" was made official in 1913, beating out some endearingly wacky contenders including "Sydmelperadbrisho", "Wheatwoolgold" and "Kangaremu".
Canberra is designed for cars and very spread out, so renting a car is the most practical option, particularly if you intend to venture beyond the city center. Public transport is usable but does not cover all points of interest, while renting a bicycle is a great alternative if the weather cooperates. Walking is not a practical option for most visitors. Public transport in Canberra is affordable and generally punctual, with most parts of the city accessible by tram or bus. Journey planning can be undertaken using the Transport Canberra website or MyWay+ app (which also conveniently tells you how many kilojoules you'll burn!). Google Maps or Apple Maps are also usable.
Individual listings can be found in Canberra's district articles 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.
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. Helpfully between Civic and the War Memorial, walk through the Heritage-listed suburb of Reid. Observe the houses with leafy surrounds, the wide roads, little walking paths and recreation areas, in one of the oldest untouched Canberran suburbs. As (some) locals would say: “as Burley Griffin intended”. Geocaching.
Individual listings can be found in Canberra's district articles 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. Just like the rest of Australia, coffee culture in Canberra is strong and Canberrans make good use of their cafes, and as such there are cafes nearly everywhere.
Individual listings can be found in Canberra's district articles Canberra's many bars and clubs will be closed on Sunday nights and early into the week. Civic can appear to be a ghost town but there are areas such as Bunda Street where you will always find some happening funky bars
Canberra is a very safe city and enjoys one of the lowest crime rates in Australia. Take the usual precautions against opportunistic crime, however. Valuables should not be left in sight within unattended cars, especially overnight. Despite its apparent affluence, Canberra has people who live the rough life. Particularly around Civic, it is not unusual to be asked for money. If you simply say that you don't have any money, the beggar will usually move on. Once you leave Civic, Canberra is fairly spread out. For much of the year, evenings can become cold and windy fairly quickly. Don’t count on adequate lighting even in otherwise popular or marked footways/cycleways.
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
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In Aug, Canberra typically sees ~13°C daytime highs and 6 rainy days.
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