145 verified places · Good Food Guide 2027 · no MICHELIN stars in the ACT · no Eater coverage
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there by light rail, bus or on foot. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Canberra (Australia) brings together 145 hand-picked places: 60 attractions, 39 restaurants, 24 cafés and 22 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
6 stops · ~4 km · half a day · all free except Questacon · start at the National Capital Exhibition to understand the Griffin plan before you walk it · 7 stops
6 stops · ~5 km · afternoon · the rose gardens are at their peak this week and you close at 16:30 with the Last Post Ceremony · all free · 7 stops
6 stops · ~1.5 km · the L1 light rail stops at Elouera and Ipima Street, on the same strip · start with coffee at 8 and finish with gelato after 21 · 7 stops
6 stops · you need a car or taxi for the Arboretum and Black Mountain · the water jet only runs 11 to 14, build the day around that · 7 stops
6 stops · ideal on a Sunday, which is when the old depot markets are on · ONA and Capital Brewing are in industrial estates: car or taxi · 7 stops
Parliament House · Capital Hill
Australia's Parliament, buried under a grassed hill with an 81 m flagmast on top. Open to the public, free, no booking needed.
Tip: Free entry 9 to 17, but you go through airport-style screening: leave the big pack in the lockers. When the chambers are sitting there's Question Time at 14 — the House of Representatives needs a free ticket collected that same day at reception; the Senate is first in, first served, no ticket. The grass roof is free to walk up and it's the best free lookout along the Griffin axis.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then a bus or a 35 min walk
Featured in: aph.gov.au · National Capital Authority
Show on mapOld Parliament House · Parkes
The 1927 provisional parliament turned into the Museum of Australian Democracy: the old chamber untouched, the prime ministers' corridor and the political cartooning shows.
Tip: Free entry, 9 to 17. HEADS UP: until December 2026 the Prime Minister's Suite, the Speaker's Suite, the Cabinet Room and the Government Party Room are closed for works — that is, several of the rooms people come for. What is open is the chamber, Behind the Lines and the Courtyard Cafe. Expect scaffolding and a crane.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then a 25 min walk across the lake
Featured in: moadoph.gov.au
Show on mapOld Parliament House Rose Gardens · Parkes
The two rose gardens at the old parliament, planted in 1933: more than 4,000 bushes that in November are going off. Free, outdoors, always open.
Tip: November is THE month: the local press called them "in full bloom" on 1 November 2026. There are guided walks on Tuesdays and Sundays through November at 9:30 (ticketed via Eventbrite); wandering the beds on your own costs nothing. Go early: by mid-morning the sun is fierce and the scent has gone.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 25 min on foot
Featured in: National Capital Authority · region.com.au 01-11-2026
Show on mapAustralian War Memorial · Campbell
Australia's most important war memorial and museum. The billion-dollar redevelopment is done: the new Anzac Hall opened on 23 June 2026 with the Afghanistan, Peacekeeping and Middle East galleries.
Tip: Free entry, no ticket, 10 to 17 (galleries start closing at 16). The Last Post Ceremony runs EVERY day at 16:30 in the Commemorative Area and it's the one thing not to miss. Still not open: the pre-1914 galleries and the Discovery Zone, promised for 2028. Poppy's Café, 9 to 16.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or a 45 min walk up Anzac Parade
Featured in: awm.gov.au
Show on mapAnzac Parade · Campbell
The ceremonial avenue of red gravel linking the War Memorial to the lake, lined with memorials to each conflict. The city's strongest visual axis.
Tip: Walk it south to north, with the memorial growing in front of you: that's the framing it was designed for. At dusk the red gravel lights up. Every memorial has its own plaque and they're worth reading; the Vietnam Veterans one and the Nurses Memorial hit hardest.
🚇 20 min on foot from City Bus Station
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapAustralian War Memorial · Campbell
Every afternoon the War Memorial closes with the same ceremony: the story of one soldier from the Roll of Honour is read, the lament sounds and people lay poppies.
Tip: Free, no booking, about 20 minutes. Get there 16:15 to find a spot with a view of the Pool of Reflection. Today, 11 November, Remembrance Day, there's also the National Ceremony at 10:45 on the Parade Ground and the galleries don't open until 13.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station
Featured in: awm.gov.au — programa Remembrance Day 2026
Show on mapNational Gallery of Australia · Parkes
The national collection: the world's largest holding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, plus Pollock's Blue Poles and a sculpture garden on the lake.
Tip: General entry is free (they ask you to book a free ticket online, but it isn't required to get in). The big exhibitions are ticketed separately: don't assume everything inside is free. The Sculpture Garden is open to all and opens before the galleries.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 22 min on foot
Featured in: nga.gov.au
Show on mapNational Portrait Gallery · Parkes
Portraits of Australians, from Ned Kelly to Cathy Freeman, in a concrete-and-timber building that is a visit in itself.
Tip: General entry free; temporary shows are ticketed separately and have concession prices for students and pensioners. From 14 November 2026 Maiden Mother Crone opens, running until May 2027. The Portrait Cafe looks onto a water courtyard and is hardly ever full.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 22 min on foot
Featured in: portrait.gov.au · VisitCanberra
Show on mapNational Museum of Australia · Acton
Australia's story told through objects, in an Ashton Raggatt McDougall building that looks like a knot of coloured ribbons on the Acton peninsula.
Tip: General entry is free and they suggest a $5 donation; special exhibitions are ticketed separately. The Garden of Australian Dreams, outside, is a giant walkable map and the kids love it. The cafe looks over the lake.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 30 min on foot
Featured in: nma.gov.au
Show on mapQuestacon · Parkes
The national science centre: a 6 m free fall, a tornado, a simulated earthquake and 200 things to touch. The national museum kids ask to do twice.
Tip: THIS ONE YOU PAY FOR, and it's the exception among the nationals: $24.50 adult and $18.90 child online, a bit less at the door ($23 and $17.50). Under 4s free. Family of 2+3 for $73.40 online. Book online if you're going on a weekend or a public holiday.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: questacon.edu.au
Show on mapNational Library of Australia · Parkes
The national library, with Leonard French's stained glass, Cook's journal and rotating displays of documentary treasures.
Tip: The exhibition galleries are free. Go up to the first floor: the Main Reading Room holds one of the best silences in town and you can look down from the balcony without a reader's card. Bookplate, the cafe under the stained glass, is a stop in its own right.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: nla.gov.au
Show on mapNational Archives of Australia · Parkes
Where the Australian Constitution lives, along with the paperwork that built the country. Small, free and surprisingly good.
Tip: Free. It's in the art deco old post office building, half a block from the National Portrait Gallery: it chains perfectly with the National Gallery in a single morning. Check the hours first, because it closes earlier than the others.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 25 min on foot
Featured in: naa.gov.au
Show on mapNational Film & Sound Archive · Acton
The country's audiovisual archive, in an art deco building with a mosaic foyer worth the trip on its own. It has its own cinema, the ARC.
Tip: Entry to the building and the displays is free; ARC Cinema sessions are ticketed. The Spring Film Series runs until 30 November 2026. Ask to see the foyer even if you go into nothing else: it's from 1931 and it's untouched.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 14 min on foot
Featured in: nfsa.gov.au · HerCanberra
Show on mapRoyal Australian Mint · Deakin
Where Australian coins are struck. From the gallery walkway you watch the robots working and you can press your own collector coin.
Tip: Entry to the museum and the walkway is free; striking your own coin on the public press costs extra (a few dollars, cash or card at the machine). Production runs Monday to Friday: on the weekend you'll see the line sitting still. It's in Deakin, well away from the triangle — a car or taxi is the way.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or a 12 min taxi
Featured in: ramint.gov.au
Show on mapHigh Court of Australia · Parkes
The highest court, a brutalist block of concrete and glass on the lake with a 24 m hall and a ramp that climbs like a cliff face.
Tip: Free, walk in without booking. If a public hearing is on you can sit in the courtroom — it's posted on the board at the entrance. The outside ramp seen from the lake is the shot everybody takes home.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 22 min on foot
Featured in: hcourt.gov.au
Show on mapReconciliation Place · Parkes
A sequence of sculptures on the lake axis about the history of, and reconciliation with, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Tip: These are sculptures with text: read them, don't just look. It sits between the National Library and the National Gallery, so it falls into any walk of the triangle on its own. Free and no opening hours.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapAboriginal Tent Embassy · Parkes
The longest continuous protest in the world: since 1972, facing the old parliament, demanding sovereignty and land rights. It's a living political site, not an attraction.
Tip: This is an Aboriginal activists' camp, not a museum: look from the path, don't photograph people without asking, and don't approach the ceremonial fire unless you're invited. The traditional custodians of this country are the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 25 min on foot
Featured in: Australian Heritage Database
Show on mapNational Carillon · Parkes
The 50 m bell tower on Aspen Island, a British gift for Canberra's 50th birthday. It rings out over the water and carries right across the lake.
Tip: There are scheduled recitals: if you miss one, it still chimes the quarter hour. You get there on foot over the footbridge from Kings Park. Aspen Island is a textbook spring picnic and costs nothing.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 30 min on foot around the lake
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapCaptain Cook Memorial Jet · Parkes
The lake's water jet, which shoots up to 152 m with both pumps running. It was switched on 25 April 1970 and it's still Canberra's postcard.
Tip: THE KEY FACT: it runs 11 to 14 and that's it — turn up at 15 and there's nothing to see. In strong wind it shuts itself off, because the spray lands on the Commonwealth Avenue bridge. The best view is from Regatta Point; if the wind is coming at you, you'll get wet.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 15 min on foot to the north shore of the lake
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapLake Burley Griffin · Yarralumla
The lake is NOT natural: it was made by damming the Molonglo River with Scrivener Dam and filled in 1963-64. 35 km of shoreline with cycle paths that are the best way to see the city.
Tip: Hire a bike at Kingston Foreshore or in Acton and do the Central Basin loop (5 km, flat, signposted). In November the water sometimes carries an algae warning: if there's a sign up, don't get in and don't let the dog drink. Swimming was never the plan here.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot to the north shore
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapScrivener Dam · Yarralumla
The dam that created the lake: 33 m high, with drum gates you can see from below and a lookout up top.
Tip: You cross over the top by car and there's a signposted lookout on the Arboretum side. From below, on the Lindsay Pryor Arboretum track, you see the whole wall. Free.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station and then a walk, or drive
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapMount Ainslie Lookout · Ainslie
The lookout that sorts Canberra out: from up here the War Memorial – Anzac Parade – lake – Parliament House axis clicks into place at once. 843 m above sea level.
Tip: You can drive all the way to the summit. On foot the track starts behind the War Memorial: 2.5 km, an hour, with a decent climb. In November go early or at dusk; at midday there's no shade. At dawn there's often fog over the lake and it's the best photo of the year.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the War Memorial, then 1 h on the track, or drive to the top
Featured in: ACT Parks
Show on mapRed Hill Lookout · Red Hill
The southern lookout: from here you see Parliament House head-on with the lake and Black Mountain behind it. Fewer people than Ainslie.
Tip: You get there by car up Red Hill Drive. Roos on the hillside at dusk are close to guaranteed: keep your distance, especially if there are joeys. The restaurant up top opens and closes with the season — don't count on it.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Manuka, then a 35 min climb, or drive
Featured in: ACT Parks
Show on mapBlack Mountain Tower · Acton
The 195 m communications tower crowning Black Mountain. ⚠️ IT HAS BEEN CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC since July 2021 and is still closed: you cannot go up to the lookout or the revolving restaurant.
Tip: Don't let anyone sell it to you: it's been shut for more than five years. The agreement signed in July 2026 talks about reopening "in summer 2027-28", but it's subject to approvals and deliveries and has already slipped several times — treat it as an intention, not a date. Meanwhile, the equivalent free view is Black Mountain Lookout, steps from the summit, or Mount Ainslie outright.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the base, then car or walking track
Featured in: Canberra Times 30-07-2026 · ABC News 24-01-2026
Show on mapBlack Mountain Lookout · Acton
The lookout at the top of Black Mountain, at the foot of the closed tower. Free, open, and with the same panorama west over the lake.
Tip: Drive up Black Mountain Drive or walk the Black Mountain Summit Walk from the Botanic Gardens (about 50 min of steady climbing). Take water: November afternoons bite.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the base, then 1 h on the track
Featured in: ACT Parks
Show on mapAustralian National Botanic Gardens · Acton
The most complete living collection of native Australian flora: eucalypts, the Red Centre Garden with its red sand, and a Rainforest Gully kept under artificial mist.
Tip: Entry is free. The Rainforest Gully is the perfect shelter when the sun bites or the rain comes. In November the late wattles and the banksias are out; the Red Centre Garden is the most photogenic corner. Free guided walks at 11 and 14, leaving from the visitor centre.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 35 min on foot from the ANU
Featured in: Australian National Botanic Gardens
Show on mapNational Arboretum Canberra · Molonglo Valley
A hundred forests of a hundred species planted on the ashes of the 2003 bushfires. The Himalayan Cedar Forest and the national bonsai collection are what make it odd.
Tip: Free, open every day. Walk up to Dairy Farmers Hill: it's the most open view in Canberra and it's barely any walk from the car park. The Village Centre has coffee and the only decent toilets on site.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 15 min by car
Featured in: National Arboretum Canberra
Show on mapPod Playground · Molonglo Valley
The Arboretum's giant acorns and nests, in timber and steel, with slides coming out of tree trunks. Award-winning design and better than 90% of the playgrounds in the world.
Tip: Free. There's almost no shade: in November bring a hat and sunscreen, or go after 16. There are picnic tables and free electric barbies alongside.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the Arboretum, or by car
Featured in: National Arboretum Canberra
Show on mapNational Bonsai and Penjing Collection of Australia · Molonglo Valley
The national bonsai and penjing collection, inside the Arboretum: seventy-year-old dwarf eucalypts and pines that came from China.
Tip: Free, opens with the Arboretum. The specimens on show rotate: there's always something different. If it interests you, go on a weekday and you'll find the curators at work and happy to explain.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the Arboretum
Featured in: National Arboretum Canberra
Show on mapNational Zoo and Aquarium · Yarralumla
A private zoo and aquarium on the lake, small but with white lions, cheetahs and the option of feeding the giraffes.
Tip: You pay to get in and it isn't cheap. The animal encounters (giraffe, lion, cheetah) are booked separately and sell out: if you want one, book days ahead. This is a private zoo, not a national museum: nothing here is free.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 12 min by car
Featured in: National Zoo & Aquarium
Show on mapCanberra Museum and Gallery · City
The city's museum, not the country's: art and memory of the ACT, with the Sidney Nolan collection and local shows you won't see in the nationals.
Tip: Free. It's right in Civic, in the same building as the library: the most comfortable rain stop in the centre. The Hop In! show closes on 22 November 2026.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 4 min on foot
Featured in: Canberra Museum and Gallery · HerCanberra
Show on mapThe Canberra Glassworks · Kingston
Australia's only hot glass centre open to the public, in Kingston's 1915 powerhouse. You watch the blowers working a few steps from you.
Tip: Walking in to watch is free; the "make your own piece" workshops are paid and booked. The blowers work Wednesday to Sunday — on Monday and Tuesday you'll find the furnace cold. The shop sells pieces by the resident artists and is the one real souvenir of Canberra.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston, or 10 min on foot from the Foreshore
Featured in: Canberra Glassworks
Show on mapDrill Hall Gallery - 29 · Acton
The national university's gallery, in a 1940 military drill hall. Arthur Boyd's Riverbend panels hang here permanently.
Tip: Free. Closed Monday and Tuesday, check first. Boyd's nine Riverbend panels have a room to themselves and you'll almost always have it to yourself: it's one of Canberra's real secrets.
🚇 ANU Bus Stop, Transport Canberra bus, 6 min on foot
Featured in: ANU Drill Hall Gallery
Show on mapNishi Gallery · NewActon
The NewActon block: the Nishi building in recycled timber, arthouse cinema, gallery, hotel and the best cafes in the centre packed into 300 m².
Tip: You can climb the Nishi's recycled timber staircase without being a hotel guest and it's the most repeated Canberra photo on Instagram. Palace Electric screens independent film. The whole precinct takes 20 minutes to walk and it's steps from the lake.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: Molonglo · Palace Electric
Show on mapLonsdale Street · Braddon
The street that broke the myth that Canberra is all offices: converted warehouses with breweries, coffee roasters, designer clothes and food courts.
Tip: The tram stops literally on the street: Elouera Street and Ipima Street drop you half a block away. Thursday to Saturday night is when it fires up. Almost everything sits between Elouera and Mort: you never need to walk more than three blocks.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street or Ipima Street, in the heart of Braddon
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapKingston Foreshore · Kingston
The redeveloped waterfront on the lake: jetties, restaurants with tables on the water, gelato and, on Sundays, the markets in the old bus depot.
Tip: It's the best easy-to-reach sunset in Canberra in November, when it stays light past 20. Tables on the water fill from 18: book or go early. There's bike and kayak hire at the jetty.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapOld Bus Depot Markets · Kingston
The makers' and food markets in Kingston's old bus depot. 200 stalls, every Sunday, under cover.
Tip: Verified: it has NOT moved or changed name — it's still at 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston Foreshore, every Sunday. It's under cover, so it's the Sunday rain plan. On 22 November 2026 they run the "Jewel of Canberra" edition, 9:30 to 14:30.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: obdm.com.au
Show on mapExhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) · Mitchell
The showground in the north: this is where the Saturday farmers market lands, plus Summernats in January and the big fairs of the year.
Tip: The Capital Region Farmers Market runs Saturdays 7:00 to 11:30 and it really does CLOSE EARLY: turn up at 11 and they're already packing down. The tram stops at the gate, so you don't need a car.
🚇 Light rail L1 to EPIC and Racecourse, its own stop right at the gate
Featured in: capitalregionfarmersmarket.com.au
Show on mapHaig Park · Turner
The strip of pines planted in the 1920s as a windbreak, now a linear park with Sunday markets and a nature playground.
Tip: The Haig Park Village Market runs Sunday mornings and it's a local thing, not a tourist one: coffee, bread, veg. The park sits between Braddon and the centre, so it falls on your way if you're around Lonsdale Street.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Ipima Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: ACT Government
Show on mapCommonwealth Park · Parkes
The big park on the north shore, with Nerang Pool, the rose beds and the pedal boats. It's where Floriade is built every spring.
Tip: If you came for Floriade: the 2026 edition ran from 12 September to 11 October and has closed — in November the park is just a park, no tulips. The good news is that the Old Parliament House rose gardens are at their peak right now and they're free. Come back in September for Floriade.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: events.act.gov.au · HerCanberra 02-09-2026
Show on mapLennox Gardens · Yarralumla
Canberra's Japanese garden, a gift from sister city Nara, on the south shore of the lake. Stone lanterns, cherry trees and still water.
Tip: Free and always open. It's the quietest spot on the lake midweek. In November the cherry blossom is done, but the maples and the water carry it anyway. The Canberra Nara Candle Festival is held here, in October.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 25 min on foot around the lake
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapWeston Park · Yarralumla
The picnic park on the Yarralumla peninsula: free barbies, a miniature railway, a sandy beach and genuine shade.
Tip: The electric barbies are free and they work: this is the textbook Australian picnic. The miniature railway runs Sundays and public holidays. There's real shade, which is rare in Canberra.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Yarralumla, or by car
Featured in: ACT Parks
Show on mapBlundells Cottage · Parkes
An 1860 stone cottage, older than Canberra itself, left standing in the middle of the lakeside park. It shows how people lived here before the capital.
Tip: It opens only a few days and a few hours a week — check before you cross the lake, because it's easy to arrive and find it shut. You can still see it from outside and the contrast with the national buildings around it is the point.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 25 min on foot
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapNational Capital Exhibition · Parkes
The room that tells how Canberra was chosen and designed, with the model of Walter and Marion Griffin's plan. Free, small, and the best first stop.
Tip: Free. Do this FIRST: everything else makes sense afterwards. It's at Regatta Point, which is also the best place to watch the lake jet between 11 and 14.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot to the north shore
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapRegatta Point Lookout · Parkes
The balcony over the Central Basin: from here the axis towards Parliament House closes perfectly and the water jet sits straight ahead of you.
Tip: Come between 11 and 14, which is when the jet runs. There's coffee and toilets. The lakeside walk east starts here and drops you at the Carillon in half an hour.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: National Capital Authority
Show on mapMount Ainslie Nature Reserve · Ainslie
The reserve wrapping the mountain: eucalypts, kangaroos at dusk, screeching cockatoos and marked tracks that start in the city.
Tip: The roos come out at dusk on the lower slopes and are easy to see without leaving the city. Since 1 October 2026 the ACT bushfire season has been on: before taking on a long track, check the day's Fire Danger Rating on the ACT Emergency Services site, and on total fire ban days no fires and no barbies.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the War Memorial
Featured in: ACT Parks · ACT ESA
Show on mapJerrabomberra Wetlands Nature Reserve · Fyshwick
A protected wetland on the edge of the lake, with bird hides and a lagoon that fills with migratory species in spring.
Tip: Free entry, open during daylight. November is a good month: the northern hemisphere migrants arrive. Bring binoculars; the hides are signposted and free. Mozzies at dusk, bring repellent.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: Jerrabomberra Wetlands
Show on mapMount Stromlo Observatory · Mount Stromlo
The ANU observatory on the western ridge, wiped out by the 2003 bushfires. What's left are the ruins of the historic domes and a heritage trail.
Tip: IMPORTANT: the Visitor Centre and the cafe are CLOSED, with no reopening date. What is open is the grounds and the Heritage Trail, every day 8 to 18, free, and the Director's Residence 9 to 17. Public astronomy nights are announced separately and must be booked. Don't go expecting a museum.
🚇 No useful bus: from City Bus Station it's a car or taxi, about 25 min
Featured in: RSAA — ANU
Show on mapGovernment House · Yarralumla
The Governor-General's residence, on the lake. You can't go in except on open days, but there's a public lookout over the house and the gardens.
Tip: The house only opens on specific days announced months ahead. The Government House Lookout, on the other hand, is public and free all year: from there you see the house, the lake and the gardens. Don't waste the trip hoping to get inside.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Yarralumla, or by car
Featured in: gg.gov.au
Show on mapYarralumla Woolshed · Yarralumla
The 1904 shearing shed, older than the capital, still standing in the middle of the diplomatic suburbs. It's used for bush dances and events.
Tip: From the outside you can see it any time; inside, only when something's on. The bush dances held here are open to all and cheap, and they're worth far more than any show put on for tourists. Check what's on before you go.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Yarralumla
Featured in: ACT Historic Places
Show on mapCalthorpes House · Red Hill
A 1927 house built for a real estate agent of founding-era Canberra, kept with EVERYTHING still inside: furniture, crockery, clothes. A literal time capsule.
Tip: Open only a few days a week and by guided tour; there's a small entry fee. Check the ACT Historic Places hours before you go, because it's easy to find it closed. Worth it: there aren't many houses like this left in Australia.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Manuka, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: ACT Historic Places
Show on mapAinslie Arts Centre · Braddon
A 1927 hall turned into a chamber music and small-concert venue, in Braddon.
Tip: Chamber music, jazz and local projects at prices well under Sydney's. Check what's on: it doesn't open unless there's a show.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: Ainslie + Gorman Arts Centres
Show on mapGorman Arts Centre · Braddon
Braddon's arts centre, in a cluster of 1920s buildings: artists' studios, a small theatre and free galleries.
Tip: The galleries are free. If you land on an open-studio day you can go in and talk to the artists. The courtyard with the old trees is a lovely place to sit without buying a thing.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: Ainslie + Gorman Arts Centres
Show on mapCanberra Theatre · City
The city's main theatre complex: the big house, the Playhouse and the Courtyard Studio, with a season of theatre, dance and music.
Tip: National tours stop here and tickets cost quite a bit less than in Sydney or Melbourne. It's attached to the Canberra Museum and Gallery and Civic Square: easy to combine with a rainy afternoon.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 5 min on foot
Featured in: Canberra Theatre Centre
Show on mapLlewellyn Hall · City
The concert hall of the ANU school of music, with some of the best acoustics in Australia and free student concerts.
Tip: Look for the student recitals: they're free or close to it, the standard is high, and they're posted on the school of music noticeboard. Professional concerts are ticketed but still cheap.
🚇 ANU Bus Stop, Transport Canberra bus, 4 min on foot
Featured in: ANU School of Music
Show on mapPalace Electric · NewActon
NewActon's arthouse cinema, with good seats, a bar inside and independent programming that never reaches the chains.
Tip: You can take your glass into the cinema. It's in the same precinct as Monster and Mocan & Green Grout: dinner and a session without leaving the block. Late sessions on weekends.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: Palace Cinemas
Show on mapCanberra Airport · Canberra Airport
The airport, 8 km from the centre, small and quick. There's an art collection in the terminal that nobody looks at.
Tip: There's no light rail to the airport: you get in on a Transport Canberra bus or in a taxi (15 minutes to the centre, a reasonable fixed fare). Look at the walls in the departures area: there's real contemporary Australian work there, not decoration.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus to City Bus Station, about 20 min
Featured in: Canberra Airport
Show on mapCockington Green Gardens · Nicholls
Gardens of miniature buildings, half British replicas and half international pavilions, north of Gungahlin. Seventies kitsch, well kept.
Tip: You pay to get in. It's a half-day plan with kids and it works better than it sounds. It's right next to the National Dinosaur Museum and the Canberra Walk in Aviary: you can do all three in a morning.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Gungahlin Place, then a bus or taxi, 10 min
Featured in: Cockington Green
Show on mapNational Dinosaur Museum · Nicholls
A private dinosaur museum in Gold Creek, with full-scale skeletons and a garden of figures outside.
Tip: It's private and ticketed and has nothing to do with the free national museums in the triangle: don't confuse the two. With small kids it works; with teenagers, probably not.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Gungahlin Place, then a bus or taxi, 10 min
Featured in: National Dinosaur Museum
Show on mapThe TARDIS · Red Hill
A blue police box identical to the one in Doctor Who, planted on a residential corner south of the lake. Nobody quite knows why, and it's become a pilgrimage.
Tip: It's a corner in a residential street, not an attraction with opening hours: take the photo, keep the noise down and respect the neighbours. It's ten minutes on foot from Manuka, so chain it with a coffee.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Manuka, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: Atlas Obscura · prensa local
Show on mapPilot · Ainslie
The ACT's only TWO-hat restaurant — Chef Hats are the Good Food Guide's rating, and two is the top score in the territory: a tasting menu of regional produce, house-fermented vegetables and a very serious southern-hemisphere wine list. In a suburban shopfront in Ainslie.
Tip: It's the best restaurant in Canberra according to the current guide and it has few tables: book weeks out. It's on a corner in Ainslie with no big sign, in Wakefield Gardens — don't look for it in the city centre.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then a bus or taxi, 8 min
Featured in: Good Food Guide 2027 — 2 Chef Hats
Show on mapBar Rochford · City
A first-floor wine bar in the city centre, with a huge natural list and a kitchen that punches far harder than a wine bar's should.
Tip: It's on the first floor of the Melbourne Building and the entrance is a narrow door that's easy to walk straight past: look for 65 London Circuit, the street address. They don't take late bookings for small groups — go early or wait at the bar.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 4 min on foot
Featured in: Good Food Guide 2027 — 1 Chef Hat
Show on mapSuch and Such · City
Produce-driven cooking in the city centre, with a wood grill and a short menu that changes often. It won New Restaurant of the Year in its day and has held its hat.
Tip: The bar facing the kitchen is the best seat and you can get it without a booking if you go early. Short menu: go with whatever they recommend, it changes with what comes in.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: Good Food Guide 2027 — 1 Chef Hat
Show on mapRebel Rebel · NewActon
A chef's restaurant in Acton with a short tasting menu, ferments and local produce. One of the year's new hats.
Tip: Few tables and, some nights, a single sitting: book. It's in the NewActon block, so pair it with a session at Palace Electric.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: Good Food Guide 2027 — 1 Chef Hat
Show on mapParanormal Wine Room · Campbell
A small, dark wine bar in Campbell, with a list of very odd naturals and sharing plates that earned it a hat.
Tip: It fits a bit over thirty people: walking in at night without a booking is hard. If you're chancing it, 17:30 on a weekday is your window. It's in the Campbell shops, not in the city centre.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Campbell
Featured in: Good Food Guide 2027 — 1 Chef Hat
Show on mapOnzieme · Kingston
A French bistro in Kingston doing the classics properly: terrines, sauces actually reduced, and a French wine list you don't get here.
Tip: It has the 11e cave wine bar right alongside, same team: if there's no table, you eat just as well at the bar. Book for weekends.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra · prensa gastronómica local
Show on mapBeltana Farm · Pialligo
A farm restaurant in Pialligo, with its own kitchen garden in full view and fire cooking. It took its first Chef Hat this year.
Tip: It's out in Pialligo, in the smallholding belt beside the airport: you drive or take a taxi, there's no practical transport. The same group (Armada) took over Pialligo Estate and runs The Boat House. Book: weekend lunch goes fast.
🚇 No useful bus: from City Bus Station it's a car or taxi, 15 min
Featured in: Good Food Guide 2027 — 1 Chef Hat
Show on mapAubergine · Griffith
A Griffith fine-dining classic, with a tasting menu and one of the deepest Australian wine lists in town. A local institution.
Tip: It isn't on the 2027 hats list: that doesn't take it off the map, but don't sell it as "hatted" — tell people it's a Griffith classic with a tasting menu. Book.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Manuka, then 8 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapCourgette Restaurant · City
Fine dining in the city centre, one of Canberra's longest-running, with multi-course menus and formal service. Where the city celebrates things.
Tip: It's formal: a shirt or something like it. The weekday lunch menu is the cheap way to try it. Book, especially when parliament is sitting.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapThe Boat House by the Lake · Barton
A restaurant on the water on Menindee Drive, with windows onto the lake and produce-led cooking. Same group as Beltana Farm.
Tip: Ask for a window table when you book or there's no point coming. Lunch in daylight beats dinner. In November, with the long days, the 18:30 table gives you the whole sunset.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapMonster · NewActon
The restaurant of the Ovolo Nishi hotel, in the recycled timber foyer. Modern Australian cooking with a lot of vegetables and a bar that runs late.
Tip: Open from brekkie through to late: one of the few places in the centre where you can eat well at 15. The space is half the experience — ask to sit in the foyer, not in the back room.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra · Ovolo Nishi
Show on mapAkiba · City
Loud, fast pan-Asian in the city centre, with a bar open onto the kitchen, dumplings and cocktails. The place that filled Bunda Street.
Tip: No bookings for small groups: put your name down and have a drink across the road while you wait. The bar facing the wok is the best seat. Go at 17:30 or after 21 if you don't want a queue.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapLazy Su · Braddon
A neon-lit izakaya on Lonsdale Street: Korean fried chicken, sushi sandwiches and a highball bar. The most Instagrammed room in Braddon.
Tip: The neon wall at the back is the photo that gets around. No small bookings at night: go early. They have Baby Su, a smaller version, in the city centre, if you can't get in here.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra · prensa local
Show on mapItalian and Sons · Braddon
A Braddon trattoria with a wood-fired oven, house-made pasta and a no-nonsense Italian menu. One of those that never lets you down.
Tip: The wood oven is in full view and the pizzas come out right. Book on weekends. It shares a doorway with Hopscotch, so the pre-drinks and the wind-down sort themselves out.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapMezzalira Ristorante · City
White-tablecloth Italian in the Melbourne Building, with signature pasta and an Italian wine list. Where political Canberra eats.
Tip: Watch who's eating at the next table when parliament is sitting: it's a local sport. The weekday lunch menu is the best value in the city centre.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 4 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapChairman Yip · Barton
A historic modern Chinese of Canberra, now in Barton: crispy duck, chef-driven Cantonese dishes and old-school service.
Tip: It's been in town for decades and it has moved: today it's in Barton, not in the city centre. The duck is what you order. Book if you're coming with a group.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then a bus or taxi to Barton
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapLanterne Rooms · Campbell
Malay-Chinese in the Campbell shops, same group as Chairman & Yip. Nyonya cooking done with precision.
Tip: It's in a suburban shopping strip and from outside it promises nothing: inside it's one of the best Asian restaurants in town. Book, it has few tables.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Campbell
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapRaku Japanese Bar & Restaurant · City
Modern Japanese on Bunda Street: robata, sushi and a long bar. One of the ones the city uses for a night out in a group.
Tip: Order off the robata, which is what they do well. It's steps from Akiba: if one has a queue, the other solves it. Midweek you'll get a table without booking.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapAssembly · Braddon
A Braddon bar and kitchen in a high warehouse, with local beer, sharing plates and long tables. The city's after-work spot.
Tip: Thursday and Friday after 17 is where half of Braddon meets. Long shared tables: if you're on your own, eating at the bar is no drama.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapBentspoke · Braddon
The brewery that put Canberra on the craft map: the plant in full view on Mort Street, and the Crankshaft IPA that now sells right across Australia.
Tip: The Mort Street brewpub has the tanks behind the bar and taps that never leave the building. Get the tasting paddle if it's your first time. No bookings: go early on a Friday.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 4 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra · The Crafty Pint
Show on mapCapital Brewing Co · Fyshwick
A big brewery on Dairy Road, Fyshwick, with a huge beer garden, dogs welcome and Brodburger inside. Canberra's Sunday afternoon plan.
Tip: It's an industrial shed with a garden alongside: in November the garden is the place. Brodburger works out of the building, so you eat well without leaving. Families and dogs turn up; Sunday afternoons it's packed.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Fyshwick, or 12 min by taxi
Featured in: VisitCanberra · The Crafty Pint
Show on mapBrodburger · Kingston
Canberra's cult burger, born in a little red caravan by the lake and today inside the Glassworks at Kingston.
Tip: The Glassworks site has outdoor tables by the lake. There's a queue at peak times and it moves slowly because everything is made to order: allow half an hour. They're also inside Capital Brewing.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapDurham Castle Arms · Kingston
An English pub in Kingston, from 1926, with a fireplace, beer on tap and a pub grill. Canberra's old pub.
Tip: In November you won't need the fireplace, but you will want the courtyard: it's one of the best in Kingston. It's in Green Square, steps from the Sunday markets.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapDickson Taphouse · Dickson
A Dickson pub with a lot of rotating taps from small Australian breweries, right in the heart of the Asian precinct.
Tip: It's the beer stop before or after eating in Dickson: there are twenty Asian restaurants in the two blocks around it. The tram drops you four minutes away.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Dickson Interchange, 4 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapDickson Asian Noodle House · Dickson
The absolute classic of Canberra's Asian precinct: laksa, noodles and fried rice, cheap, fast and full since 1995.
Tip: The laksa is what you order. No bookings, and at 19 there's a queue on the footpath. Cash or card, but the queue shows no mercy: go 17:30 or 20:30.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Dickson Interchange, 4 min on foot
Featured in: prensa gastronómica local
Show on mapHanok Korean Fine BBQ · Dickson
Korean table barbecue in Dickson, with extractors over every table and unlimited banchan.
Tip: You'll walk out smelling of smoke: don't wear the good shirt. Two people minimum for the barbecue to be worth it. Book Friday and Saturday.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Dickson Interchange, 4 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapPho Phu Quoc · Dickson
Vietnamese pho from the places that opened Dickson up to Asian food. Long-cooked broth, cheap and open all day.
Tip: Order the pho tai with the broth on the side if you like the beef barely seared. It's casual, fast and always full at lunchtime. Dickson packs about twenty Asian places into two blocks: walk around before deciding.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Dickson Interchange, 5 min on foot
Featured in: prensa gastronómica local
Show on mapOTIS Dining Hall · Kingston
A neighbourhood bistro in Kingston with French-Australian cooking, house bread and a timber room that fills every night.
Tip: Book: it has few tables and the suburb has adopted it. The menu changes with the season; in November the regional asparagus and broad beans show up.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapAgostinis Italian Restaurant · Griffith
The Italian at hotel East in Kingston, with fresh pasta and Roman-style pizza. Open, loud and well executed.
Tip: It's inside hotel East but it works like a neighbourhood restaurant. Joe's Bar, same group, is steps away and makes the best Negronis around. Book on weekends.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapJoe's Bar · Griffith
The Italian bar at hotel East, with a terrace, Negronis and spritz. Kingston's aperitivo.
Tip: The terrace is the place in November, when the light holds past 20. No bookings on the terrace: get there before 18 to grab a table.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapHopscotch · Braddon
A Braddon bar with an internal garden, plenty of local beer and snacking food. The most pleasant garden in the precinct.
Tip: The courtyard is what you're after: in November, at dusk, it's the best spot in Braddon. It shares a doorway with Italian and Sons.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapBar Beirut · City
Modern Lebanese in the city centre, with mezze, bread straight out of the oven and arak. Loud music and tables close together.
Tip: Order the full mezze to share: one by one the dishes lose the point. It's loud on purpose. Midweek you walk in without booking.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapeightysix · Braddon
Open kitchen and a short menu in Braddon, one of the places that pushed the precinct along a decade ago. A blackboard of dishes that rotates daily.
Tip: Sit at the bar facing the kitchen. The blackboard rules: if they suggest something that wasn't on it, order that. No bookings on weekends.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapPomegranate Restaurant · Kingston
Mediterranean-Persian in Kingston, with lamb, rice dishes and outdoor tables. Accessible menu and generous serves.
Tip: It's in Green Square, the heart of old Kingston (not the Foreshore). The outside tables in November are the best plan. It works well for groups.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapRubicon Restaurant · Griffith
Griffith fine dining, long-running and discreet, with a tasting menu and formal service. One of those holding the scene up for decades.
Tip: It's in a suburban shopping strip in Griffith and you can't see it from the road. Book: few tables and a regular clientele.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Manuka, then 10 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapHellenic Club Civic · City
Canberra's Greek club, with a restaurant open to anyone: souvlaki, fish and a real taverna in the middle of the city.
Tip: It's a social club, not a tourist restaurant: you sign in as a visitor at the door, it's free and takes two minutes. The annual Greek Festival comes out of here. Prices are club prices, not restaurant prices.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 7 min on foot
Featured in: Hellenic Club of Canberra
Show on mapEl Torogoz · Griffith
Salvadoran in Manuka: hand-made pupusas, fried cassava and horchata. Small, family-run and well loved.
Tip: Order the pupusas revueltas and the curtido that comes alongside. It's small and family-run: at night it fills with bookings. One of the few genuinely Latin American places in town.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Manuka
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapLager House by Capital Brewing Co · Parkes
An open-air beer hall on Constitution Avenue, opened in 2026 by Capital Brewing: lagers, sausages and long tables under the trees.
Tip: It's new: it opened in 2026 and isn't in any guide yet. It's on the way to the War Memorial along Constitution Avenue, so it chains well after the Last Post Ceremony.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 15 min on foot
Featured in: ACT Government — 30 nuevos lugares para comer 2026
Show on mapGelato Messina · Braddon
The cult Australian gelato shop, with flavours that rotate every week and queues on the footpath on Lonsdale Street.
Tip: The special flavours change every week and go up on the board: ask what this week's are before you default to the classics. Open late on weekends.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapONA Coffee House · Fyshwick
The home of ONA, the roastery of Sasa Sestic — 2015 World Barista Champion. This is where you taste the coffee that makes Canberra, genuinely, a coffee capital.
Tip: HERE'S THE POINT: Sestic started roasting in a Canberra garage in 2008 and won the world barista title in 2015. Order a filter from the reserve series, not a flat white. It's in a Fyshwick industrial estate and you can't walk there from the centre.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Fyshwick, or 12 min by taxi
Featured in: onacoffee.com.au · World Barista Championship 2015
Show on mapThe Cupping Room · City
ONA's flagship in the city centre: a filter bar running several origins at once, solid Australian brunch and baristas who compete.
Tip: It's ONA, the same house as the Fyshwick roastery, and it's the easy way to try it without leaving the centre. There's a queue for weekend brunch between 9 and 11: go at 8 or after 13. Ask for the tasting flight if you want to compare origins.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 4 min on foot
Featured in: onacoffee.com.au · VisitCanberra
Show on mapBarrio Collective Coffee · Braddon
A Braddon roaster and cafe, one of those that pushed third wave coffee in Canberra. Small room, a filter list that rotates and its own pastry.
Tip: It really is small: eight tables. If it's full, Lonsdale Street Roasters across the way sorts you out. Ask what they're running through the V60 that day, don't just order off the fixed board.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra · prensa de especialidad
Show on mapMocan & Green Grout · NewActon
The NewActon cafe: house bread, eggs, vegetables from nearby growers and a pale timber room that defines the city's aesthetic.
Tip: Weekend brunch has a good half-hour wait: midweek it's the same place without the queue. It's on the same block as Palace Electric and Monster.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 12 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapLonsdale St Roasters · Fyshwick
The roaster that gave the street its name. These days the roastery is in Fyshwick, open to the public, alongside the Braddon shops.
Tip: This address is the Fyshwick roastery, where you see the machine at work and buy fresh beans. The Braddon shops, on Lonsdale Street, are the ones you know and they sit right on the light rail line.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Fyshwick, or 12 min by taxi
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapTwo Before Ten · City
A local chain with its own farm: they roast, bake and grow part of what they serve. Textbook Australian brunch with sourdough bread.
Tip: They have several sites and all of them work; this is the city one and the easiest to fit into a morning of museums. The bread and the eggs are what to order. They open early.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapTemporada Cafe · City
Cafe and restaurant on Marcus Clarke Street, with seasonal-produce brunch and a kitchen that changes register at night.
Tip: It's a cafe at midday and a restaurant at night: the menu changes completely. For brunch, book on the weekend; midweek you walk in with no trouble.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapHigh Road · Dickson
A Dickson cafe with its own roasting, pastry and a light-filled room. Some of the best flat whites in the north of the city.
Tip: The tram drops you four minutes away. It's on the same block as half a dozen Asian places: coffee here, lunch next door. It closes early, like almost every Australian cafe: by 15 the shutters are coming down.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Dickson Interchange, 4 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra · prensa de especialidad
Show on mapSilo Bakery · Kingston
Kingston's bakery and cafe, an institution for more than twenty years: croissants, tarts and a cheese selection you won't find anywhere else.
Tip: It closes early and it doesn't open every day: it's a neighbourhood bakery keeping neighbourhood bakery hours, check first. The croissants run out before midday. The cheese plate is the house dish.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapThree Mills Bakery · Griffith
A local bakery with several sites: sourdough, pastries and sandwiches. The bread half a dozen restaurants in town use.
Tip: They open early and close when the bread runs out: if you want a sourdough loaf, be there before 11. They have several sites around town (Belconnen, Woden, Kingston), so work out which one is on your way before you cross the city.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston, then 15 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapSonoma · Braddon
A sourdough bakery with long ferments, dark bread and toast with everything. Right on Lonsdale Street.
Tip: Avocado toast and ricotta toast are the Australian brunch standard and they do it well here. Weekend mornings there's a queue: go before 9.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Elouera Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapMilk Flower · Dickson
A Dickson cafe and restaurant on a brick corner: brunch by day, fire cooking by night. One of the ones the city discovered recently.
Tip: By day it's a cafe; at night it turns into a fire-cooking restaurant and you need to book. The back courtyard is the best seat in November.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Dickson Interchange, 5 min on foot
Featured in: prensa gastronómica local
Show on mapElemental · Braddon
A Braddon cafe with a filter bar and a local clientele. Small, tidy and no queue.
Tip: It's the alternative when Barrio and Lonsdale are overrun, and it's the same distance from the tram. Coffee made properly and pastry made that day.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Ipima Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapEast Row Specialty Coffee · City
A specialty bar tucked into an arcade in the city centre, the kind only the people working around it know about.
Tip: It keeps office hours and closes mid-afternoon: no good for the 16 plan. It's the best coffee in the centre, two minutes from the tram stop.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa de especialidad
Show on mapBookplate · Parkes
The National Library's cafe, under Leonard French's stained glass, with a lake view. The cafe with the best ceiling in Australia.
Tip: You don't need to go into the library or pay anything to have a coffee here. The stained glass is by Leonard French, the same hand as the National Gallery of Victoria. It closes when the library does.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: National Library of Australia
Show on mapMargot Espresso Bar · Parkes
A coffee bar on the lake axis, next to the Portrait Gallery, with tables outside looking at the water.
Tip: It's the only decent bar between the National Library and the National Gallery: the mid-morning rescue on the triangle walk. Tables in the sun, not much shade.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 20 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapPoppys Cafe · Campbell
The War Memorial's cafe, with a terrace onto the sculpture garden. Simple, but it's where you sit before or after the Last Post.
Tip: It's open 9 to 16, which means it CLOSES BEFORE the 16:30 Last Post Ceremony: have the coffee first, not after. Today, Remembrance Day, it's open 9 to 16 all the same.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the War Memorial
Featured in: awm.gov.au
Show on mapPortrait Cafe · Parkes
The National Portrait Gallery's cafe, with a water courtyard and filtered light. One of the quietest corners in the triangle.
Tip: You get in without paying for the gallery. The outside courtyard is hardly ever full and it's real shade at midday, which is scarce in the parliamentary triangle.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 22 min on foot
Featured in: National Portrait Gallery
Show on mapMuseum Cafe · Acton
The National Museum's cafe, with a picture window onto the lake and a terrace over the water on the Acton peninsula.
Tip: You get in without paying anything because the museum is free. The terrace sits right on the lake and in November, in the afternoon, it's one of the best places to sit in the whole city.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the NMA
Featured in: National Museum of Australia
Show on mapBotanical Bookshop · Acton
A bookshop and cafe inside the Botanic Gardens: books on Australian flora, tables under the eucalypts and decent coffee.
Tip: It's inside the gardens, which are free. The tables under the trees are the best shade on site and in spring they fill with birds. The bookshop has flora guides you won't find in the centre.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the Botanic Gardens
Featured in: Australian National Botanic Gardens
Show on mapCity Edge · City
A corner cafe on Marcus Clarke Street, one of the old reliable ones, with a big brekkie and small-town prices.
Tip: It's the cheap, unpretentious counterpoint to the specialty cafes of Braddon. It opens very early: handy if you have a flight or want brekkie before the museums.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, then 6 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapBedst · City
A Scandinavian cafe in the city centre, with cardamom, cinnamon and Nordic baking. One of the ones that opened in the last year.
Tip: It's recent and not in the guides yet. The cardamom buns run out before midday. Small, with few tables: it works better as takeaway.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa gastronómica local 2026
Show on mapZero Complex Braddon · Braddon
A Braddon cafe and patisserie working with no waste: they use the whole product and the menu changes with what's left over.
Tip: The menu changes every week because they work with what they've got: ask what they're making that day instead of looking for something fixed. Small and no bookings.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Ipima Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa gastronómica local 2026
Show on mapLava Coffee · Parkes
A coffee bar on Constitution Avenue, opened in 2026, on the new corridor linking the centre with Campbell and the War Memorial.
Tip: It's on the axis that leads to the War Memorial: the pre-Last Post coffee if you don't want the one inside. It opened this year and doesn't appear in any guide yet.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station, or 15 min on foot
Featured in: ACT Government — 30 nuevos lugares para comer 2026
Show on mapCanberra Centre · City
The big shopping centre in the city, with David Jones, Myer and the Australian labels. It sorts out a rainy day and the shopping you still owe.
Tip: It's right by the tram stop: the obvious shelter if the rain comes in. Look for the genuine Australian labels — Aesop, R.M. Williams, Gorman — rather than the international ones you already have at home.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapBison Home · Pialligo
Brian Tunks's ceramics, made in Canberra since 1997, with matte glazes in colours that became the city's visual signature.
Tip: The workshop and shop are in Pialligo, next to the airport. This is ceramic made here, not imported: the eared mugs and the vases are the real Canberra souvenir. There's a seconds table with a discount.
🚇 No useful bus: from City Bus Station it's a car or taxi, 15 min
Featured in: Bison Home
Show on mapThe Canberra Glassworks · Kingston
The glass centre's shop: pieces by the resident artists, each one signed and unique, at workshop prices.
Tip: You buy straight from the blowers you watched working two rooms away. It's cheaper than any gallery and the money goes to the artists. They ship overseas.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: Canberra Glassworks
Show on mapThe Curatoreum · Molonglo Valley
The Arboretum's shop: Australian design, timber objects, botany books and miniature bonsai.
Tip: It's the best museum shop in Canberra and plenty of people don't know it exists. Objects by Australian designers, not generic souvenirs. It's inside the Village Centre, with the view.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to the Arboretum
Featured in: National Arboretum Canberra
Show on mapBlackhearts & Sparrow · Braddon
A Braddon bottle shop specialising in small producers, with a strong focus on the Canberra District region: Clonakilla, Eden Road and company.
Tip: Ask for Canberra District riesling and shiraz: it's a cool-climate region making shiraz co-fermented with viognier and very distinctive dry rieslings, and here you get them all in one place without driving out to Murrumbateman. The advice is genuine.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Ipima Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa de vinos local
Show on mapPaperchain · Braddon
The Braddon shop of Canberra's independent bookshop, on Lonsdale Street: a table of Australian authors, new releases and a good essay backlist.
Tip: Ask about the table of Australian authors of the year: it's the best way to take home something you won't find overseas. The booksellers actually read and recommend, and it's two minutes from the tram stop.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Ipima Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapThe Book Cow · Kingston
A neighbourhood bookshop in Kingston, small, with a good selection of Australian fiction and cardboard cats everywhere.
Tip: It's in Green Square, steps from the Old Bus Depot Markets: market Sunday plus bookshop is a complete plan. They write their recommendations by hand on the shelves.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapImpact Comics · City
A comic shop in the city centre, one of the classic ones, with independent Australian comics alongside the big publishers.
Tip: Look for the independent Australian comics section: that's what you won't find anywhere else. It's three minutes from the tram stop.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapEckersley's Art & Craft · Braddon
An art supplies shop in Braddon, big and well stocked. Handy if you're travelling and have run out of a decent notebook.
Tip: They have Australian paper and notebooks you can't get outside the country. It's right in Braddon, so it falls on the way to the cafes.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Ipima Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapScott Leggo Gallery · Kingston
A gallery of Australian landscape photography in Kingston: signed prints, large formats and the aerial shots of Canberra everybody wants.
Tip: The small unframed prints fit in a suitcase and cost a lot less than the big ones. The aerials of the lake and the Arboretum are the ones people take.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapWOVEN · Kingston
A textiles and homewares shop in Kingston, with ceramics, rugs and pieces by Australian designers.
Tip: It's on the same strip as the bookshop and the photography gallery: half an hour covers all three. A good place for small, light gifts.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapHive · Braddon
A design and gift shop in Braddon: Australian ceramics, stationery, jewellery by makers. The opposite of the airport souvenir.
Tip: Almost everything they sell is by Australian designers and many pieces are from the ACT. It's the quick answer to "what do I take back" without resorting to a plush kangaroo.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Ipima Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapAboriginal Dreamings Gallery · Nicholls
A gallery of Aboriginal art in Gold Creek, with work from Central Desert and Top End communities.
Tip: There is NO official seal certifying the artwork. What does exist is the Indigenous Art Code: a commercial code of conduct that dealers sign up to voluntarily as members — not a label stuck on the painting. Always ask three things: who the artist is, which community they're from and how they get paid. If you don't get names, don't buy.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Gungahlin Place, then a bus or taxi, 10 min
Featured in: Indigenous Art Code · ACCC
Show on mapDavid Jones · City
The long-standing Australian department store, inside the Canberra Centre. Australian clothing labels on a single floor.
Tip: If you're visiting from overseas, remember to claim the tax refund (TRS) at the airport: you need to spend more than $300 in the one store and have the invoice and the goods in hand.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 2 min on foot
Featured in: VisitCanberra
Show on mapCapital Food Market · Belconnen
Belconnen's fresh market: greengrocers, a fishmonger, butchers and Asian food stalls. A real market, not a tourist one.
Tip: It's open most days and the prices are market prices, not city prices. This is the place for Australian seasonal fruit: in November the regional cherries and peaches start.
🚇 Belconnen Community Bus Station, Transport Canberra bus, 3 min on foot
Featured in: Capital Food Market
Show on mapQuizzic Alley · Fyshwick
A huge magic-themed shop in Fyshwick, built like an alley out of a film. A viral phenomenon with a queue at the door.
Tip: It went viral and there's a queue on weekends: midweek you walk in without waiting. It's a shop, not a theme park: there's no entry fee. It's in an industrial estate, you'll need a car or taxi.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Fyshwick, or 12 min by taxi
Featured in: prensa local · redes
Show on mapBig River Distilling Co · Fyshwick
A distillery on Dairy Road, Fyshwick, with gin and whisky made on site and a tasting room.
Tip: It's in the same Dairy Road complex as Capital Brewing: beer and spirits at the one stop. The bottles are bought in the tasting room. Check the hours, it doesn't open every day.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Fyshwick, or 12 min by taxi
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapThe Modern Object · Fyshwick
A mid-century design shop in Fyshwick: restored Australian and Scandinavian furniture, ceramics and objects.
Tip: Canberra was built in the fifties and sixties, so Australian furniture from that era turns up here that you don't see in other cities. The small objects fit in a suitcase.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Fyshwick, or 12 min by taxi
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapPaperchain · Manuka
The Manuka shop of the independent bookshop, with a table of Australian politics, new releases and a serious travel section.
Tip: In a city of politicians, the political non-fiction table is better than in any other bookshop in the country. It's in the heart of the Manuka shops, among the cafes.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Manuka
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapBlue Hummingbird · Kingston
A gift and homewares shop in Kingston, with jewellery by makers, candles and Australian ceramics.
Tip: It's on the Green Square strip, next to the bookshop: in twenty minutes you sort out the gifts for the whole trip. Small, light pieces.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Kingston
Featured in: prensa local
Show on mapWestfield Woden · Phillip
The southern shopping centre, big, with a supermarket, cinema and the chains. Useful if you're staying on that side.
Tip: It isn't a tourist destination: it's the practical plan if you're in Woden and it rains, or if you need a chemist and a supermarket. The light rail doesn't reach the south: Stage 2 is still under construction.
🚇 Transport Canberra bus from City Bus Station to Woden
Featured in: Westfield
Show on mapCanberra Wine and Spirit Merchants · City
A city-centre bottle shop focused on small Australian producers, with a tasting bar.
Tip: It's the central option if you don't make it to Braddon or out to the wine region. Ask for the Canberra District riesling, which is what the area does best and is barely exported.
🚇 Light rail L1 to Alinga Street, 3 min on foot
Featured in: prensa de vinos local
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