Australia · Australian Capital Territory
Where to Stay in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
Canberra stands on the inland plain below the Brindabellas, the capital of Australia in the Australian Capital Territory, known for Parliament House.
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Where to stay in Canberra
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
Canberra rewards a stay chosen around its central axis. The parliamentary side gathers Parliament House, the National Gallery of Australia, and the National Library of Australia on the southern shore, close to the museums and the ceremonial grounds. Stay here for the national institutions.
Across the water the northern side runs from the Australian War Memorial down ANZAC Parade toward the older town centre, where the Canberra Museum and Gallery and the shops sit closer to everyday streets than to the monuments of the capital. Beyond the central basin, the suburbs spread across the valley toward the ranges. The Brindabellas rise to the south and west, part of the Australian Alps, and the city thins into bushland and hills well back from the parliamentary core.
That outer edge suits you if you want the mountains and the quiet over the civic centre. Between the ranges and the lake, the planned city keeps its wide green order in the Australian Capital Territory.
About Canberra
What is Canberra known for?
Canberra is known as the planned national capital, laid out around a broad axis of parliamentary and cultural buildings. Parliament House sits at the centre, with the Australian War Memorial closing the vista along ANZAC Parade. The city gathers the nation's institutions.
The National Gallery of Australia, the National Library of Australia, and the National Museum of Australia line the lake shore, and Questacon draws families to the parliamentary side of the inland city.
What are the main landmarks in Canberra?
Canberra sets its landmarks along a single ceremonial axis. Parliament House crowns the southern rise, and the vista runs across the water to the Australian War Memorial at the foot of the northern hills along ANZAC Parade. The national collections cluster nearby.
The National Gallery of Australia, the National Library of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Museum of Australia line the basin, with Questacon and the Captain James Cook Memorial close by in the heart of the capital.
What is the history of Canberra?
Canberra was founded in 1913 as a purpose-built capital on the inland plain, chosen as a compromise site between the two large coastal cities of the young Australian federation. The city was planned from open sheep country, its axes and radiating avenues drawn before the first buildings rose. The design came first.
A basin was created at the centre and the parliamentary and ceremonial buildings were set along a deliberate line, giving the Australian Capital Territory a capital laid out as a single composition rather than grown from a town. The national institutions filled that plan across the following century. The Australian War Memorial rose at the head of ANZAC Parade, and the National Library of Australia and the National Gallery of Australia followed on the shore of the basin.
Parliament House came to crown the southern hill. Canberra grew from a drawn plan into the working seat of government, ringed by the suburbs and the bushland that run out toward the Brindabellas.
Where is Canberra?
Canberra lies inland in the Australian Capital Territory, on a plain ringed by hills and surrounded by New South Wales. The city occupies the northern part of the territory, and its suburbs sprawl toward the state border on three sides. Mountains close the horizon.
The Brindabellas rise to the south and west as the northern reach of the Australian Alps, making Canberra the country's largest inland city, set well back from the coast.
What is the climate of Canberra?
Canberra has a temperate inland climate shaped by its height and its distance from the sea. Summers are warm and dry, with hot spells broken by cool nights on the plain below the Brindabellas. Winters are cold and frosty.
Clear, sharp mornings and frequent frosts mark the cold months, when the Australian Alps to the south hold snow and the inland air settles cold over the capital.
How do you get to Canberra?
Canberra sits inland in the Australian Capital Territory, reached across the surrounding country of New South Wales. As the national capital, the city draws highways in from the coastal cities and the interior alike, crossing the ranges to the planned basin at its heart. Roads climb in from every side.
A single line of highway and rail links the capital to the larger cities beyond the territory, and the routes wind down from the hills around the Brindabellas to reach the inland city.
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Updated July 2026