Australia · Australian Capital Territory · Canberra
Canberra City, Canberra — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Canberra City is the district better known as Civic, Canberra's central business district and one of its oldest centres.
About Canberra City
Where to stay in Canberra City
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Civic is where a Canberra stay usually starts. The district that holds ANZAC Parade, the Canberra Museum and Gallery, and the National Capital Exhibition is also the city's central business district, which puts the walking radius of a room here across most of what visitors come to see. Acton lies next door.
Choosing between Canberra City and the rest of North Canberra is a choice between the centre itself and the ground around Lake Burley Griffin.
About Canberra City
What are the main landmarks in Canberra City?
The memorial list runs long. ANZAC Parade heads it, and the Australia-New Zealand Memorial, the Royal Australian Air Force Memorial, and the Peacekeeping Memorial are all filed to the same district. The Captain James Cook Memorial joins them.
Museums carry the other half of the roll: the National Museum of Australia, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, and the National Capital Exhibition, with St John the Baptist Church at Reid and the Canberra Centenary Column standing at the older and newer ends of what Civic has kept.
What is the history of Canberra City?
Walter Burley Griffin drew the plan. The Civic Centre on that plan took shape from 1927, and the district that grew there became Canberra's central business district as well as one of the city's oldest centres. Its official division name is City.
Canberra City, Civic Centre and City Centre all name the same ground, which is why the district answers to several titles in the Australian Capital Territory's records.
Where is Canberra City?
Civic sits at the middle of Canberra, ringed by the rest of North Canberra, by Acton, and by Lake Burley Griffin.
Good for
More areas in Canberra
Updated September 2026