Experience the best of Canberra

Canberra was designed in the early twentieth century by the American architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, who arranged it around an artificial lake that carries his name. Parliament House, opened in 1988, sits on Capital Hill under a lawn-covered roof, while Old Parliament House, further down the same axis, is now a museum of Australian democracy. The Australian War Memorial, with its domed Hall of Memory, stands at the head of Anzac Parade.

The National Gallery, National Museum, National Library and the hands-on science centre Questacon all lie within a short distance of the lake. Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie give views over the plan of the city, and the National Arboretum spreads across hills on the western side. Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, to the south-west, shelters koalas, emus and kangaroos, and cool-climate vineyards around Murrumbateman lie to the north-west.

The cafés of Braddon and the Kingston foreshore fill at weekends, and farmers' markets sell produce from the surrounding region, alongside riesling and shiraz from the nearby vineyards. Canberra's inland position gives it proper seasons, with frosty winter mornings, dry hot summers and autumn colour in the trees that line its streets. Spring and autumn are the mildest times of year.