Clunies Ross Street, Acton
Visiting
Free to walk in, open every day but Christmas Day, two and a half kilometres from the centre of Canberra. Everything you need to get here and get around is on this page.
Opening hours
The gates lock outside these hours. Sections of the Gardens can close in high wind or high fire danger.
The Gardens
8.30am – 5pm
Every day except Christmas Day.
Visitor Centre & Botanical Bookshop
9.30am – 4.30pm
Every day except Christmas Day.
Pollen cafe
9am – 4pm
Every day except Christmas Day.
Free. No ticket and no booking — walk straight in. Parking is charged at $3.80 per hour up to a maximum of $16.00 per day. Accessible bays are free, and coach parking in the main car park is free.
Getting here
Four ways in
The main entrance is on Clunies Ross Street, Acton, on the lower slopes of Black Mountain.
- By car
- Reach the Clunies Ross Street entrance from Parkes Way to the south or Barry Drive to the north. Parking is $3.80/hr, $16 daily maximum.
- By bus
- The nearest stop is on Barry Drive, off Clunies Ross Street — a 1.3 km walk to the Gardens from there.
- On foot or by bike
- About 2.5 km from central Canberra. Bike racks are near the Visitor Centre and the car park.
- Shopping at the bookshop
- Four spaces sit right outside the Visitor Centre for Botanical Bookshop customers, with a strict 30-minute limit.
Access
Getting around
The Gardens are on a hillside, so the honest answer is that some of it is steep and some of it is not. Here is which.
- Step-free route
- The Main Path Walk is step-free and suitable for both wheelchairs and strollers. Its slopes meet Australian wheelchair-access standards.
- Wheelchairs & scooters
- Free loan of a wheelchair or an electric mobility scooter. Arrange it in person at the Visitor Centre, or book by phone on 02 6250 9588 between 9.30am and 4.30pm.
- Accessible parking
- At the northern end of the main car park, near the Visitor Centre and cafe, and behind the Crosbie Morrison building. Free of charge.
- Steeper ground
- The Aboriginal Plant Use Trail is Grade 2 and uneven in places; it is not wheelchair accessible. Dickson Lookout and the Black Mountain summit track are steeper again.
Once you are in
Walks and tours
Free guided walks run daily. If you would rather go alone, these are the marked routes.
- Main Path Walk
- The spine of the Gardens, step-free, and the route this site’s walk follows.
- Aboriginal Plant Use Trail
- 820 m loop, about 30 minutes, Grade 2. What the plants were used for.
- Eucalypt Discovery Walk
- Through the eucalypt plantings, which is most of what people picture as bush.
- Bushland Nature Walk
- Out of the cultivated beds and into the remnant bushland above them.
- Flower to Tower Trail
- Leaves the Gardens and climbs through dry forest to the Black Mountain summit.
- Who Did That? Children’s Trail
- An activity trail for kids, which is a better idea than telling them to look at plants.
- Flowers, Fruit & Foliage Walk
- Whatever is doing something interesting this month.
- Flora Explorer
- A bus tour, for when the hill is more than you want to take on today.
Also living here
You are not the only visitor
The collection is 70,000 plants, and a working habitat in the middle of a city. Look for these.
Snakes are on that list because they are genuinely here in warm weather. Stay on the paths, look where you put your feet, and leave them alone — they will do the same.
Contact
- Address
- Clunies Ross Street
Acton ACT 2601 - Phone
- 02 6250 9588
- The Gardens’ own site
- visit.anbg.gov.au