How to Spend a Weekend in Canberra: A Two-Day Local Guide

Canberra rewards a weekend more than most people expect. The national institutions are clustered tightly around Lake Burley Griffin, many of the biggest ones are free, and a hilltop view is never far away. The city was laid out to a 1912 plan by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, organised around a land axis (Mount Ainslie to Parliament House) and a water axis along the lake. Once you grasp that geometry, the whole place reads like a map you can walk. Here is a loose two-day shape rather than a rigid timetable. Treat it as a frame and swap pieces to suit the weather and your pace.