Spectacular floral festivities, exclusive exhibitions, truffles and hot air balloons are just a few of the events on Canberra’s annual calendar, making any time of year the perfect time to visit.
Truffle Festival: June through to August
The first and largest festival of its kind in Australia, The Truffle Festival incorporates more than 250 individual events across the Canberra region. Indulge in a feast of the senses as you taste and experience the magic of the capital’s highly-prized delicacy – the Black Winter Truffle – which is showcased in all its glory at cooking classes, pop-up markets, special restaurant nights, and truffle hunting events throughout the festival. trufflefestival.com.au
Floriade: 14 September to 13 October
Floriade is Canberra’s most iconic annual tourism event and Australia’s premier spring festival. As well as a landmark floral display of more than one million blooms planted across 8,000 square metres, you’ll find illuminated after-dark installations at Floriade NightFest; a diverse, ever-expanding program of entertainment, food and wine, horticultural workshops and artistic displays. floriadeaustralia.com
Enlighten Festival: March 2020
Canberra’s Enlighten Festival is an annual city highlight. Its jam-packed program gets bigger and better each year, transforming the capital with a range of ticketed and free after dark experiences for the whole family to enjoy. Highlights include the Enlighten Illuminations, projecting onto some of the capital’s most iconic buildings including Australia’s Parliament House and the National Library of Australia. enlightenfestival.com
Canberra Balloon Spectacular: March 2020
Wake up to the view of hot air balloons floating across the city during the Canberra Balloon Spectacular. This mesmerising view is best appreciated from the lawns of Old Parliament House, where you can watch the balloons take to the sky from 6.30am. Held over nine days, more than 30 hot air balloons from across the globe take to Canberra’s skies. You can even book a spot on a balloon.
A trip to Canberra is never complete without a visit to one of the many national attractions across the city.
Yayoi Kusama – The Spirits of the Pumpkins Descended into the Heavens, National Gallery of Australia
Barely contained, a bright yellow room is overrun with black dots and a ‘peep-show’ mirror box is camouflaged by the reflections of its surrounding environment. This is just one of the installations at the Gallery which is home to Australia’s national art collection. nga.gov.au
Monet: Impression Sunrise: 7 June to 1 September 2019
For the first time in the Southern Hemisphere, see Claude Monet’s seminal painting Impression, Soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise) 1872, from which Impressionism takes its name, this exclusive exhibition brings together works from the impressionist master and other significant artists to examine the founding of an art movement—a defining moment in art history. nga.gov.au
Matisse / Picasso: 13 December 2019 to 13 April 2020
If you’re planning a trip later in the year, you’ll be able to explore the relationship between two of the world’s greatest artists and rivals, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, one of the most important stories of modern art. Drawn from some 40 important international collections, Matisse/Picasso shows how these two pioneers of Modern Art both shared the need to confront the challenges set by the paintings of Paul Cézanne and mined each other’s work to enhance their own. nga.gov.au
DreamWorks Animation: 20 September 2019 to 2 February 2020
If you’re looking for something for the young ones, or the young at heart, make sure you head over to the National Museum of Australia for their DreamWorks exhibition. It’s your chance to get up close to the most iconic characters from movies like Shrek, Trolls and How to Train Your Dragon. nma.gov.au
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