Canberra/Acton

Acton is a small affluent suburb west of Civic and is Canberra's university district, mostly taken up by the Australian National University (ANU). Right next to the ANU is the Australian National Botanic Gardens, containing some of the most diverse ranges of Australian flora in the country with places that can make you feel you're in the middle of either the Wet Tropics of Queensland or the Tasmanian Wilderness albeit just two kilometres from the city!

Another must-see of Canberra in Acton is the National Museum of Australia. Located in one of Canberra's most architecturally daring buildings, the National Museum perfectly summarises Australia's history from 65,000 years when humans first set foot on Australia to history as recent as the early 21st century.

This article does not cover the NewActon Cultural and Cinema Precinct. For the NewActon Precinct, see Wikivoyage's article on Civic.

Get in
Options into Acton are pretty limited, with the only options either by private transport, or by bus. With that said, much of Acton is just within walking distance from Civic (the city), which has a good range of connections and if you manage to get to the city, getting to Acton is not very difficult.

By bus
Unlike many other districts of urban Canberra, there is only a single bus line to Acton – bus route 53. The route starts at the Dickson Shops, winds its way east to Hackett, then heads south passing Ainslie to Civic. From Civic, the line heads west and makes several stops in Acton on the east end of the Australian National University: one in (southbound only) which is in City West but is commonly used to get to Acton, one on each side on Marcus Clarke St ( northbound and  southbound), two on  (both sides), one on  before terminating at the National Museum of Australia. There are two interchanges where you can get on the light rail/tram, one at Dickson Interchange and the other at the City Interchange.

By car
Although public transportation to Acton is limited, Acton well-connected to other districts by road owing to the fact that it's right next to Civic.

If you are coming from the western areas of Canberra, namely Belconnen, Weston Creek, Molonglo Valley, Woden, Gungahlin or far south enough from Tuggeranong, the Parkes Way is a freeway linking from the Tuggeranong Parkway and Caswell Drive (both are the same freeway with different names) but there is only one exit on Parkes Way to Acton when coming eastbound at Edinburgh Avenue.

However, this would be inconvenient if you're heading to either the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the CSIRO Discovery Centre or the Black Mountain Nature Reserve, so if you're heading to either of those two places, take the Lady Denman Drive exit from Tuggeranong Parkway (the next exit south of Parkes Way) – you do not need to go onto Parkes Way.

It is much easier if you're coming from the city, given there are so many roads from the city. If you're coming from the city, just take any street that heads west when heading on Marcus Clarke St. Similarly, if you're coming from North Canberra, you'll need to head down south to the city, and then head west from there.

For those coming east of the city from places like the airport, just enter Parkes Way, and the road becomes a freeway after Coranderrk St. From there, you have two exits, the easterly one at Edinburgh Avenue (the one to take if you're going to most of Acton) and the westerly one at Clunies Ross St (the one to take if you're heading to Black Mountain, the Australian National Botanic Gardens or the CSIRO Discovery Centre).

By cycle
Two of Canberra's principal cycle routes pass through or terminate at Acton. Acton is small and quiet enough that you can get around on a bike without major hurdles.
 * – starting at the Dickson Shops, it follows closely to C1 and C3 before branching west near the O’Connor Shops before abruptly ending at ANU, the border of Acton. According to Transport Canberra, the route continues until the shore Lake Burley Griffin. However, this section is poorly marked and requires you to cycle on the road (there are also no plans to build a separate cycleway).
 * – forms a loop around Civic, with sections of the cycleway bordering Acton.
 * – the Lake Burley Griffin Circuit which loops around Lake Burley Griffin.

See
Many of Acton's points of interest are in the Australian National University precinct, although the botanic gardens, the national museum and the nature reserve are outside the ANU precinct. They are mostly within walking distance of each other, and don't require any means of private transportation.

Do
As Acton is mostly known for its museums and the botanic gardens, the overall things to do are very limited in Acton. However, the district is home to a number of walking trails, all which can be found in the, which is not a large park by most standards, but this nature reserve has several bushwalking trails and picnic areas. It's more of a conservation park though, so recreation activities are limited. Cycling is only allowed on management trails and pets are prohibited.

If you're going bushwalking in Black Mountain Nature Reserve, there are several trails that you can bushwalk:
 * Black Mountain Nature Reserve Forest Trail is a 2-km loop trail encircling the Black Mountain Tower (Telstra Tower). The walk takes 1 hour, and there's plenty of interesting birds, plants and insects along the way.
 * Little Black Mountain Walk is a 5.2-km return walk that takes approximately 2 hours to complete. It mainly passes through management trails, but passes through some impressive open forest.
 * The Summit Walk or the Summit Trail (you'll see and hear of both) is arguably the most important walk in this park, and while you can certainly drive up to the Telstra Tower, walking to the summit of Black Mountain is a great experience. The trail starts at the northeastern edge of the Australian National Botanic Gardens, and slowly winds its way up. It's 2.4 km round trip, but takes about 90 minutes.
 * Woodland Walk is a 2-km walk (return), though it's a 3-km walk if you also include the Upper Woodland Walk that gives excellent views of the National Arboretum, and Tidbinbilla and Brindabella Ranges. It does get a bit steep in some parts of the walk, so make sure you have the right shoes.

Outside Black Mountain, there is also one other important walk, within the ANU precinct. The (, fs.heritage@anu.edu.au@undefined) near Hancock Library is a short self-guided walk that is dedicated to Lindsay Prior, who was one of the most important people in Canberra's history in helping it achieve its title, the bush capital. You'll see 22 significant tree species, including a sequoia tree from a seed from the world's largest tree in Sequoia National Park in California's Sierra Nevada region.

Outside Black Mountain Nature Reserve and other short and small walks, the main other thing to do is (canberraaquapark@gmail.com@undefined, ), a rather average water park which only operates during the summer season.

Buy
Being a university suburb, there isn't much to "buy" in Acton. There are only three stores of interest to travellers: A bookshop, The Museum Shop, and The Botanical Bookshop in the Australian National Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre.

Eat and drink
Don't expect a large diverse range of restaurants in Acton. As most of Acton is taken up by the ANU precinct, most eateries in Acton are either a uni cafe/restaurant, or are in the northeast that's an extension of the food precinct in the City West, which is still a part of the ANU, but just filled with diners who are not uni students.

This means that there are only places to eat outside the Australian National University: the Pollen Cafe in the Australian National Botanic Gardens and the Museum Cafe (open M–F 9AM–4PM; Sa Su 9AM–4:30PM, tel: ) outside the National Museum of Australia.

If you're an ordinary traveller who's got nothing to do with the Australian National University and want to avoid going to the uni cafes and the cafes in the botanic gardens and the National Museum of Australia, you're left with two choices: the few restaurants and cafes that is an extension of City West's food precinct or head to Civic for lunch; after all, Civic is right next to Acton, where you'll find a diverse range of restaurants, cafes – you name it!

Sleep
There is only a single place to rest your head in Acton, and that is at the University House in the Australian National University. Unfortunately it's been closed since early 2020 after being damaged in a severe hail storm. Repairs began in 2023 and the university is hoping to offer accommodation there again from late 2024.

There's a whole slew of accommodation options in Civic (the city that is) between Edinburgh Avenue, London Circuit and Parkes Way that all include "Acton" in their postal address, but are officially a part of Civic.

If that's confusing, it's because it really is confusing – it's because it's part of an area called the NewActon Cultural Precinct, a new cultural precinct which opened in 2013. Some consider NewActon to be a part of Civic, while others consider it to be a part of Acton. Wikivoyage chooses to cover it under Civic.

Connect
The main place to get free Wi-Fi is at the Australian National Botanic Gardens which has free Wi-Fi in the visitor centre. Otherwise, the has Wi-Fi available. The opening hours vary, so check the ANU website for the weekly schedule.

Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all have good coverage in this area mostly with 5G but with 4G in some areas, but in particular, Telstra has an exceptional coverage but that's no surprise given how close Acton is to the Telstra Tower.