Language · 11 published
Country guide
Australia covers 7,688,287 km², sixth largest in the world, and close to 4,000 km separate its east coast from its west. Nearly 28 million people live here, about 80 per cent of them within 25 km of a mainland coastline 35,821 km long — which is the fact that governs any trip taken across it. The cities form a rim around an interior that stays largely empty; Sydney and Melbourne pass five million each, and Canberra, the capital, is neither of them. Six states and ten territories, and a sensible visit chooses two of them rather than the map.
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
Photograph · W. Bulach · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Shkuru Afshar · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Chris Olszewski · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photograph · Samuel Wiki · CC BY 4.0
Photograph · Photograph by Doug Barber · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
307 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens
Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mount Coot-tha is a major botanical garden located in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland. It serves as Brisbane's premier botanical collection and is distinct from the city's other green spaces.
Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia
Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia is a Melbourne art gallery devoted to Australian art and located within the Federation Square precinct.
Migration Museum South Australia
The Migration Museum in Adelaide is a cultural institution dedicated to documenting and sharing the stories of people who have migrated to South Australia. It explores themes of displacement, settlement, identity, and belonging through personal narratives and historical records.
Gallery of Modern Art, known as GOMA, is Brisbane's modern and contemporary art museum within the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art complex.
Mrs Macquarie's Chair is a historic carved sandstone bench located on a peninsula in Sydney Harbour. It was hand-carved by convicts in 1810 for Elizabeth Macquarie, the wife of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who enjoyed sitting and viewing the harbour.
Bondi Beach is Sydney’s broad, crescent-shaped Pacific shoreline, where a long sweep of sand meets surf, sandstone headlands and the busy Bondi promenade.
Carrick Hill is a historic house and garden estate located in Adelaide, South Australia.
Experiment Farm Cottage is a heritage property in Parramatta, western Sydney, connected with Australia’s early colonial agricultural history. The cottage represents the period when European settlers experimented with farming and food production around the developing colony.
Stirling Gardens is a public garden and recognised heritage landmark in central Perth, Western Australia. It contributes to the city’s network of green spaces and offers a quieter setting within the metropolitan centre.
Treasury Gardens is a public park in Melbourne, Victoria. It sits adjacent to the Treasury Building on Spring Street, near the eastern edge of the central business district.
The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art is a leading Melbourne institution dedicated to exhibiting and promoting contemporary art from Australia and around the world.
Forum Melbourne
Forum Melbourne is a historic entertainment venue located in the central city area. The building features distinctive architectural elements that contribute to its recognition as a significant Melbourne landmark.
Newstead House
Newstead House is a heritage property situated in the Brisbane suburb of Newstead. It stands as one of Queensland's surviving nineteenth-century residences, positioned on the Brisbane River with grounds that form part of the broader riverside parkland.
Princess Theatre is a historic theatre in Melbourne, Victoria. It stands as a significant performing arts venue within the city's cultural landscape. The building contributes to Melbourne's reputation as a major centre for theatre and live entertainment in Australia.
Regent Theatre is a historic Melbourne theatre and a destination for visitors interested in the city's entertainment heritage. It continues to function as a performance venue, bringing contemporary audiences into a building whose architectural character is part of the experience.
Saint Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is a major Anglican cathedral located in the heart of Melbourne, near the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets.
Fort Lytton National Park is a heritage-listed military precinct located at the mouth of the Brisbane River. Established in 1881, the site served as Brisbane's principal coastal defence fortification until the end of World War II.
Scienceworks is a science museum and technology centre in Spotswood, Melbourne, operated as part of Museums Victoria. It is designed for active learning, with exhibitions that turn scientific principles, technology and industrial history into experiences visitors can explore.
Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip
WA Museum Boola Bardip is the state museum of Western Australia, located within the Perth Cultural Centre. Its name, from the Noongar language, means many stories.
Taronga Zoo Sydney is a major zoological garden located on the shores of Sydney Harbour in the suburb of Mosman. Established in 1916, it occupies a prominent harbourside position offering views toward the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Queensland Art Gallery is a public art gallery in Brisbane. The current curated ranking identifies the exact production place and prioritises it for art collections and exhibitions within Brisbane's South Bank cultural precinct.
Adelaide Himeji Japanese Garden
Adelaide Himeji Garden is a Japanese-style garden in Adelaide, South Australia. It was established as a symbol of the sister-city relationship between Adelaide and Himeji, Japan.
The Hellenic Museum is a cultural institution in Melbourne dedicated to preserving and showcasing Greek history, art, and culture. Located in the city, it serves as a bridge between Australia's Greek community heritage and broader public engagement.
Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium is a public astronomy education facility located within the Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mount Coot-tha. Named after the astronomer governor of New South Wales, it serves as a cultural and scientific institution for the metropolitan area.
Araluen Botanic Park is a botanic garden in a sheltered Darling Range valley east of Perth. Its terraced gardens, heritage character and cooler microclimate create a garden experience distinct from the warmer coastal plain.
Cottesloe Beach is a coastal beach located in the western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. It sits along the Indian Ocean shoreline and forms part of the metropolitan area's beach network.
Fort Glanville Conservation Park is a heritage-listed site in Adelaide, South Australia, preserving a 19th-century coastal fortification. The park contains the remains of Fort Glanville, constructed as part of colonial Australia's defensive network against potential maritime threats.
New Farm Park is a public park in Brisbane, situated in the inner suburb of New Farm. The park occupies a prominent riverside position along the Brisbane River, making it one of the city's more notable green spaces.
Rippon Lea Estate is a heritage property in Melbourne’s Ripponlea suburb, combining a nineteenth-century mansion with extensive pleasure gardens.
Adelaide Botanic Gardens
Adelaide Botanic Garden is a major public garden in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1855, it occupies a significant site on the edge of the city centre.
Belair National Park is a protected area within the greater Adelaide metropolitan region, managed by the South Australian Department for Environment and Water. Established in 1891, it holds distinction as one of Australia's oldest national parks.
RAAF Museum is the official museum of the Royal Australian Air Force at Point Cook, southwest of Melbourne. It presents Australian military aviation history on a site recognised as the birthplace of the Royal Australian Air Force.
Cleveland Point Lighthouse
Cleveland Point Lighthouse is a navigational aid structure located at Cleveland Point in the Brisbane metropolitan area. The lighthouse sits within the broader network of parks and gardens that characterise Brisbane's coastal and riverside landscape.
Hart's Mill is a historic industrial site located in Port Adelaide, South Australia. The building represents an important part of the region's maritime and milling heritage, situated within the Port Adelaide area that has undergone significant revitalisation.
Montsalvat is an artists' colony and cultural precinct located in Eltham, within the greater Melbourne metropolitan area. Established in the 1930s, it occupies a distinctive hillside property that has served as a creative community for multiple generations.
Capitol Theatre is a heritage-listed theatre located in Sydney, Australia. The building occupies a prominent position within the city's entertainment district. Originally constructed in the early twentieth century, the theatre has undergone various transformations throughout its history.
St Peter’s Cathedral
St Peter's Cathedral is a prominent Anglican cathedral in Adelaide, South Australia. It serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Adelaide and stands as a significant religious and architectural landmark within the metropolitan area.
The South Australian Aviation Museum is a heritage aviation museum located within the Adelaide Park Lands. It preserves and displays aircraft and aviation artifacts significant to South Australia's aerospace history.
ACMI is Melbourne’s museum of screen culture, focused on the moving image rather than a general museum collection. Its identity is built around film, television, videogames and the ways people create, watch and interact with screen media.
Organ Pipes National Park is a protected natural area in Melbourne’s north-west, centred on a striking formation of basalt columns beside Jacksons Creek. Ancient volcanic activity shaped the dark, closely packed pillars that give the park its name.
South Bank Parklands is Brisbane’s riverside public parkland on the southern bank of the Brisbane River, beside the city’s cultural precinct.
The Queen Victoria Building is a heritage-listed late nineteenth-century building in the Sydney central business district. Designed by architect George McRae and completed in 1898, it occupies an entire city block.
Good Shepherd Chapel
Abbotsford Convent is a heritage-listed multi-use precinct occupying former convent grounds in Melbourne's inner north-east. The site encompasses multiple nineteenth-century buildings set within substantial gardens along the Yarra River.
Sherwood Arboretum is a public park and botanical collection in the Sherwood suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Established in the 1920s, it occupies riverside land along the Brisbane River.
Her Majesty's Theatre is a historic performance venue in Melbourne's East End Theatre District. The theatre opened in 1886 and remains a working commercial venue for musicals, plays, and live entertainment.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary is a dedicated Australian wildlife sanctuary in Fig Tree Pocket, reached from Brisbane rather than encountered in the city centre.
Bathers Beach is a coastal area in Fremantle, the port city at the mouth of the Swan River within the greater Perth metropolitan region of Western Australia.
National Rail Museum
The National Railway Museum is a railway heritage museum located in the Adelaide metropolitan area of South Australia. It preserves and displays Australia's railway history through locomotives, carriages, and associated artefacts.
The South Australian Maritime Museum is a cultural institution in Adelaide dedicated to the maritime heritage of South Australia.
Koorie Heritage Trust is an Aboriginal cultural centre in Melbourne dedicated to preserving and sharing the living culture of south-eastern Australia’s First Peoples. It offers travellers a place to encounter Koorie heritage through collections, exhibitions and cultural programming.
The Museum of Lands, Mapping and Surveying is a specialist museum in Brisbane dedicated to the history of land administration, cartography, and surveying in Queensland.
SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium
SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium is a marine life attraction situated in central Melbourne. The facility presents aquatic environments and marine species to visitors seeking engagement with underwater ecosystems.
Saint George's Cathedral
St George's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in central Perth, Western Australia, and the principal place of worship for the Anglican Diocese of Perth. It is both an active religious building and a recognised metropolitan landmark.
Anstey Hill Recreation Park is a protected natural area in the Adelaide metropolitan region, managed by the South Australian Department for Environment and Water through the Parks SA network.
Bronte Beach is a coastal beach within the Sydney metropolitan area, located in the eastern suburbs. It forms part of the sequence of beaches along Sydney's southeastern coastline.
Marmion Marine Park is a protected marine area located off the coast of Perth, Western Australia. Established to conserve marine ecosystems, the park encompasses coastal waters, reefs, and islands that support diverse marine life.
Mount Lofty Botanic Garden is a botanical garden situated in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia. It forms part of the network of botanic gardens managed under the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium of South Australia.
Royal Botanic Gardens
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is Melbourne Gardens, a living botanical landscape beside the city centre rather than a single indoor attraction. Its identity comes from planted collections, lawns, lakes and winding paths that make the garden itself the experience.
St Kilda Beach is a sandy beach located in the inner-southern suburb of St Kilda, approximately six kilometres from Melbourne's central business district.
The Bell Tower
The Bell Tower is a landmark structure in Perth, Western Australia. It houses the Swan Bells, a set of eighteen bells from St Martin-in-the-Fields church in London.
The Abbey Museum of Art & Archaeology
The Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology is a cultural institution in the Greater Brisbane region, dedicated to collecting and displaying art and archaeological artefacts.
The Brisbane Tramway Museum is a heritage transport museum located in the Brisbane metropolitan area. It preserves and operates historic tramcars that once served the city of Brisbane.
Davies Park is a public park in Brisbane, Queensland, managed by Brisbane City Council. It serves as recreational green space within the metropolitan area and is included in curated visitor rankings for the city.
The Queensland Maritime Museum is a maritime heritage institution located in Brisbane. It occupies a site at the South Brisbane Dry Dock on the Brisbane River.
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is a large public aquarium situated in Darling Harbour, a waterfront entertainment precinct in central Sydney.
Queen Victoria Market is Melbourne's historic working market on the northern edge of the central business district.
White Rabbit Gallery is a contemporary art museum in Chippendale, Sydney, founded by Judith Neilson to present her collection of twenty-first-century Chinese art. The gallery occupies a converted four-storey knitting factory, giving the visit an industrial architectural setting.
Birrarung Marr is a public park in Melbourne situated along the Yarra River. Its name derives from Woiwurrung language, with Birrarung meaning river of mists and Marr referring to the side of the river.
Black Hill Conservation Park is a protected natural area within the Adelaide metropolitan region. The park forms part of the Mount Lofty Ranges and serves as a significant conservation reserve preserving native vegetation and providing habitat for local wildlife.
Brownhill Creek Recreation Park is a public park situated within the Adelaide Park Lands system. It occupies a portion of the extensive Park Lands that encircle the central business district of Adelaide, South Australia.
Hallett Cove Conservation Park is a protected coastal reserve in the Adelaide metropolitan area, South Australia. The park preserves significant geological formations and Aboriginal cultural heritage along the shoreline of Gulf St Vincent.
Marino Conservation Park is a compact coastal reserve in metropolitan Adelaide, 18 km south of the city. It protects native vegetation while remaining accessible from surrounding streets and the Seaford railway corridor.
Morialta Conservation Park protects a steep gorge landscape in the Adelaide Hills, about 10 kilometres northeast of central Adelaide. Fourth Creek, rocky cliffs, eucalypt woodland and seasonal waterfalls create a substantial bushland destination close to the city.
Roma Street Parklands
Roma Street Parklands is a landscaped urban parkland in central Brisbane, immediately beside Roma Street station and the Brisbane Coach Terminal. Its character comes from connected planted areas, lawns, paths, hillside levels, the Spectacle Garden and the Rainforest Walk.
Supreme Court Gardens is a public garden in central Perth, Western Australia, beside the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The garden forms part of a significant civic and heritage precinct within the city’s central business district.
Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute stands as a dedicated Aboriginal cultural centre in Adelaide, South Australia. The institution serves as a gallery and performance space focused on promoting contemporary and traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture.
Adelaide Zoo is a zoological garden in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1883, it is Australia's second oldest zoo and occupies land near the River Torrens.
Williamstown Botanic Gardens is a historic public garden in Melbourne's western suburb of Williamstown. Its nineteenth-century origins and Victorian landscape character make it a calm counterpoint to the waterfront's maritime attractions.
Perth Zoo is a zoological park located in Perth, Western Australia. Established in 1898, it occupies a position along the Swan River in the suburb of South Perth.
The National Wine Centre of Australia is a visitor attraction in Adelaide dedicated to showcasing Australian wine culture and industry.
Shrine of Remembrance
The Shrine of Remembrance is a war memorial located in Brisbane, Queensland. It stands as a commemorative structure dedicated to honoring military personnel who served and sacrificed in armed conflicts.
Brickpit Ring Walk
Brickpit Ring Walk is an elevated circular walkway over a former industrial brickpit in Sydney. The route lets visitors look down into the excavated landscape while remaining on a maintained structure above it.
Streets Beach is an artificial swimming beach in South Bank Parklands, a rare city-centre lagoon where sand, water and Brisbane’s urban skyline meet.
Werribee Park Mansion is an Italianate-style nineteenth-century mansion in the western part of Greater Melbourne. Built in the 1870s, it reflects the wealth of Victoria’s pastoral era and stands at the center of the wider Werribee Park precinct.
Woodbridge House
Woodbridge House is a heritage property in the Perth metropolitan area, representing nineteenth-century domestic architecture and the region's colonial settlement history.
The Block Arcade is a historic shopping arcade in Melbourne, Victoria. It opened in 1892 and represents a significant example of late Victorian architecture in Australia.
Aviation Heritage Museum is a Perth museum devoted to aviation history, aircraft preservation and the material culture of flight. It gives visitors a concentrated way to explore aerospace heritage through preserved aircraft, equipment and related objects.
Bicton Baths is a riverside swimming facility in Bicton, on Perth's Swan River. It belongs to the tradition of enclosed river swimming places that make the metropolitan foreshore distinctive.
Coogee Beach is a sandy ocean beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, facing the Tasman Sea. It is a straightforward place for swimming, sunbathing, shoreline walks and relaxed coastal views.
Edinburgh Gardens is a public park in Fitzroy North, in Melbourne’s inner north. The gardens form a large recreational green space within the City of Yarra and offer a distinctly local way to experience the suburb.
Esplanade Park
Esplanade Park Fremantle is a public park in Fremantle, the historic port city within the Perth metropolitan area of Western Australia. It sits near the waterfront and forms part of the recreational landscape around Fremantle’s maritime district.
Point Cook Coastal Park is a coastal park located in the south-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The park encompasses significant areas of remnant native grassland, wetland habitats, and coastline along Port Phillip Bay.
Rocks Riverside Park is a public park in Brisbane, Queensland. The park sits along the Brisbane River and provides open space for recreation and leisure.
Tamarama Beach is a compact crescent on Sydney’s eastern suburbs coast, positioned between Bondi Beach and Bronte Beach. Steep sandstone headlands press close around the sand, making the Pacific feel immediate and powerful.
Veale Gardens is a public garden space located in Adelaide, South Australia. It forms part of the broader Adelaide Park Lands system that encircles the city centre.
Moort-ak Waadiny / Wellington Square
Wellington Square is a public urban green space in Perth, Western Australia. It offers a simple pause within the city, with open outdoor space suited to a short walk, quiet rest, or a meeting point between central destinations.
Westgate Park is an open space in western Melbourne beside the West Gate Bridge. Its setting combines riverside and estuarine landscape with the immense scale of major transport infrastructure overhead.
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park is a wildlife park located in the Greater Sydney region, offering visitors opportunities to encounter native Australian animals. The facility focuses on Australian fauna including kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, and various bird species.
Catani Gardens is a public garden space located in the St Kilda area of Melbourne, Victoria.
Freshwater Bay Museum
Claremont Museum is a local heritage museum in Perth’s western suburbs. Its focus is the history of Claremont and the surrounding community, presented through artefacts, documents, photographs, and stories connected with the district.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·
Ten to fourteen days should cover one coast, one city pair or one city plus a nearby landscape, not the continent. Sydney and Melbourne can share a southeastern route; Perth, the tropical north and the Red Centre each demand separate flights and more time.
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs is the authority for Visitor visas and electronic travel permissions. Select the product for the passport and purpose, complete required declarations, and remember that visa approval does not remove Australia’s strict biosecurity obligations.
Flights are usually the efficient link between distant states. Rail and coaches serve selected corridors, cars become important outside cities, and urban fare cards are local rather than national; remote drives require fuel, water, communications and realistic distance planning.
Australia’s seasons and hazards vary dramatically by latitude. Southern-city summers, tropical dry seasons and Red Centre heat create different windows, so choose dates for the selected region and check official fire, cyclone or flood advice before road travel.
The Australian dollar is the sole recorded currency. Contactless payment is common, but remote roadhouses and small services justify a backup card or cash; check surcharges at the point of sale and budget fuel around long gaps rather than metropolitan prices.
Use 000 for urgent police, fire or ambulance assistance; Australia uses Type I power at 230 V. Treated public tap supplies are recorded as safe, but remote-site notices take precedence, and travellers should save the state emergency service relevant to their route.
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