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The best Canberra Airbnbs and holiday homes

Carla Grossetti Carla Grossetti
There are a plethora of great Canberra Airbnbs and holiday homes to stay in across the capital and beyond.

Airbnb Canberra options range from slick waterfront apartments and design-led inner-city stays to farm cottages and tiny homes on the city’s fringes. While Canberra is hardly short on incredible hotels and luxury accommodation, choosing an Airbnb or holiday home offers something different: space to spread out, kitchens for slow mornings and neighbourhood stays that let you live like a local.

Here are  the best Airbnb and holiday homes on offer in Canberra.

Best Airbnbs in Canberra

Across the capital, Airbnbs cluster close to Canberra’s best restaurants, cafes and major events such as Floriade.

1. Luxurious Waterfront, Kingston

a suite with a balcony at Luxurious Waterfront, Kingston
Settle in for a cosy stay next to Lake Burley Griffin.

Best for: Those who want a relaxing retreat in the heart of the city

This Canberra Airbnb is set apart due to its stunning views over the Kingston foreshore.

Floor-to-ceiling windows in both the bedroom and living space of the Luxurious Waterfront Unit invite that outlook in, giving the apartment an easy, breezy, light-filled feel. You’re steps from some of Canberra’s best restaurants and cafes, with the city centre just 10 minutes away. Sleeps 2.

2. Entire Loft in Kingston

an entire Loft in Kingston
The Kingston loft evokes a warehouse feel.

Best for: Friends looking for a polished stay with personality

This moody industrial-style Airbnb brings a bit of an edge to your stay in Canberra. Expect leather accents, natural textures and soft French linen bedding that softens the warehouse feel of the Kingston loft .  The kitchen is set up for fun nights in with friends. But you’re also close to some of the best bars and restaurants in Kingston and minutes from the action in Canberra. Sleeps 4.

3. Two Bedroom On Lonsdale Street, Braddon

the arched balcony at Two Bedroom On Lonsdale Street, Braddon Airbnb
Base yourself in this idyllic Lonsdale Street Airbnb.

Best for: Feeling like a local

This lovely Lonsdale St Airbnb drops you straight into the beating heart of Canberra’s cafe culture. Braddon has long been considered the coolest neighbourhood in Canberra and a stay at this Lonsdale Street Airbnb will insert you right in the thick of it, feeling like a local. If you’re looking for a dog-friendly Canberra Airbnb, this is also a great choice as the owners allow up to two house-trained pets. Sleeps 4.

4. Entire Rental Unit in Reid

the living room inside a Rental Unit in Reid
Stay in the heart of the city at this three-bedroom Rental Unit in Reid.

Best for: Access to a shared swimming pool; a luxury for inner-city Airbnbs in Canberra

This bright and airy Canberra Airbnb is situated right in the centre of Canberra’s CBD with public transport on your doorstep. Being close to the city’s main attractions is also handy if you don’t want to drive. For those nights you’d prefer to stay in, the three-bedroom Rental Unit in Reid offers modern interiors, a generous living space, full chef’s kitchen, high-speed internet and a selection of streaming services. Sleeps 6.

5. The Secret Little House, Hackett

The Secret Little House, Hackett
This modern, boho space is a beloved stay in Canberra.

Best for: Getting around using the light rail

The Secret Little House in Hackett is one of Canberra’s most wish-listed Airbnbs. And it’s easy to see why. The light-filled one-bedroom house is tucked away in the leafy suburbs, away from the hubbub of the city. The bright, boho space is anchored by a floor made from upcycled timber from a basketball court. Bounce from the homey Hackett Airbnb to the nearby MetroTram to access the city’s best cafes, pubs and restaurants.  Dogs are welcome. Sleeps 2.

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6. The Kindred, Braddon

the balcony at The Kindred, Braddon
The Kindred features a lush balcony.

Best for: Creative types with a love for detail

Experience Canberra at its most considered with a stay in this light-filled two-bedroom, two-bathroom Airbnb apartment. The interiors of The Kindred are like an essay in subtle hues and natural materials. The enchanting apartment overlooks a giant elm tree and will appeal to kindred spirits who will covet the vintage Danish dining table, local art and ceramics. Two vintage-style bikes are available for guests to burn to Braddon or Ainslie. Sleeps 4.

7. Bunda House, Narrabundah

the outdoor deck of Bunda House, Canberra
Soak up the sun on the outdoor deck.

Best for: Groups of friends looking for Airbnb utopia

A stay at the stylish Bunda House in Narrabundah will transport you back in time to the 1960s before catapulting you back into the present day. The newly renovated bungalow has a backyard and patio built for entertaining, layered interiors and a bathroom with a rain shower and freestanding tub. Pick up some fresh produce from the markets and cook up a storm in the spacious kitchen. Sleeps 6.

8. Designer Series Corner Apartment, Braddon

the bed inside the Designer Series Corner Apartment, Braddon
Bed down at this modern apartment in Braddon.

Best for: Relaxing in the sun-drenched winter garden

Floor-to-ceiling windows enhance the aesthetic of the Designer Series Corner Apartment .  The north-facing apartment feels at once plugged in and removed from busy Lonsdale St below. It has a winter garden that catches much of the light and is softened by trailing greenery that works as well for a morning coffee as it does for switching off at night. The apartment – all timber and leather, polished concrete and brass finishes – sits inside the swanky Nibu building. Sleeps 2.

9. Entire home in Ainslie, Australia

an Airbnb in Ainslie
This family-friendly, four-bedroom house in Ainslie is spacious and stylish.

Best for: Families with active kids

Stylish and spacious, this Four-Bedroom House in Central Canberra backs onto the Mt Ainslie Nature Reserve where the kids can burn off some energy before dinner.  Inside, you’ll find an expansive kitchen with plenty of bench space to prepare family meals. There’s also a backyard and balcony at the Ainsley Airbnb, close to some of the best restaurants and cafes in Canberra. Sleeps 9.

10. Horseshoe Hideaway, Mullion

an indoor shower at Horseshoe Hideaway
Horseshoe Hideaway is an absolute haven on a serene patch of farmland in Mullion.

Best for: Those seeking solitude

If switching off matters to you more than being in Canberra’s busy city centre, consider Horseshoe Hideaway an absolute haven. The Airbnb is 40 minutes outside of town on a serene patch of farmland in Mullion. Part of a sheep property, this Canberra Airbnb is a cosy tiny home, ideal for a couple or solo traveller. The wood-fired hot tub  morphs into a plunge pool in summer. Sleeps 2.

Best holiday homes in Canberra

Whether you’re visiting for culture, food, family time or fresh air, these are some of the best holiday homes Canberra has to offer.

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11. Riversong Rest

the Riversong Rest retreat exterior
Retreat into Riversong Rest on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River.

Best for:  Casting a line in or picnicking by the water

Push your search a little further out from Canberra’s CBD to find rural retreats such as Riversong Rest that are still within easy driving distance of the city. Set on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, Riversong Rest is a compact, carefully designed retreat made for slow stays. Retreat indoors with books and board games, then sit on the deck, telescope trained on the night sky.

12. Beltana Farm Cottage

the exterior of Beltana Farm Cottage
Country charm meets modern design.

Best for: Living life in the slow lane

The Cottage at Beltana Farm is about succumbing to life’s simple pleasures. Like reading a book while curled up in the two-bedroom Cottage. Jumping on a bike to explore your surrounds.  Or participating in a truffle hunt (throughout the winter months) or visit to a nearby winery. There’s also the indulgence of having a restaurant and tennis court onsite.

13. The Cottage at Petrichor Farm, Gundaroo

Best for: Immersing yourself in the country

You’ll find The Cottage At Petrichor Farm 40 minutes outside of Canberra in the Gundaroo wine region. The relaxing property includes one of the best wedding venues in the country. It’s surrounded by gardens and tastefully decorated with elegant, elemental interiors. You can visit local wineries and providores, but make sure you block out an afternoon to soak in the picturesque outdoor bathtub, too.

14. Tiny Away

the Tiny Away Airbnb in Canberra
This tiny home sits in a secluded part of Canberra near Lake George. (Image: Alex Davey)

Best for: Spotting kangaroos.

From a distance, this Tiny Away Overlooking Lake George appears like a captivating work of art. Perched above Lake George, which is blanketed with fog at dawn and dusk each day, it has everything you need for an enjoyable stay. Perhaps the greatest luxury at the tiny but mighty accommodation is the large windows that frame views over the water and sky. Expect a snug loft bed and fully equipped kitchen. Sleeps 2.

15. Cubby & Co

Best for: Oenophiles with a love of interior design

Mt Majura is an undeniably magical place, home to a rich array of flora and fauna and a bush trail that traces the bony spine of the mountain. Landscape and architecture are woven together at the Cubby & Co accommodation, which comprises three cubbies dotted around the property, just 15 minutes from Canberra’s CBD. The single-site vineyard is known for standout tempranillo, reisling and shiraz.

16. One-bedroom villa at The Truffle Farm

the kitchen inside The Truffle Farm cabin
Spend a couple of days in the countryside for some R&R.

Best for: Foodie couples

This bougie property, just 15 minutes from the heart of Canberra, is right in the heart of the Majura Valley. Designed for two, the off-grid luxury cabin at The Truffle Farm looks out over groves of oak trees and rolling countryside. It features a wood-fired hot tub made for long, slow evenings. Time your stay with truffle season to join a hunt. Enjoy al fresco dining on the deck in summer.

Carla Grossetti
Carla Grossetti avoided accruing a HECS debt by accepting a cadetship with News Corp. at the age of 18. After completing her cadetship at The Cairns Post Carla moved south to accept a position at The Canberra Times before heading off on a jaunt around Canada, the US, Mexico and Central America. During her career as a journalist, Carla has successfully combined her two loves – of writing and travel – and has more than two decades experience switch-footing between digital and print media. Carla’s CV also includes stints at delicious., The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian, where she specialises in food and travel. Carla also based herself in the UK where she worked at Conde Nast Traveller, and The Sunday Times’ Travel section before accepting a fulltime role as part of the pioneering digital team at The Guardian UK. Carla and has been freelancing for Australian Traveller for more than a decade, where she works as both a writer and a sub editor.
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The Macedon Ranges is Victoria’s best-kept food and wine secret

    Emily McAuliffe Emily McAuliffe
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    Located just an hour north-west of Melbourne, the largely undiscovered Macedon Ranges quietly pours some of Australia’s finest cool-climate wines and serves up some of Victoria’s best food.

    Mention the Macedon Ranges and most people will think of day spas and mineral springs around Daylesford, cosy weekends away in the countryside or the famous Hanging Rock (of enigmatic picnic fame). Or they won’t have heard of the Macedon Ranges at all.

    But this cool-climate destination has been inconspicuously building a profile as a high-quality food and wine region and is beginning to draw serious attention from oenophiles and epicureans alike.

    The rise of Macedon Ranges wine

    liquid gold barrels at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery
    Barrels of liquid gold at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    With elevations ranging from 300 to 800 metres, Macedon Ranges vineyards are among the highest in the country. This altitude, combined with significant day/night temperature swings, makes for a slow ripening season, in turn nurturing wines that embody elegance and structure. Think crisp chardonnays, subtle yet complex pinot noirs and delicate sparkling wines, along with niche varietals, such as gamay and nebbiolo.

    Despite the region’s natural advantages – which vary from estate to estate, as each site embodies unique terroir depending on its position in relation to the Great Dividing Range, soil make-up and altitude – the Macedon Ranges has remained something of an insider’s secret. Unlike Victoria’s Yarra Valley or Mornington Peninsula, you won’t find large tour buses here and there’s no mass marketing drawing crowds.

    Many of the 40-odd wineries are family-run operations with modest yields, meaning the wineries maintain a personal touch (if you visit a cellar door, you’ll likely chat to the owner or winemaker themselves) and a tight sales circle that often doesn’t go far beyond said cellar door. And that’s part of the charm.

    Though wines from the Macedon Ranges are just starting to gain more widespread recognition in Australia, the first vines were planted in the 1860s, with a handful of operators then setting up business in the 1970s and ’80s. The industry surged again in the 1990s and early 2000s with the entry of wineries, such as Mount Towrong, which has an Italian slant in both its wine and food offering, and Curly Flat , now one of the largest estates.

    Meet the new generation of local winemakers

    the Clydesdale barn at Paramoor.
    The Clydesdale barn at Paramoor. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Then, within the last 15 years, a new crop of vignerons like Andrew Wood at Kyneton Ridge Estate , whose vineyard in 2024 was the first in the Macedon Ranges to be certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia; Geoff Plahn and Samantha Reid at Paramoor , who have an impressive cellar door with a roaring fire and studded leather couches in an old Clydesdale barn; and Ollie Rapson and Renata Morello at Lyons Will , who rapidly expanded a small vineyard to focus on top-shelf riesling, gamay, pinot noir and chardonnay, have taken ownership of local estates.

    Going back to the early days, Llew Knight’s family was one of the pioneers of the 1970s, replacing sheep with vines at Granite Hills when the wool industry dwindled. Knight is proud of the fact that all their wines are made with grapes from their estate, including a light, peppery shiraz (some Macedon wineries purchase fruit from nearby warmer areas, such as Heathcote, particularly to make shiraz) and a European-style grüner veltliner. And, as many other wineries in the region do, he relies on natural acid for balance, rather than an additive, which is often required in warmer regions. “It’s all about understanding and respecting your climate to get the best out of your wines,” he says.

    farm animals atKyneton Ridge Estate
    Curious residents at Kyneton Ridge Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Throughout the Macedon Ranges, there’s a growing focus on sustainability and natural and low-intervention wines, with producers, such as Brian Martin at Hunter Gatherer making waves in regenerative viticulture. Martin previously worked in senior roles at Australia’s largest sparkling winemaking facility, and now applies that expertise and his own nous to natural, hands‑off, wild-fermented wines, including pét‑nat, riesling and pinot noir. “Wild fermentation brings more complexity,” he says. “Instead of introducing one species of yeast, you can have thousands and they add different characteristics to the wine.”

    the vineyard at Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery
    The estate’s vineyard, where cool-climate grapes are grown. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Most producers also focus on nurturing their grapes in-field and prune and pick by hand, thus avoiding the introduction of impurities and the need to meddle too much in the winery. “The better the quality of the fruit, the less you have to interfere with the natural winemaking process,” says Wood.

    Given the small yields, there’s also little room for error, meaning producers place immense focus on quality. “You’re never going to compete in the middle [in a small region] – you’ve got to aim for the top,” says Curly Flat owner Jeni Kolkka. “Big wineries try to do things as fast as possible, but we’re in no rush,” adds Troy Walsh, owner and winemaker at Attwoods . “We don’t use commercial yeasts; everything is hand-harvested and everything is bottled here, so we bottle only when we’re ready, not when a big truck arrives.” That’s why, when you do see a Macedon Ranges product on a restaurant wine list, it’s usually towards the pointy end.

    Come for the wine, stay for the food

    pouring sauce onto a dish at Lake HouseDaylesford
    Dining at Lake House Daylesford is a treat. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    If wine is the quiet achiever of the Macedon Ranges, then food is its not-so-secret weapon. In fact, the area has more hatted restaurants than any other region in Victoria. A pioneer of the area’s gourmet food movement is region cheerleader Alla Wolf-Tasker, culinary icon and founder of Daylesford’s Lake House.

    For more than three decades, Wolf-Tasker has championed local producers and helped define what regional fine dining can look like in Australia. Her influence is palpable, not just in the two-hatted Lake House kitchen, but in the broader ethos of the region’s dining scene, as a wave of high-quality restaurants have followed her lead to become true destination diners.

    the Midnight Starling restaurant in Kyneton Ridge Estate Winery
    The hatted Midnight Starling restaurant is located in Kyneton. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    It’s easy to eat well, whether at other hatted restaurants, such as Midnight Starling in the quaint town of Kyneton, or at the wineries themselves, like Le Bouchon at Attwoods, where Walsh is inspired by his time working in France in both his food offering and winemaking.

    The beauty of dining and wine touring in the Macedon Ranges is that it feels intimate and unhurried. You’re likely to meet the winemaker, hear about the trials of the latest vintage firsthand, and taste wines that never make it to city shelves. And that’s worth getting out of the city for – even if it is just an hour down the road.

    dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling
    Delicate dishes on the menu at Midnight Starling. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    A traveller’s checklist

    Staying there

    the accommodation at Cleveland Estate, Macedon Ranges
    Stay at the Cleveland Estate. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Soak up vineyard views from Cleveland Estate near Lancefield , embrace retro charm at Kyneton Springs Motel or indulge in lakeside luxury at the Lake House .

    Eating there

    Enjoy a four-course menu at the one-hatted Surly Goat in Hepburn Springs, Japanese-inspired fare at Kuzu in Woodend or unpretentious fine dining at Mount Monument , which also has a sculpture park.

    Drinking there

    wine tasting at PassingClouds Winery, Macedon Ranges
    A tasting at Passing Clouds Winery. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Settle in for a tasting at Boomtown in Castlemaine, sample local drops at the cosy Woodend Cellar & Bar or wine-hop around the many cellar doors, such as Passing Clouds .

    the Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar signage
    Boomtown Winery and Cellar Bar. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Playing there

    a scenic river in Castlemaine
    Idyllic scenes at Castlemaine. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)

    Wander through the seasonal splendour of Forest Glade Gardens , hike to the summit of Hanging Rock, or stroll around the tranquil Sanatorium Lake.

    purple flowers hanging from a tree
    Purple flowers hanging from a tree. (Image: Chloe Smith Photography)