Guided walks through the Gardens help visitors to see and understand the beauty of Australia's native flora, as well as the ideas and effort involved in creating, maintaining and developing the Gardens. The Volunteer Guide Service is a joint program of the Gardens and the Friends of the Gardens.
Want to take a walk?
Free guided walks leave the Visitor Centre at 11am and 2pm each day.
Each walk takes approximately one hour.
If you have special needs, please mention these to the guide beforehand. The Gardens has manual and motorised (electric) scooters for the use of disabled visitors.
Special walks
At different times during the year we conduct walks with a special theme:
- Wattle Walks
- Spring flower walks
- Bush tucker walks
- walks related to other events happening in Canberra
The dates and times for these walks are listed in our calendar.
Want a walk for a group?
Walks tailored to your group’s special interests and needs can be arranged and taken at times convenient to you.
Groups of visitors and/or groups requesting tailored walks must book and pay at least one week beforehand.
There is a charge for all booked walks of $5 per person, with a minimum $30 per group (if less than six in the group), unless special circumstances apply. Conditions for cancellations and refunds are in the information leaflet.
To arrange a booked walk, download and print the information leaflet, fill in the booking form and return it to the Gardens as directed. If you have any questions, please phone 0404 672 836, or send an email to: bookedwalks@friendsanbg.org.au.
Interested in becoming a volunteer guide?
Guides are selected for training by application and interview. Training courses are run as needed, usually once every 2 or 3 years. The course typically consists of the equivalent of 10 days conducted over several weeks, plus research in your own time. The most recent training course took place in March and April 2016.
Applications for the 2019 training course are now open. See https://www.anbg.gov.au/gardens/ for details and the application form. Information sessions will be held on Wednesday 19th September at 12.30pm and Tuesday 25th September at 5.30pm in the ANBG Theatrette, opposite the Visitor Information Centre.
Information can also be found on the Volunteers page of the ANBG website.
2017 Australasian Botanic Gardens Volunteer Guides Conference
The most recent biennial conference of volunteer guides in botanic gardens was hosted by the ANBG between the 15th and 19th of October 2017.
The theme was ‘Informed Guiding : Discovering the mystery and magic of our gardens’. During the five days of the conference, delegates had the opportunity to learn from experienced guides from a number of different institutions and to listen to presentations by various talented and knowledgeable speakers.
The conference was a great success, hosting a capacity crowd of 175 guides from botanic gardens across Australia and New Zealand. The next conference will be held in Perth in September 2019.
