The month-long festival of Floriade is held each year at Commonwealth Park in Canberra right on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin. As the largest floral festival in the Southern Hemisphere, Floriade offers a spectacular variety of flowers, garden beds, entertainment and fun for all the family. Bringing in over 400,000 visitors, Floriade is one of Canberra’s most famous yearly events in Australia and has been going strong since 1988.
There are many things to do and see at Floriade for people of all ages. Kids will love some of the exciting entertainment and rides on-site including a Ferris wheel, while nature lovers can see over a million flowers in bloom and enjoy beautiful floral displays. With a busy schedule of live music performances, artistic exhibitions, copious food and drink and many interesting workshops for aspiring gardeners, Floriade offers enough to keep coming back for more each day. Don’t miss out on NightFest which keeps the celebration going into the night over five days with live music, DJ’s, live comedians and night markets.
Getting to Floriade is simple, as it is only a brief five-minute walk from the centre of Canberra. Limited parking spaces are available near the festival, but they bicycle racks to encourage visitors to ride their bike to the event. There is a complimentary bus shuttle that runs from various stops in central Canberra to Floriade which is in operation for the entire duration of the festival.
Since the inaugural festival in 1988, Floriade has continued to grow both in size and popularity to become Canberra’s most iconic event each year. The original festival was only supposed to be a one-off but was so beloved by locals that it was held every year from then on. The festival is committed to being as environmentally-friendly as possible and takes great care to save water and preserve the soil amongst other green initiatives.