American Express 185 City Walk, cnr Petrie Plaza (tel 02/6247 2333).

Banks The city branches of the bigger banks are open Mon-Thurs 9.30am-4pm, Fri until 5pm: ANZ, 19 London Circuit; Commonwealth Bank, cnr London Circuit and Ainslie Ave; National Australia Bank, cnr London Circuit and Ainslie Ave; Westpac, cnr Alinga and Mort streets.

Bike rental Canberra Bike Rental (tel 02/6241 2216, 24hr phone booking); The Gecko Gang (tel 02/6254 8047); Wombat Mountain Bikes (tel 02/6285 4058, after hours tel 02/6288 2753; $40 per day). A pleasurable bicycle path goes all the way around Lake Burley Griffin: to enjoy it, contact Mr Spokes Bike Hire (tel 02/6257 1188; $9.90 per hour), right on the water at Barrine Drive, Acton.

Books Smiths Alternative Bookshop (tel 02/6247 4459) is the antithesis of all things Canberrian, stocking interesting fiction and cultural theory, as well as radical and left-leaning publications.

Buses For local bus information phone Action timetable information (Mon-Sat 6am-11pm, Sun 8am-5.30pm, tel 13 1710), check out their website ( www.action.act.gov.au ) or call at the kiosk at the City Bus Interchange, 11 East Row. Long-distance services, including state-owned Countrylink and V/Line, use the Jolimont Centre, 65 Northbourne Ave, as their terminal. You can buy tickets direct here from the Countrylink Travel Centre (tel 02/6257 1576 or 13 2232; Countrylink to Eden and Cootamundra, V/Line to Wodonga and Sale); Greyhound Pioneer (Canberra terminal tel 02/6257 4424 or free call 1800 801 294) and Murrays Coaches (tel 13 2251; to Sydney, Wollongong, Batemans Bay and the Snowy Mountains). Travellers Maps and Guides (closed Sun) at the Jolimont Centre is an authorized travel agent selling bus tickets for the remaining bus companies: McCafferty's (tel 13 1499; to Sydney and Melbourne); Capital Coaches (tel 02/6292 9412; west and northwest to Orange, Dubbo, Bathurst, Young and Cowra); Rendell Coaches (tel 02/6884 4199 or free call 1800 023 328; to Dubbo); Sid Fogg's (tel 02/4928 1088 or free call 1800 045 952; to Newcastle) and Transborder Express (tel 02/6241 0033; to Yass).

Car rental Inexpensive deals are available from Network Car & Truck Rentals (tel 02/6251 6626 or free call 1800 077 977); Rent-a-Dent (tel 02/6280 0320), which also rents campervans; and Rumbles Rent-a-Car (tel 02/6280 7444). Others, mostly clustered on Lonsdale St in Braddon, with additional locations at the airport, are Avis (tel 02/6249 6088, airport tel 02/6249 1601 or free call 1800 225 533); Budget (tel 02/6257 2200, airport tel 02/6257 1305 or 1300/362 848); Hertz (tel 02/6257 4877, airport tel 02/6249 6211 or 13 3039); and Thrifty (tel 02/6247 7422 or 1300/367 227).

Embassies and high commissions There are over 70 in Canberra (all the following are in Yarralumla, unless otherwise stated): Canada, Commonwealth Ave (tel 02/6273 3844); Germany, 119 Empire Court (tel 02/6270 1911); Indonesia, 8 Darwin Ave (tel 02/6273 3222); Ireland, 20 Arkana St (tel 02/6273 3022); Malaysia, 7 Perth Ave (tel 02/6273 1543); Netherlands, 120 Empire Circuit (tel 02/6273 3111); New Zealand, Commonwealth Ave (tel 02/6273 3611); Norway, 17 Hunter St (tel 02/6273 3444); Papua New Guinea, Forster Crescent (tel 02/6273 3322); Singapore, 17 Forster St (tel 02/6273 3944); Sweden, 5 Turrana St (tel 02/6273 3033); Switzerland, 7 Melbourne Ave, Forrest (tel 02/6273 3977); Thailand, 111 Empire Circuit (tel 02/6273 1149); UK, Commonwealth Ave (tel 02/6270 6666); US, 21 Moonah Place (tel 02/6270 5000).

Emergency tel 000 for fire, police or ambulance.

Environmental contacts The Environment Centre, Kingsley St, Acton (tel 02/6247 3064, www.spirit.net.au/envoz ), is a library and archive on environmental topics as well as a book and gift shop (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm). The Wilderness Society Shop, 16 Garema Place (tel 02/6249 8011), is a book and gift shop with information about the local environment.

Festivals The big event of the year is the Canberra Festival - the anniversary of the city's foundation - celebrated with concerts, theatre, exhibitions, street parades and fireworks for ten days from the beginning of March. It's followed in late March by Word Fest, a writers' festival held at ANU (programme available from January; details on 02/6249 7068). The Royal Canberra Show is an agricultural fair lasting three days over the last weekend in February, while the Floriade is a spring festival marked by floral displays, theatre and music, from mid-September to mid-October. Even more popular, though less feted by the tourist board, is the annual Summernats Car Festival in January (details on 02/6241 8111 or at www.summernats.com.au ), when revheads convene in Exhibition Park to compare modified street machines and compete at the world's only purpose-built burnout facility.

Galleries Good private galleries include the Chapman Gallery, 31 Captain Cook Crescent, Manuka (Wed-Sun 11am-6pm; tel 02/6295 2550), specializing in Aboriginal art; and the Beaver Galleries, 81 Denison St, Deakin (Wed-Sun 10.30am-5pm; tel 02/6282 5294), for paintings, sculpture, jewellery and furniture.

Gay and lesbian Canberra Gayline tel 02/6247 2726 (nightly 6-10pm); Gay Contact tel 02/6257 2855 (same hours); Gaywaves Radio Mondays 92.9 FM.

Golf Royal Canberra Golf Club, Westbourne Woods, Yarralumla (tel 02/6273 3622).

Horse riding Brindabella Valley Trails, 19 Sabine Close, Garran (tel 02/6281 6682), offers riding in the Brindabella Ranges close to Kosciuszko National Park.

Hospitals John James Memorial Hospital, Strickland Crescent, Deakin (tel 02/6281 8100).

Internet access   Cafe Cactus , Centre Cinema Building (opposite Cafe Essen ), Bunda St, Civic (Mon-Fri 8am-late, Sat & Sun 9.30am-late); Internet Lounge , Level 1, City Walk Arcade (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm).

Markets Gorman House Arts and Crafts Market, Gorman House Arts Centre, Ainslie Ave, Braddon (Sat 10am-4pm; bus #302, #303 or #385), is a community market where items such as pottery, hand-painted T-shirts, bric-a-brac and secondhand clothes are sold; Belconnen Markets, Lathlain St (Wed-Sun 8am-6.30pm), is a large fresh-food market featuring an organic grocery, seafood and poultry outlets, organic veggies, home-made jams, health foods, a naturopath and several cafes. There's also an open-air bric-a-brac market in the piazza here at weekends.

Nature reserves Information on ACT parks and reserves from Canberra Nature Park (north tel 02/6207 2113, or south tel 02/6207 2096) and Environment ACT (tel 02/6207 9777, www.act.gov.au/environ ). For Namadgi National Park, which takes up virtually the whole southern half of the ACT, and nearby national parks in NSW, contact the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, 153 Emu Bank, Belconnen (tel 02/6250 0200).

NRMA (National Roads and Motorists Association), 92 Northbourne Ave, Braddon, or Belconnen Mall, Belconnen (tel 13 2132). Publishes a very useful map of Canberra and the ACT, free to members. Touring and accommodation enquiries tel 1300/131 122.

Police tel 02/256 7777.

Post office Alinga St, Canberra, ACT 2600 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; tel 02/6209 1680).

Rape Crisis Centre 59 Majura Ave, Dickson (24hr; tel 02/6247 2525).

Scenic flights Canberra Flight Centre (tel 02/6257 6331) charges from about $60 per person for 30-55 min.

Shopping Shopping hours are Mon-Thurs 9am-5.30pm, Fri 9am-9pm, Sat 9am-noon. Shops in the Canberra Centre are open daily. In the city centre the shopping focus is on Bunda St, with department stores such as David Jones and Grace Bros, and a comprehensive Target. The shops and supermarket at City Market, on the corner of Bunda St and Ainslie Ave, are also open daily. There are late-opening supermarkets in the shopping centres of the satellite towns.

Taxis Aerial Taxis (tel 02/6285 9222; credit cards accepted); Queanbeyan Taxi Co-operative, Queanbeyan (tel 02/6297 3000). There is a taxi rank on Bunda St outside the Center Cinema.

Tours and cruises Murrays, the Jolimont Centre, 67 Northbourne Ave (tel 13 2251), has half- or full-day bus tours around Canberra and to the Snowy Mountains; Bunyip Bush Safaris (tel 02/6255 1472), arranges trips for small groups to the Snowy Mountains and further afield to the national parks of southeast Australia for reasonable rates; Canberra's Top Secret Tour (tel 02/6297 8585, www.topsecret.canberra.net.au ) is a self-drive spy tour for budding James Bonds, on which you discover the scenes of Canberra's secret intelligence organizations and political intrigue; Harley Rides 'r' Us (tel 02/6231 7231 or free call 1800 242 753), offers sightseeing trips in and around Canberra from the back of a Harley-Davidson from $55; Wild Things Tours (tel 02/6254 6303, www.wildthingtours.com ) runs six-hour tours into Namadgi National Park for guaranteed Eastern Grey kangaroo-spotting and indigenous rock art ($80, including light lunch, park entrance, pick-ups and drop-offs); Australia Capital Tours (tel 02/6284 7160) offers 90min cruises twice daily ($15) in the Central Basin of Lake Burley Griffin, with additional evening cruises in summer; and Dawn Drifters (tel 02/6285 4450, www.dawndrifters.com.au ) will fly you over the city in a balloon (Mon-Fri $190, weekends & holidays $240), and then feed you breakfast when safely aground.

Trains The Xplorer train links Canberra and Sydney (3 daily; 4hr) via Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Goulburn, Bundanoon, Moss Vale, Bowral and Mittagong. Ticket sales and information at the Countrylink Travel Centre, Jolimont Centre, 67 Northbourne Ave (tel 02/6257 1576), and at the train station in Kingston (tel 02/6239 7039).

Travel agents Canberra Flight Centre, City Walk Arcade, 2 Mort St, Civic (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; tel 02/6247 8199); STA Travel, 13-15 Garema Place, Civic (Mon-Sat 9am-5pm; tel 02/6247 8633).

Women Women's Information and Referral Centre, 6th Floor, FAI Insurance Building, 197 London Circuit (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm; tel 02/6205 1075 or 6205 1076, www.act.gov.au/womensinfo ).