Kings Highway

Understand

The Kings Highway is not a long highway – starting at the suburbs of Fyshwick and Symonston at a Monaro Highway (M23) exit before crossing the border into New South Wales before reaching the town of Queanbeyan. It then turns northeast, passing through the settlements of Bungendore and Doughboy before veering southeast, crossing the crest of the Great Dividing Range. It continues through Braidwood, past Clyde Mountain, and runs between Budawang National Park to the north and Monga National Park and Clyde River National Park to the south. The highway crosses the Clyde River at Nelligen before descending to the coast, where it meets the Princes Highway (A1) in the seaside town of Batemans Bay. Construction started slowly from the late 19th century but it was only formally declared a highway in 1928. Over the years, the highway has progressively been upgraded; the road is now mostly a high-standard highway with a reasonable amount of overtaking lanes west of Braidwood.

Prepare

You'll need very little preparation before driving the Kings Highway. As long as you have a decent car, can handle windy roads and a car that handles windy roads, you should be fine. You may want a 4WD to visit both Monga and Clyde River National Parks, especially after rain, but that too is more of a "nice to have" rather than a necessity. The area can get a bit chilly during the winter – bring a good quality jacket during the colder months.

Get in

If travelling by car (which will be the case for most travellers), see South Canberra § Get in or Queanbeyan § Get in. See Batemans Bay § Get in if you plan on driving this highway westbound. If you simply plan on wanting to see this highway for sightseeing but do not want to or cannot drive, there is a Murray's express coach service from Canberra to Narooma (and vice versa) daily for $55/day. If you're travelling eastbound, the coach leaves Jolimont Centre in Civic at 7:30AM and arrives at Batemans Bay at 9:55AM. The coach makes stops at Queanbeyan, Bungendore, Braidwood and Nelligen before reaching Batemans and before it continues onwards. The afternoon coach leaves Batemans at 3:30PM and arrives at Jolimont Centre 6PM with the same stopping pattern in reverse.

Drive

Canberra to Bungendore

This is the least important section (but also one of the coolest roads to drive on if you're into enclaves and exclaves), especially west of Queanbeyan. Starting from the Hindmarsh Drive exit from M23 Monaro Hwy in the 1 Canberra suburb of Symonston. B52 Kings Hwy then continues on for 1 km before meeting up with Canberra Avenue. From most of Canberra, especially South Canberra and Fyshwick, it is often just easier to stay on Canberra Ave. 3 km later and you'll have crossed the NSW border into Canberra's largest satellite city, 2 Queanbeyan. At one point, Queanbeyan was the regional centre of the area (especially before Civic was constructed). However, the town centre of Queanbeyan is nothing more than what you can expect to see most cities of its size, but the line of trees in the median does make for a good look during autumn. About 4 km in from the border, you'll reach the suburb of 3 Queanbeyan East – this merges with Yass Rd (continuation from Pialligo Ave and Parkes Way). If you're leaving from Civic, North Canberra or Gungahlin, it is more often than not easier to just drive straight to Queanbeyan East – it's faster and you don't miss out on anything. As soon as you leave Queanbeyan East, you are once back in the ACT in the district of 4 Kowen, which is functionally an exclave due to the only sealed road access in and out being from New South Wales. Kowen doesn't have much going for it, but it's a unique oddity of a highway crossing into another jurisdiction briefly but for a reasonable distance. After Kowen, you are back into New South Wales with another 8 km of good 100 km/h road until Bungendore.

Bungendore to Braidwood

Perhaps the most interesting thing to see in 5 Bungendore along the Kings Highway is the 1 Bungendore Wood Works Gallery, which specailises in some extensive fine-crafted woodworks. If you are not short on time, the woodworks are definitely something to check out. However, once you cross the 1 Bungendore Level Crossing, the next 48 km (30 mi) of road is a fairly stock-standard road – fairly straight, plenty of overtaking lanes and easy to drive at 100 km/h (62 mph). This section of road between Bungendore

Stay safe

The highway has come in the media spotlight a few times for its road safety. Most notably, the road can become very slippery during rain. Take extra precaution during the summer months and take it easy on the bends. If you're not an ACT local, it may seem as though everyone on this road has a need for speed, but sticking to the speed limit and advisory speeds is more than enough. It has also come under fire for the lack of "safe" overtaking lanes down the descent – if you aren't familiar with the local area, avoid overtaking up or down the Clyde Mountain unless absolutely necessary.

Go next

The Princes Highway in both directions is very nice and scenic. If travelling westbound, alternatively consider driving down the Monaro Hwy up to the Snowy Mountains.