Guide to Mount Majura Sunset Hike

When you’re in the nation’s capital, your Saturday night can be its very own microadventure and you don’t even have to leave the city. Mt Majura is just one of four cityside mountains that will give you a quick hike to a pretty special dinnertime picnic spot complete with epic sunset views over Canberra.

We Are Explorers acknowledge that this adventure is located on the traditional Country of the Ngunnawal people who have occupied and cared for the lands, waters, and their inhabitants for thousands of years. We pay our respects to them as the Traditional Custodians and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

Quick Overview

Mt Majura trail is a 3 km, grade 1 hike located in Mount Majura Nature Reserve, Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. The hike should take around four hours to complete.

Quick Facts

Distance: 3km
Duration: 4 hours
Elevation gain: 160m
Nearest town: Hackett and Watson

About Mount Majura and Canberra

Canberra sits in the heart of Ngunnawal country and is rich in culture and outdoor adventure.

Within 10km of the city centre, a short UBER, drive or bike ride away, you can find yourself at the bottom of any one of Canberra’s four closest nature reserves: Red Hill, Mt Painter, Mt Ainslie and the star of this story, Mt Majura.

Each of these local mountains would be an incredible setting for your very own Saturday night microadventure in the city.

The walk up Mount Majura will reward you with both city views and mountain views (kangaroos may pop their heads up too!). It’s not a hugely popular walk so often you’ll get the added perk of empty trails. While it’s uphill, the trail itself is quite easy.

As well as a great place to have a walk in nature, Mount Majura Nature Reserve is an awesome spot for photography, enjoying a picnic and if you’re prepared, there’s plenty of good places to string up a hammock.

Explore our nation’s bush capital: More Canberra & ACT Microadventures

How To Get To Mount Majura

From the city centre, head north to the Mount Majura Nature Reserve carpark at the far end of Hackett, on Antill St. The carpark is on your right, opposite No.321 Antill St.

Skill Level

Beginner – An easy to moderate hike along well-marked and well-maintained trails.

Distance / Duration / Elevation

3km hike / 160m / 4 hours (including a couple of hours relaxing at the top)

Essential Gear

In order to have a proper Saturday night hike, it’s important to remember the essentials:

• When you’re hiking to the summit of a mountain for sunset, you don’t want to be messing around preparing food at the top, so pack your food into your mess tins and wrap it in a tea towel to keep warm.
• Bring cutlery – unfortunately we weren’t able to enjoy our home-cooked curry at the top as we forgot this all-important item. But hey, we learn from experience right?
• Drinks – we didn’t mess around here, bringing tins of local craft beer from the good folk at Capital Brewing Co. No bottle opener to forget here!
• A hammock – because, well, why not! Name an adventure where bringing a hammock along didn’t make it a whole lot better!
• A torch – again, another item that we wished we’d brought with us for the descent back down the mountain!

What it’s Like to Hike Mount Majura

Mount Majura stands at 890m and is the highest of the four peaks. We chose to walk by way of the Casuarina Trail, a 3.8km walking trail that will take you about 2 hours to complete. As this was to be the most micro of adventures, we chose to access the trail from the Antill St carpark and hike a reasonably short 1.5km up and down the same tracks, rather than completing the loop.

The trail takes you through beautiful bushland and makes up some of the region’s Centenary Trail, a 145km walking and cycling loop around the region.

The Casuarina Trail is a mix of access roads, single track and stepped sections, leading to the top of the ridge. From the saddle, you are rewarded with impressive views across the city, so there’s no need to walk any further!

Along this trail, you’re unlikely to encounter many people and, once we stopped at the top, we didn’t see a soul; well, apart from a couple of friendly local kangaroos.

A couple of metres off the trail, we slung up our hammock to a couple of sturdy trees, cracked open a cold one, and relaxed into our own slice of Saturday night paradise.

Read more: Remember to leave no trace

FAQs Mount Majura

How long does it take to hike up Mount Majura?

Mount Majura is a pretty easy walk so depending on your fitness, you can be done in a couple of hours. I’ve said to allow four hours so you have plenty of time to relax up the top and enjoy the view!

How tall is Mount Majura?

Mount Majura is 890m tall.

Can you drive up Mount Majura?

No. If you want these views you’ll need to get there on two feet.