Kings Highway Voyage Tips and guide

Contents

See King's Highway for the Jordanian region and King's Road (Finland) for the Finnish highway.

Kings Highway (numbered B52) is a major east-west highway connecting Australia's national capital, Canberra, with the small coastal city of Batemans Bay, largely passing through the Eurobodalla region of New South Wales. The highway is not particularly long, at only 140 km (87 mi), but sees plenty of traffic (especially when there is warmer weather) from Canberrans heading down to the coast to do typical water activities.

Although the Kings Highway has a local name for every town it passes through, the westernmost section near Canberra is perhaps where this is the most prominent (but also unsigned), being signed and locally called Hindmarsh Ave (for the first 1 km from Monaro Hwy to the Canberra Outlet in Fyshwick) and Canberra Avenue (from Fyshwick to the NSW border – about 3 km). Neither road is signed as B52 (despite it officially continuing until Monaro Hwy). This is known to trip many people, especially when driving towards Canberra from the New South Wales side.

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.

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.

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.

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Map of Kings Highway

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 -35.341149.16311 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, -35.353333149.2341672 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 -35.346389149.2438893 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 -35.3276149.36044 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.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to see in -35.248333149.4511115 Bungendore along the Kings Highway is the -35.2559149.44011 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 -35.257149.44621 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 and Braidwood on average should take you about 30–35 minutes. Holiday traffic is rarely an issue on this section.

Expect mostly rolling hills as you immediately pass by -35.2584149.48192 Mount Gibraltar to the south. During April and May, also expect to see autumn colours. The scenery, however, rapidly changes once you get to -35.3425149.73813 Warri Bridge as you pass the Shoalhaven River: the area becomes much more green (but still rather dry). Nearby -35.3444149.73722 Warri Bridge Rest Area makes for a great spot to view the bridge. Once you get closer to Braidwood, the scenery reverts back to rolling plains. And sooner than later, you'll be at -35.448333149.8011116 Braidwood. Check out its historic centre if you have some spare time: unlike many Australian towns that claim to be historic but are poorly preserved, Braidwood's historic centre really is well-preserved (though partially overrun with holiday traffic at times).

Although this section is not long at only 59 km (37 mi), this section takes the longest to traverse (usually between 42–48 min), but is also the most scenic, interesting and windy part of the Kings Hwy as you traverse down (or up if you're coming the other way) the Great Dividing Range. Allow extra time during holiday season – trailers and heavy vehicles cannot descend or make tight turns easily.

As you leave Braidwood, there is a nice line of trees and makes for a nice exit out of town (and an even more welcome entry if you're travelling westbound from Batemans), just as you enter the 80 km/h zone. If you're visiting in autumn, this stretch of road becomes even more beautiful as the trees are very orange/reddish, reflective of autumn colours.

Soon after the line of trees end and the road becomes a 100 km/h road. This section is fairly straight and mostly consists of farmland for about 10–15 km. 20 km (12 mi) from Braidwood and you will see a turnoff to -35.5546149.9231 Monga National Park at River Forest Road. It will be on your right if you're heading east (towards Batemans) or left if you're heading west (towards Braidwood and Canberra). Monga National Park is a great location to visit and explore some ancient temperate rainforests plus some tall eucalypt trees.

After Monga National Park begins the great descent. The road speed limit drops to 90 km/h and then quickly 70 km/h. The road gets very windy – take extra care around the bends, especially during rain, if you are towing anything or behind a vehicle towing anything (it is very common to see Canberrans tow boats and caravans down this highway). One of the first sharp bends – well before the hairpin bends – is called -35.5458149.95694 Pooh Bear Corner, marked by a small sign (easy to miss, though) where you'll see a several plushy teddy bears on the side of the road. The corner also happened to hold the location of a munitions store in WWII, as this was the main highway from Canberra to the coast; had the Japanese invasion proceeded to the mainland, it's likely the highway there would have been blown up.

For the next 25 km or so, enjoy the scenery as you navigate down the bends for around 20 or so minutes. The speed limit here varies between 70 km/h and 90 km/h (the section in between is much more bendier). Here, you'll see tall trees and lush green temperate rainforests. The moment you've reached the end of the bends marks the start of the town of -35.648333150.1344447 Nelligen, a small village along the Clyde River and mostly known for the -35.6468150.14295 Nelligen Bridge – a much newer more scenic bridge was only built and opened in 2023, now with more walking amenities.

Past Nelligen, the highway reverts to its 100 km/h limit and becomes a straight, easygoing and wide highway. 5 km in and you will see a turnoff on Rotary Dr to -35.678333150.1491672 Clyde River National Park – the national park is not very big, but follow the side road for 1.5 km and you'll get to -35.6821150.16356 Holmes Lookout, which has nice scenic views of Batemans Bay and the Clyde River area. And just another 2.5 km from there and you'll have finally reached the terminus of the Kings Highway, -35.708056150.1744448 Batemans Bay, where you'll join the Princes Hwy (A1) for some excellent beaches and lakes in the area.

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.

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.