Your eyes adjust from the outside and focus on a schooner of a freshly poured beer as the bartender places it on the towelled-bar. The sight of that beaded glass causes a ‘gag’ at the back of your throat that can only be slaked by your favourite beer. Ah!!

Country pubs have always been great places for a cool beer. They’re also a great place to catch the flavour of the town you’re in, meet people, listen to music or yarn with the 'regulars' about local history. Some serve great food, others don’t.

Every pub has its own personality. When you’ve found one where you want to stay for a while, do – and relax.

In Queanbeyan
Walsh's Hotel

In Captain's Flat
The Captain's Flat Hotel

In Bungendore
The Lake George
The Royal (with The Harvest Café)

Braidwood & Villages
The Braidwood Hotel
The Royal Mail Hotel

How about these two real country pubs...

You arrive at the Major's Creek Hotel; a pub that carries the region’s history on its walls. Bale-stencils from sheep grazing properties that stretch back to the 1830’s and gold mining memorabilia from gold rush days.

Sit out on the veranda and look down the creek where thousands of miners toiled. Sip a beer while your great counter-lunch is being cooked (good pub food, good value).

A real country pub in the bush tradition; a timeless spot with hospitable service. Well worth a stop when you’re out for a drive. Recommended.

At Araluen
This is a top spot to visit.


The scenery in the valley (surrounded by the mountains of the Great Dividing Range) is spectacular. The orchards produce succulent stone fruits, especially peaches. This dispersed township has buildings that have (sometimes just) survived from the old days; modern and old sit comfortably together in what was once the largest gold field in Australia.

The Araluen Valley Hotel is the social heart of this small village. Cold beer, good food, good company, good old fashioned accommodation and a good publican and his wife: a family pub.

The Araluen Valley Hotel is the way hotels used to be – a welcome respite for the traveller.