Southern Highlands Annual Events
The Southern Highlands has a busy calendar of annual events, with country shows, gardens, literature, cycling, music and some of the region’s longest-running celebrations bringing visitors back each year. If you are planning a stay at Fitzroy Inn in Mittagong, these are some of the major Southern Highlands events worth keeping in your calendar.
Exact dates change from year to year, so always check with the event organiser when planning your visit.
January – Bowral Show
The Bowral Show is an annual two-day agricultural show held at Bong Bong Picnic Racecourse. It combines traditional pavilion exhibits with showjumping, horse events and family activities and has been part of the local calendar for almost a century.
March – Robertson Show
The Robertson Show has celebrated country life in the Southern Highlands since 1880. Alongside livestock and agricultural competitions, visitors can expect local favourites including the Robertson Potato Races, hay stacking, fireworks, rides and the demolition derby.
March – Moss Vale Show
Another longstanding Highlands tradition is the Moss Vale & District Show, which brings together agricultural displays, showjumping, pavilion exhibits, family entertainment, rides and evening events at Moss Vale Showground. The event celebrated its 140th show in 2026.
April – Bundanoon Highland Gathering
Each autumn, Bundanoon embraces its Scottish heritage for the Bundanoon Highland Gathering, known as Brigadoon. The annual event began in 1978 and now attracts visitors for its street parade, pipe bands, Highland dancing, clans, traditional games and massed pipes and drums.
July – Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival
The Southern Highlands Writers’ Festival brings Australian writers, thinkers and readers together in Bowral for several days of talks and events. The festival celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2026 and has become an established part of the region’s winter calendar.
September and October – Tulip Time
Tulip Time is one of the best-known annual events in the Southern Highlands. Held at Corbett Gardens in Bowral each spring, the festival fills the gardens with thousands of tulips and seasonal flowers, alongside entertainment and activities across several weeks.
Fitzroy Inn is in nearby Mittagong, making it easy to stay for a few days and combine Tulip Time with the gardens, villages, restaurants and wineries of the wider Southern Highlands.
October – Bowral Classic
The Bowral Classic has become a fixture on the Australian road cycling calendar since it began in 2016. Riders leave Bowral before travelling through the rolling countryside and towns of the Southern Highlands, including Berrima, Moss Vale, Bundanoon, Robertson and Mittagong.
Whether you are riding or coming along to support someone, it is a particularly good weekend to experience the region at its spring best.
October – Bundanoon Garden Ramble
Held on the last weekend of October each year, the Bundanoon Garden Ramble opens a collection of private gardens around the village to visitors. Eight gardens are typically selected, ranging from smaller town gardens to larger country properties, with stalls and other activities around Bundanoon throughout the weekend.
https://www.bundanoongardenramble.org.au/gardens/2026gardens
November – Bong Bong Picnic Races
The Bong Bong Picnic Races are one of the Southern Highlands’ longstanding racing and social traditions, held at Bong Bong Picnic Racecourse near Bowral. The event combines picnic racing with a distinctly country atmosphere and remains one of the region’s significant November events.
November – Bundanoon Folk Festival
The Bundanoon Folk Festival brings music to venues throughout the village over a weekend in November, with a program spanning folk, Celtic, roots, blues, jazz, acoustic and world music. The festival makes good use of Bundanoon’s smaller indoor venues, giving it a relaxed village atmosphere.
Make a Southern Highlands event into a weekend away
One of the advantages of attending an event in the Southern Highlands is that there is plenty to do before and afterwards. Bowral, Mittagong, Berrima, Moss Vale, Robertson and Bundanoon are all within the wider region, with cafés, restaurants, wineries, gardens and country drives making it easy to turn an event into a longer stay.
Located in Mittagong and surrounded by five acres of gardens, Fitzroy Inn Historic Retreat provides a central base for exploring the Southern Highlands while still giving you somewhere peaceful to return to at the end of the day.
Check our social media throughout the year for more events, seasonal ideas and things to do during your stay.