Dog Friendly UK Holiday Ideas

We’ve just returned from another lovely UK holiday with our English Bulldog, and are already thinking about where to go next. The perfect dog-friendly holidays for us include self catering rental (ideally with outdoor space), and plenty of local places for outdoor walkies, including beautiful countryside and beaches. We especially love seaside spots with pretty towns where dogs are welcomed into some of the cute shops and eating spots. Here are our current favourite UK dog friendly holiday destinations, but we are always looking for more!:

Dog Friendly North Wales

Seaside towns like Conwy, Llandudno, Beaumaris and Rhosneigr all have lots of charm and are welcoming to dogs. These places tick a lot of my boxes with their cute shops and cafes, plus pretty landmarks like harbours, castles and vintage piers. We’ve always been lucky enough to experience the perfect weather in North Wales in the months May-July – sunny but not too hot to walk a dog! As well as beautiful beaches that dogs will love (including dog friendly Rhosneigr and Morfa Conwy which have no seasonal restrictions), there are lovely walks within Snowdonia National Park, such as the walk to Aber Falls. Read more details about our recent trip to Conwy here.

Dog Friendly Pembrokeshire

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is renowned for its beautiful coastline and gorgeous sandy beaches. The spectacular views while walking The Pembrokeshire Coast Path are reason enough to visit with your dog! There are countless beaches to visit in this region, but not all are dog friendly all year round. However we found some fantastic ones, including Tenby South Beach, Glen Beach at Saundersfoot, and Freshwater East. The lovely town of Tenby is a must see, and it was certainly very popular with dog owners. We also found neighbouring Saundersfoot to be lovely, and attractions like Carew Castle also welcome dogs on leads, so there’s plenty to do with your pooch in this area of Wales.

Dog Friendly Northumberland

We’ve loved both of our holidays to Northumberland, and can’t wait until we can take Nellie there with us as it’s known to be one of the best dog friendly places to visit in the UK. The beaches are simply gorgeous there, and its good to know that our favourites Bamburgh and Alnmouth are dog friendly all year round. Bamburgh Castle grounds are also dog friendly, although dogs aren’t allowed inside the buildings. We love visiting the pretty town of Alnwick and browsing Barter Books, which welcomes dogs inside, and then having al fresco fish and chips on the cobbled square. Its a lovely town to explore with a dog, and the pastures behind Alnwick castle are lovely too. Another activity we enjoyed was the coastal walk from the town of Craster to the ruined Dunstanburgh Castle. The only consideration is that the walk passes through active farmland with livestock, so dogs should be kept on lead for this one.

Dog Friendly Lake District

Our first ever doggie trip was an autumnal mini break to the Lake District. We were fostering a dog, and the Lake District had everything we were looking for within a 2 hour drive from home, even a fantastic local beach! We stayed near the town of Cockermouth, which had cute shops to browse and a great local butcher who gave us some bones for the dog. On future visits we’d love to wander round Keswick, Ambleside or Grasmere too. The beach of Allonby has huge areas of open sand when the tides are low, which is perfect for running an energetic dog. And of course there are plenty of beautiful countryside walks round lakes and waterfalls in this area. On our visit we decided to walk of the trails of Whinlatter Forest, which was simply stunning during autumn! There are also a lot of dog friendly museums and attractions, and an idea I’d love to try on a future visit is a trip on the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway steam train.