Dog-friendly trips around New Zealand
18 multi-day routes we have scouted, each a string of dog-friendly walks with a dog-friendly bed for the nights along the way. Follow one end to end, thread your own drive, or lift the stops that suit your weekend.
Trip Builder
Two shapes of trip, one builder. Name a drive and we thread the dog-legal stops along the way: a stretch-legs walk every so often, a dog-friendly lunch near the middle, a dog-allowed bed at each day's end. Or name a base and we plan the days out from it, a different direction each day, home by dark.
Every trip, day by day
The Catlins Coast
Every walk on this route sits on DOC or reserve land where dogs are welcome.
Queenstown & Arrowtown
Dogs are welcome on every trail on this route: the Queenstown and Arrowtown townships, the lakefront gardens, and Bob's Cove Scenic Reserve.
Wanaka Lakeside
Dogs are welcome on every track on this route: Mount Iron is a DOC scenic reserve, and the lakefront walks sit under Queenstown Lakes District Council's dog bylaw, which covers town, the Outlet and Glendhu Bay.
Karangahake Gorge
Dogs are welcome right across Karangahake: the Gorge Loop, the glow-worm rail tunnel and the Crown Track all sit on DOC-administered land that takes dogs, and the Waihi-to-Waikino rail trail is the stretch with room to run.
Bay of Islands & Kerikeri Coastal Escape
Dogs are welcome on every walk on this route, and Roland's Wood is the one place with room to properly run.
Auckland West: Black Sand & the Waitākere Fringe
Dogs are welcome at Muriwai year-round, but the south-end Otakamiro gannet colony with its clifftop tracks is strictly no-dogs, so keep well clear.
Coromandel Loop
Most Coromandel beaches, including Hot Water, Cooks, Shakespeare Cliff and the Whitianga sands, carry summer daytime dog restrictions (roughly Labour Weekend to 1 March), so plan beach time for early morning or the shoulder seasons and read the TCDC signs at every access.
Rotorua Lakes & Redwoods
Dogs are welcome on every walk on this route, and the Hamurana lakefront reserve is the one spot with room to properly run, so confirm the exercise area against Rotorua Lakes Council bylaw signage before you unclip, as the Springs walk proper restricts dogs.
Taupō & the Great Lake Trail
The Great Lake Trail sections (Headland Loop/W2K and Waihāhā) now welcome dogs and give them room to properly run, but they are shared cycle trails, so keep recall sharp and step aside for mountain bikers.
Hawke's Bay: Coast, River & Te Mata Peak
Dogs are welcome on every trail here: the Hawke's Bay Trails cycleways are shared with bikes, and Te Mata Trust Park is a working sheep farm with pest-control bait stations off the tracks, so keep your dog close and out of the scrub.
Taranaki Coastal Walkway & Ōakura
Dogs are welcome the whole length of the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway, which is a shared cycleway, so keep them close.
Wellington: South Coast, Makara & Harbour Bays
Much of Wellington's south coast (Owhiro Bay, Red Rocks) is open ground where a dog can properly run, but keep them close near the Sinclair Head fur-seal colony, where seals haul out year-round and peak May to October, so never let a dog approach them.
Nelson to Golden Bay
Dogs are banned outright on every track and beach inside Abel Tasman National Park, so Marahau is as close as they get, never cross the park boundary.
Marlborough Sounds & Vines
Dogs are welcome on the Sounds tracks on this route, though much of the wider Queen Charlotte area is kiwi and weka habitat, so check DOC signage, and some Sounds reserves need a dog permit or close to dogs outright.
West Coast: Hokitika, Punakaiki & Charleston
Dogs are welcome nearly everywhere on this coast, Kumara's Londonderry Rock loop is the one place with room to properly run, and Cape Foulwind needs them held close near the fur-seal colony year-round.
Christchurch & Banks Peninsula: City Parks to Akaroa
Christchurch and Banks Peninsula both sit under the Christchurch City Council dog bylaw, and dogs are welcome across the parks and the Port Hills / Summit Road farm tracks, where stock and spring lambing are the things to mind, with fully-fenced romps at The Groynes…
Mackenzie & the Aoraki Fringe
Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is entirely closed to dogs, do not drive the dog up SH80 to Hooker Valley, Mueller or Kea Point.
Central Otago: Rail Trail & Rivers
Dogs are welcome the length of this route, and the high-country and rail-trail sections give them room to properly run.