Northern Florida Welcomes Traveling Pets

When your family includes a dog, planning your winter sun-and-sand vacation gets a little more complicated. Northern Florida makes travel plans a lot easier, with miles of dog-friendly beaches and inns, resorts and hotels welcoming pets.

All the beaches in Jacksonville allow leashed dogs, and two of the city’s dog parks have beer and coffee bars. Kanine Social combines a 14,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor dog park with a bar for coffee and craft beers.

Relax over a drink in the beer garden of BrewHound Dog Park + Bar while your dog plays in an off-leash yard with a trained staff. Play yards accommodate both large and small breeds. Right on the beach, Four Points by Sheraton on Jacksonville Beach is a pet-friendly hotel choice.

You’ll also find pet-friendly rooms in Pensacola at Surf and Sand Hotel; these rooms have direct access to a grassy outdoor space for dogs to play. Right on the beach, Holiday Inn Resort Pensacola Beach Gulf Front has pet-friendly rooms, while those at Hilton Pensacola Beach have direct access to the beach. A dog park is nearby, or you can take your dog on the Beach Walk. Dogs are welcome on hiking trails at Fort Pickens National Park, too.

With 42 miles of dog-friendly beaches, St. Augustine and the nearby coast are popular vacation spots for dog-lovers. Hotels with pet-friendly rooms include the historic Casa Monica Resort and Spa, as well as St. George Inn and Southern Oaks Inn. At the latter, dogs enjoy their own fenced-in play yard. Several campgrounds welcome dogs, and Bryn Mawr Ocean Resort includes a dog park.

It’s not just lodgings that are dog-friendly in St. Augustine. Several restaurants and cafés, including Bull & Crown Publick House, Barley Republic, Florida Cracker Cafe and The Floridian, welcome dogs, as do some attractions, such as St. Augustine Lighthouse and Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.