Dog-Friendly Attractions in Melbourne

Thirty eight hectares of landscaped garden on the south bank of the Yarra, laid out around an ornamental lake with lawns, rainforest gullies and heritage trees. Leashed dogs are welcome during normal opening hours, which is unusual for a botanic garden of this rank.

The classic Melbourne seaside outing: a long pier out into Port Phillip Bay, a palm-lined foreshore promenade, and on Sundays the Esplanade art and craft market along the clifftop. Dogs are allowed on the pier on a lead and through the market, with the dog-friendly sand right beside it.

A weir and rock shelf where the Merri Creek meets the Yarra, reached by an easy riverside loop of roughly two kilometres through Yarra Bend Park. The rock embankment gives dogs simple access to the river, and Studley Park Boathouse a little downstream hires out rowboats and canoes that dogs can join.