Australia's Best Dog-Friendly Beaches Ranked

Summer's coming, and if you're anything like us, that means working out one thing above all else: finding good beaches for dogs that actually tick every box. It's harder than it should be. Dogs are banned from national parks in every state except the Northern Territory, which rules out a huge share of Australia's most obvious holiday spots before you've even started looking.

So we did something about it. We've scored 129 dog-friendly beaches right across the country on five things that actually matter when you're planning a trip with a dog: nearby walking trails, pet-friendly accommodation, campsites and caravan parks, veterinary access, and public ratings adjusted for how many reviews back them up. We pulled the figures from council access pages, AllTrails, Booking.com and Google Places in August 2026, weighted them together, and turned each beach into a single, comparable score out of 100. We're calling it the Hot Pooch Summer Index.

One thing the research confirmed straight away: a quarter of the 129 beaches we ranked don't have a single dog-friendly walking trail within reach. Several of the best beach-and-hike combinations we found even turned out to sit right next to national parks that ban dogs from the walk itself. Frustrating, but at least now you'll know before you pack the car.

Here's how the country's best dog-friendly holiday spots stack up, ranked by overall index score.

Here's how the country's best dog-friendly holiday spots stack up, ranked by overall index score.Index score is weighted 0–100, higher is better. Trails counts dog-friendly walking trails within a 10km by 10km area; Stays counts pet-friendly properties within 5km; Campsites counts campsites and caravan parks within 10km; Rating is the public Google rating out of 5; Vets counts veterinary practices within 10km.

Team Eureka, out and about with the van.

Best for walking with your dog

Sandridge Beach in Port Melbourne, VIC, backs onto 65 dog-friendly trails, more than any other beach in our study.

Best for a pet-friendly stay

Middle Park Beach, also in Melbourne, has 234 pet-accepting properties within 5km, more than any other beach nationally.

Best for camping with your dog

Bagnalls Beach in Port Stephens, NSW, has 23 campsites and caravan parks nearby, the highest count among our national top scorers.

Best all-rounder

Sirius Cove Reserve in Mosman, NSW, tops the overall index at 79.2 out of 100. It doesn't lead on just one factor, it's strong across the board, including the highest concentration of nearby veterinary practices of any beach in the study.

Every summer, we hear from owners who've found a gorgeous beach, only to realise there's nowhere to walk the dog beforehand, or nowhere to stay the night. Planning a trip that actually works for your dog shouldn't take four separate searches. That's the gap we built this index to close, scoring every beach on all five factors at once instead of leaving you to piece it together yourself.

Tara Medina, Founder and CEO at Eureka Pet Co, told us:

"Beach walks are a daily part of life for me and my dog Rojo so when the team came up with the idea to build an index I was all in. 

Every summer we hear from owners who've found a gorgeous beach, only to realise there's nowhere to walk their dog or nowhere to stay the night nearby. Planning a trip that actually works for your dog shouldn't be a headache, which is why we thought dog owners would appreciate the list. 

We built Eureka around air dried food because it travels easily. Perfect whether you're camping, hiking, or on a long road trip. We love supporting dog owners who share our holistic philosophy that real food for your dog should be real easy."

Wherever you end up this summer, whether it's one of the off lead dog beaches on our list or a quieter stretch of sand, a good trip with your dog usually comes down to the same handful of things falling into place: somewhere to walk, somewhere to stay, and somewhere safe to swim. We think what's in the bowl deserves the same amount of planning as everything else, which is exactly why our food is air-dried rather than needing a fridge. It travels the same whether you're camping under the stars or driving six hours down the coast, so it's one less thing to think about when you're already juggling trails, tides and tent pegs.

Ready to sort the last piece of the puzzle before you've even picked a beach? Shop all air-dried recipes.