Best Dog Friendly Walks Melbourne – One of the most popular things to do with your dog, whether it’s a day trip or longer, is finding dog-friendly tours. It is better to walk together around something new and interesting, than to go through the same country road.
Country Victoria is home to excellent walks, where many allow dogs, most of them on leashes. I have tried these short walks around Victoria with a dog. Each walk is less than 5km, sometimes shorter, and worth an hour or two.
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You Yangs Regional Park is a great day trip from Melbourne with your child. Located less than an hour from central Melbourne and 25 minutes north of Geelong, dogs on leashes are allowed in the park, which is named after the Aboriginal word for “big hill in the middle of the valley”.
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The most popular part of the park is the Flinders Peak walk, which climbs to the top of the granite rock and offers stunning views as far as Melbourne and across the Bellarine Peninsula. The return distance is 3.2km, and takes about an hour to complete. Just be warned there are a lot of stairs to climb!
If you prefer a short, easy walk, another good option is the 800m area around Big Rock, which can also be climbed within 100m of the parking lot.
Alternatively, for a longer walk, combine the return route to Flinders Peak with the nearby East-West Walk, a 4.5km route from the same car park. Allow 3 hours to travel together.
The You Yangs aren’t the only place on Melbourne’s doorstep, with Macedon Regional Park in the Macedon Ranges less than an hour north-west of Melbourne.
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One of the shorter hikes available in the park is the path to the Memorial Park, which leads outside to the tea room and large picnic area. But there are other short and long walks that can be completed with a leashed dog.
I recommend climbing to the top of Camel’s hump, the highest point. It climbs slowly through the bushes, slowly rising to the top, with a good view from the right place to Hanging Rock and the surrounding villages. The return distance is only 1km, so it’s a quick 20-30 minute walk, but it’s enough to stretch your legs.
If you want to go further, you can combine the walk with part of the 30km loop track that connects all the main sites in Macedon Regional Park.
Daylesford is an area close to Melbourne for day trips, but offers plenty of weekend getaways. And one of the most popular attractions for dogs in Daylesford is completing a walk around Daylesford Lake.
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The entire walking circuit is about 2.8km long, taking about an hour to complete the full distance at a brisk pace. There are several car parks available around the area, at the Foreshore, Fulcher Street and Wombat Flat, or it is an easy drive from many of the city’s residential areas. It’s easy to just walk part of the walk and return to the starting point, with plenty of signs informing you of the distance to various points of interest.
The Daylesford area is famous for its salt springs, and you can drink the local spring water after your walk. Stop at the Wombat Flat Mineral Spring or take a short walk to the Central Springs Reserve, home to a well-known mineral water pump. The dog must be on a leash.
I was looking forward to seeing Toorongo Falls and the Amphitheater on my trip to Victoria, but after a day of heavy rain, I decided it would be best to skip hiking with our dog in one of the wettest areas of Victoria.
Victoria’s two dog-friendly waterfalls are in the southern Yarra Ranges National Park at the dog-friendly Toorongo Falls Reserve in Noojee, about two hours’ drive east of Melbourne. they are under effective control.
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The circular route that visits the Toorongo observation deck and Amphitheater Falls is 2.2km long and takes one hour. The path through the forest should be well made and smooth, but it is better to walk after heavy rain.
The bright area has many good walks for dog lovers, but the top choice is the Canyon Walk, which follows the banks of the Ovens River through a section called the “canyon”, before it was used for gold sluicing.
The walk starts on the west side of Star Road, however, you can also start walking about 200m before Howitt Park, where there is a car park. The walk is about 3km long if you start from Star Road, although there are some exceptions, including if you connect with Murray’s Mountain Rail Trail.
Walk first on the paved road, but on the edge of the gorge, the path is dangerous, especially on the north side of the river. You cross the river twice on two swing bridges at each end of the canyon section.
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Although dogs are supposed to be at risk in the city of Bright, including in Howitt Park, dogs are allowed off-leash, as long as they are under control. I didn’t see any signs indicating this, but according to the map on the council’s website, dogs are allowed off the Riverside Avenue end.
Near Bright in the Victorian High Country is the historic town of Beechworth, known as one of Australia’s best preserved gold mining towns. There are many walks around the city, many of which are dog-friendly, but one that combines beautiful bushland with the chance to see some of the historic sites is the Gorge Walk.
The Gorge Walk runs through Beechworth Historic Park, on the edge of the town. Many follow the 5km long Gorge Scenic Drive, an ancient road that runs through the park. Today this drive is limited to one way and is popular with cyclists and pedestrians.
You can start your walk downtown at the visitor information center, where you can pick up a brochure about the Park’s history, or wherever you are going. The total length of 7km takes about two hours to walk, but you can shorten the route to about 5km by returning from the visitor center to Powder Magazine along Camp Street.
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The Powder Magazine, a National Trust-listed former gun store, is one of the highlights of the tour. Also don’t miss the waterfalls around the Spring Creek Bridge or the Rocky Mountain road at the end of the drive.
Dogs on leashes are allowed throughout the Historic Park. Please note that dogs are not allowed at Woolshed Falls, which is located in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park and is also accessible from the trail that starts at Spring Creek Bridge.
Please note that for safety reasons on the Spring Creek Bridge, the bridge is closed to public traffic including all pedestrians. The section of gorge road between Powder Magazine and Pritchard Lane is also closed to vehicles, although pedestrians are allowed. Check the website for the latest updates, but the bridge will not be open again.
Driving the Ocean Road is a world-famous adventure, but unfortunately the area is not dog-friendly as I found out in the guidebook. With a large stretch of beach within the National Park, the most dog-friendly part of the beach is around Martir Bay, where there are dog-walking trails.
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Starting at the Peterborough Golf Coast in the west of Peterborough, the Peterborough – Bay of Martyrs Trail continues for 2km to the Bay of Martyrs Carpark. The best places to park are Bay of Martyrs or Wild Dog Cove Carparks. Along the way, the boardwalk passes Halladale Point and many coves.
The trip takes about two hours round trip, including detours along the way. Be aware that dogs are not allowed on the beach and in many areas, including Bay of Martyrs Beach, so follow the signs. Dogs must also be kept on a leash.
If the dog wants a chance to run off-leash, at the mouth of the Curdies River in Peterborough, there is noise, except from 9am to 6pm in the months of December to April.
On the other side of Victoria to the Great Ocean Road is Lakes Entrance, home to the coastal path, the Entrance Walk.
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This popular walking route can be accessed by crossing the Cunninghame Arm Footbridge to Main Beach, and turning right at the surf club. The walk is well signposted and leads 2.4km to a tricked-out entrance after the town.
