Top 10 Dog Friendly Camping Sites Around Australia

Travelling Australia with your dog? There are a plethora of free and low-cost campsites available with space for them to roam and frolic in the great outdoors – you just need to know where to look.

We’ve collated a list of the top 10 dog-friendly campsites around Australia – camps that feel like they were built with your dog’s comfort in mind – to make it easier for you to hit the road with your pet.

To make the list, sites needed to offer specific dog services or facilities, showing how they not only ‘welcome’ our four legged friends – but have things in place to ‘cater’ to them.

NOTE: Each campsite will have their own rules and regulations visitors need to adhere to, so be sure to double check with the sites before making any bookings. Please check directly with the operators and emergency services before you travel due to bushfires that are impacting some of the states listed below at the time of publishing.

Here’s the list (in no particular order):

1. BIG4 Gold Coast Holiday Park, Qld

From their dedicated off leash area – where even the most athletic of pups will enjoy several agility activities – and their Puppy Pampering Palace (aka K9 DIY dog wash) to their doggy day care kennels, dog-friendly private ensuites and dog-welcoming poolside café, these guys have definitely planned to please even the fussiest of pets. Did we mention dogs aren’t charged to stay here?!

Address: 66-68 Signato Drive, Helensvale, Gold Coast, Qld

For more, try our Gold Coast accommodation guide.

2. Coodlie Park Farm Retreat

Coodlie Park Farm Retreat is set on a 3000 acre property with lots of space for your dog to roam. The retreat also has its own private beach for guests – and their dogs – to enjoy. Dogs are permitted to go off leash providing they are under your effective control and near you at all times whilst in the retreat. They also don’t charge you extra for your dog’s stay.

Address: Flinders Highway, Port Kenny, Eyre Peninsula, SA

There is lots of space for your dog to roam on this 3000 acre property

3. Capital Country Holiday Park, ACT

It can be hard to keep your dog inside your caravan for long periods of time which is why Capital Country Holiday Park currently offer two ‘Freedom dog sites’ which come with a fencing enclosure around your van for dogs to enjoy space to roam unleashed. As the trend of travelling with your pet continues to rise, this caravan park is looking into further pet-friendly additions, so stay tuned.

Address: 47 Bidges Road, Sutton, Canberra, ACT

For more, try our Canberra accommodation guide.

Capital Country Holiday Park currently offer two ‘Freedom dog sites’

4. Tathra Beach Side, NSW

Have you ever checked into a hotel and been treated to a ‘welcome’ cocktail? Well, at Tathra Beach Side your dog is spoiled with a ‘welcome’ dog-treat upon arrival. They also offer many pet-friendly sites to book, a dog wash station and a number of pet supplies available for purchase at reception. It’s nice to know pets are welcomed as part of the family at this park.

Address: 2 Andy Poole Drive, Tathra, South Coast NSW

5. Best Friend Holiday Retreat, Vic

This retreat has 10 acres of park and fenced caravan and camping sites to choose from. You can also make use of the luxury dog kennels during the days should you need to venture out without your pet. They’ll be treated to a dog playground with a giant dog ball run to keep them exercised and entertained, relax in the hydrobath hut or roam free in the six securely fenced off dog exercise areas (in addition to the playground mentioned above).

This retreat has certainly been made with man’s best friend in mind.

Address: 1720 Tarra Valley Road, Tarra Valley, Gippsland, Vic

6. Heritage Caravan Park, NT

Heritage Caravan Park have a dedicated off-leash dog run area for your pets to burn off energy and socialise with other canine guests. Not only is exercise and play covered, but this park also offers a K9000 dog wash for bath time. These seriously hard-working dog washes will give your furry friend the best bathing experience of their life after a day of play.

Address: 40 Ragonesi Road, Alice Springs, NT

7. Broome’s Gateway Pet Friendly Caravan Park & Lodge, WA

This pet-friendly caravan park has a fenced off dog run and dog baths for use – they also have a Doggie Wash Down Bay in the pipeline. You can take advantage of the park’s day kennels and pet-sitting services should you wish to partake in local tours or even head out for an early evening dinner.

Address: 3000 Broome Road, Roebuck Plains, Broome, WA

8. Captain Cook Holiday Park, Tas

Captain Cook Holiday Park have their own resident dog, which means they are more than happy to cater to your furry friend’s needs as well. They have a doggie play pen and offer dog-sitting services while you take advantage of the National Park runs or nearby lighthouse visits where pets are prohibited. They don’t have a dedicated dog wash area but you are welcome to use the wash down bays onsite – which will definitely come in handy after they’ve had a playful frolic on the beach just over the road.

Address: 786 Adventure Bay Road, Adventure Bay, Bruny Island, Tas

9. BIG4 Ingenia Holidays Cairns Coconut, Qld

Ingenia features a dog agility park designed to let them play in a safe, controlled setting. There are tunnels, ramps and holes for them to play in with other dogs. Get them to exert some energy with some running, tumbling and jumping fun during your stay.

Address: 23-51 Anderson Road, Woree, Cairns, Qld

10. Reflections Moonee Beach

With drinking stations, shaded tie up areas for your dogs and doggie bags in dispensers throughout the park, they’ve easily ticked all the practical boxes for your stay. Instead of just walking your dog, why not take them kayaking or paddle boarding – because you can do that here too! The park also provides dog baths and there is dog sitting available for booking but perhaps the best part is that there are no restrictions on bringing your pet during peak times and they are welcome all year round.

Address: 50 Moonee Beach Road, Moonee Beach, North Coast NSW

Mythical, historical and most of all, spectacularly beautiful, Buchan Caves demands you take your time – and a tour.

In the pools of water, so still they could be mirrors, the reflections of the stalactites make these limestone towers seem even taller. Almost 400 million years ago, an underground river carved through the rock to create the Buchan Caves . Now, artworks created by dripping water adorn these subterranean galleries: stalactites hanging from the ceiling, pillars connecting some to the ground, even curtain-like wave formations clinging to the stone.

Visit the caves for the day or stay onsite in the campground or at the self-contained Caves House. (Image: Ben Savage)

“This is called the Fairy Cave because it’s full of fairy dust,” a guide tells visitors as they enter a cavern glittering with “calcite that’s solidified into thousands of tiny little diamond shapes”. Buchan Caves is Victoria’s largest cave system, but Fairy Cave is a highlight and, along with nearby Royal Cave, is accessible only by tour. Naturally cold, naturally dark, these caverns deep below the surface light up as the local experts tell their stories.

couple walking in cave — You’ll need to book a guided tour to see the caves. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Among the hundreds of caves, some can be easily accessed from the surface. For instance, a casual stroll along the FJ Wilson Interpreted Walk, as kangaroos watch on from beneath acacia trees, leads into the 400-metre-long Federal Cave and its natural steps of white limestone. A slightly longer track, the Granite Pools Walk heads through soaring forest down into moss-covered gullies where the calls of lyrebirds trill through the leaves.

A quick history lesson on Buchan Caves

Among the geology and the nature are millennia of history. This part of East Gippsland connects the high country to the coast and was long a place of refuge for the local Gunaikurnai people on seasonal migrations to the mountains. Archaeological studies show humans lived here up to 18,000 years ago, with artefacts such as small stone tools found around the site. But not too far into the caverns – oh no! The Gunaikurnai didn’t dare venture deep into the dark at Buchan Caves, telling stories they were inhabited by gnome-like nyols (small grey-skinned creatures that could steal memories).

The Buchan Caves Hotel was rebuilt after burning down in 2014. (Image: Jess Shapiro)

By the early 1900s, more people had started to hear about these incredible caves and so the Moon family set up home at the site and started to run tours below ground for intrepid visitors. More than a century later, their historic residence is available as accommodation, with the three-bedroom house sleeping up to eight people and now equipped with modern amenities the Moons could only have dreamt of.

But whether you stay overnight or just spend the day here, it’s worth taking your time to explore more than just the main caves, to get a deeper understanding of one of Victoria’s fascinating geological attractions.

Top 10 dog-friendly camping sites around Australia