Top 10 Doggy Destinations
Top 10 Beaches
Top 10 Places to Hook Up
Top 10 Lodgings for Pampered Pooches
Top 4 Lodgings with Off-Leash Acreage
Top 7 Unusual Places to Stay
Top 3 Retro Chic Hotels
Top 10 Restaurants
Top 10 Wineries
Top 5 Chain Stores
Top 10 Rides
Top 3 Kitschy Attractions
Top 10 Best of the Rest

Top 10 Doggy Destinations

Here are the top dog-friendly cities/areas in California. Our ranking is based on overall dog friendliness, which includes dog-welcoming parks, beaches, lodgings, restaurants, and fun diversions. If your dog deserves a vacation (and what dog doesn’t?), the places below should be high on your list.

Carmel
San Diego/Coronado
Mendocino
Mammoth Lakes
Santa Barbara
Napa Valley
Lake Tahoe
Big Bear Lake
San Francisco
Palm Springs

Top 10 Beaches

Most of these beaches offer off-leash fun in the sun (or in the case of the north coast beaches, fun in the fog). The on-leash exceptions are parts of the two San Francisco beaches. The beaches below are listed from north to south.

Moonstone Beach, Trinidad
Mad River County Park/Beach, Arcata
Crissy Field, San Francisco
Ocean Beach, San Francisco
Esplanade Beach, Pacifica
Carmel City Beach, Carmel
Hendry's Beach/Arroyo Burro Beach, Santa Barbara
Dog Beach Zone, Long Beach
Dog Beach, Huntington Beach
Fiesta Island, San Diego

Top 10 Places to Hook Up

Single? Don’t necessarily want to be? Dogs are major social lubricants – icebreakers extraordinaire. They make it easy to meet people. An acquaintance actually borrows a friend's dog and takes him for walks hoping to meet Ms. Right. He's met a few lovely dates this way. (His friend is thinking about starting to charge him for walking her dog.)

The locales below, listed from north to south, are places that we've heard – and sometimes witnessed – are good for hooking up with a dog-loving date. But don't limit yourself to these places. With a dog and a little luck on your side, you can meet a mate almost anywhere.

Alamo Square Park, San Francisco
Baker Beach, San Francisco
Society Dog gatherings, South Bay area of San Francisco
Its Beach, Santa Cruz
Douglas Family Preserve, Santa Barbara
Peet's Coffee, Santa Monica (the one at 14th and Montana)
Dog Beach Zone, Long Beach
Bruegger's Bagel Bakery, Corona del Mar
Newport/Balboa ferries, Newport Beach
Dog Beach, San Diego

Top 10 Lodgings for Pampered Pooches

These days, many hotels and inns are offering luxurious extras to canine guests. Here are the cream of the crop, listed from north to south. (These descriptions are excerpted from more detailed entries in the fifth edition of The Dog Lover's Companion to California.)

Hotel Monaco, San Francisco - The hotel's mission is to seduce and pamper, and dogs are not excluded from this noble cause. The Monaco offers something called the Bone A Petit Pet Package. It includes bottled water, clean-up bags, dog towels, quality chew toys, gourmet dog cookies, and temporary pooch ID tags. You can also ask the front desk for Lassie, Babe, or Dr. Doolittle videos. The price for all this: $0! Yes, free! In addition, so that your furry friend won't be lonely if you need to step out, dog walking or sitting services are available for a fee.

Hotel Palomar, San Francisco - It's sophisticated, it's luxurious, it's South of Market, and it's got an amazing dog package called the Lap of Luxury, which includes a visit from a pet stylist to do your dog's nails and hair, a pet massage, a pet robe (it's true, it's true!), a leopard print dog bed, bottled water, treats, a Palomar signature collar and leash, doggy breath mints, and a toy.

Cypress Inn, Carmel - Dogs get the royal treatment here, in part because actress and animal activist Doris Day owns this sumptuous hotel. The stately Moorish Mediterranean-style inn is very elegant, with fine oak floors and delicate antiques, but you never feel out of place with your dog. Day's staff makes sure your dog feels especially welcome, right down to offering pet beds and pet food for your four-legged friend. The hotel staff will help get you a pet sitter, should you decide to venture out on your own without your dog.

Fess Parker's Four Seasons Resort, Santa Barbara - Fess Parker's dog guests don't have to watch hungrily as you chow down on your tasty room service meal: They can order their own. The in-room pooch dining menu includes premium ground sirloin, a quality brand wet dog food, and gourmet dog cookies. And if you really want to treat your dog, canine massages are available. For $65, your dog can get a 40-minute in-room massage from a dog-knowledgeable massage therapist from the resort's spa

San Ysidro Ranch, Montecito - Upon registering at the Pet Register and wolfing down some tasty peanut butter biscuits, the guest dog goes to his cottage and finds his name and his accompanying human's name on a sign outside his cottage door. Inside, he'll be greeted by a basketful of VIP goodies, including a bowl filled with squeak toys, rawhides, tennis balls, cookies, and a two-liter bottle of Pawier water. His bed is soft and cedar-stuffed.

A room-service pet menu offers several dining items, including biscuits, ravioli, cheeseburgers, canned dog food, and even New York steak. If we could afford to stay here, Jake would surely check off every item on the list, vacuum it down, and wait patiently at the door for room service to deliver the next course.

Pooches who stay here can also get a luxury most people would drool for: A professional massage. A "slow and gentle" massage is said to increase circulation, help aches and pains, and soothe away fears. A half-hour massage costs $65. (Really.)

Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Santa Monica - The "Loews Love Pets" program considers all pet visitors VIPs (Very Important Pets) and starts their visit with a personal welcoming note from the hotel’s general manager. Attached to the letter is a listing of pet-friendly places in the area. Dogs get a complimentary bag of biscuits, a toy, special placemats, and food and water bowls. If you want to borrow a doggy bed, that’s no problem – they’ve got them for every size of pooch. Loews offers dogs gourmet room service with items like grilled lamb with rice, and even a vegetarian alternative, should your dog be so inclined.

L'Ermitage, Beverly Hills - Dogs get a doggy bowl, a pooch bed, and a menu upon check-in. It’s the most fascinatingly expensive and fancy pet room service menu I’ve ever seen. Some of the items: grilled fillet of beef with organic rice and brown gravy ($28), poached salmon belly in frothed milk (for kitties I imagine; $23), and the piece de resistance, beluga caviar with a hard poached egg ($155; Again, it must be a rich cat thing. I’ve never spent that much on a dinner for four much less on an appetizer for a pet.).

Loews Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills - Dogs receive a note from the hotel's manager welcoming them and giving them tips about nearby dog-friendly places. They also get some treats, a toy, food and water bowls, and can have use of a dog bed if they need one. In addition, gourmet room service awaits them. “The chefs prepare meals for dogs just like they do for our other guests,” says the friendly concierge. Well, the menu may be different, but the prices and quality are right up there with those of the human meals.

The concierge can arrange for in-room pet-sitting or for dog walking, should you be otherwise occupied in the heated outdoor pool or on Rodeo Drive. In fact, the hotel will loan you a "puppy pager" in the event of a pooch emergency while you’re elsewhere.

Regent Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills - Upon arrival, your tiny pooch will be presented with a silver tray containing two ceramic bowls. One has Milk-Bones and is accented by a sprig of fresh mint, the other bowl is for the bottle of Evian water your dog gets. Also on the tray are two white linen napkins, a rubber squeeze toy, and a vase with a long-stemmed rose. Your dog will also get a special pillow for napping. And all this is free! In addition, for a fee, the hotel provides dog sitting and dog walking. They'll even arrange for a vet or a groomer to come to your room. Special gourmet meat selections are also at your dog's pawtips.

Loews Coronado Bay Resort, Coronado - The treatment dogs get here is nothing short of Red Carpet, thanks to Loews’ Very Important Pet Program. Your dog will be welcome with a note from the hotel’s general manager. It includes a list of nearby dog-friendly locales, as well as groomers, pet shops and vets. In your room you’ll find food and water bowls, treats, and toys. A doggy room-service menu is also available, with items that sound so good you might be tempted to share them. If you forgot a leash or your pet’s bed, you can borrow these from the concierge’s "Did You Forget" closet. Dog walking and pet sitting can be arranged if the staff isn't too busy. If you opt for a pet sitter, you’ll get a Puppy Pager, which allows hotel staff to contact you in case of emergency.

Top 4 Lodgings with Off-Leash Acreage

There's nothing like opening your front door and having an off-leash wonderland at your feet. Jake would choose this kind of vacation over a chichi one anytime. The lodgings below are listed from north to south.

Old Garrett Ranch, Hyampom - A cricky old cowboy cabin on 225 acres bordered by leash-free national forest.

The Other Place, Boonville - Four gorgeous cottages surrounded by 550 acres of pretty much leash-free land

Highland Ranch, Philo - Eight large, homey, upscale cottages on a super dog-friendly 300-acre ranch where dogs can join you on 100 miles of bridle trails (it’s adjacent to lumber land), several ponds, and cool redwood forests

Cienaga Creek Ranch Mountain Cottages, Big Bear Lake - Five upscale-yet-rustic cottages set on 50 acres of forest (and thousands of acres of national forest land) where well-behaved dogs can say sayonara to their leashes

Top 7 Unusual Places to Stay

Tired of the same old beautiful inns and cute cottages? How about staying in a water tower, a fire lookout, or a covered wagon with your dog? These lodgings are listed from north to south.

A water tower in Mendocino - The extremely dog-friendly McCallum House is home to a three-story water tower built in the 1800s. It’s been converted into a vertical luxury suite, but water is still stored in a tank up top and you and your dog can see a real working well below the tower through glass on the first floor.

A US Forest Service fire lookout – The Little Mount Hoffman Lookout in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest offers great views from this lookout with one room and no amenities.

Another fire lookout - Also in the northern forests is the Girard Ridge Lookout, which perches you and your dog 12 feet above ground for a scenic if primitive stay.

A wine cellar near Santa Cruz - The Wine Cellar suite at the Apple Lane Inn in Aptos is perfect if you want to sleep among full bottles of wine that are nestled in built-in wine racks on the walls. Just don’t sample the wine: It’s old, and not in a good kind of way.

Covered wagons in Mammoth Lakes area - The two covered wagons at the Virginia Creek Settlement are pretty comfy and make for fine photo ops with your four-legged friend.

Top 3 Retro Chic Hotels

Hotel Triton, San Francisco

Safari Inn, Burbank

Caliente Tropics Resort, Palm Springs

Top 10 Restaurants

Hundreds of California restaurants now allow well-behaved pooches to dine at their outdoor tables. But the restaurants below, listed from north to south, really roll out the red carpet for their canine customers. (There's a disproportionate number of Carmel restaurants on this list only because there's a preponderance of dog-friendly eateries there.) The restaurant descriptions are excerpted from more detailed entries in the fifth edition of The Dog Lover’s Companion to California.

The Ravens, Mendocino - Here's a first: Dogs who accompany their people to this outstanding organic vegetarian restaurant actually get to eat indoors. We all know that health departments ban all but assistance dogs from being inside restaurants, so how can this work? Since the restaurant is part of the magnificent Stanford Inn by the Sea, and the inn allows dogs in its lobby, innkeepers have set up some little tables in the lobby, next to the main restaurant dining area. You will be served there just as graciously as you would be in the main restaurant. “We don’t eat animals here, so it’s an appropriate place for animals to be,” says owner Jeff Stanford.

Mother Barclay's Café, Squaw Valley - Pooch customers feel really welcomed by lots of attention and pats and hugs (when it's not too busy), and they also get free doggy biscuits. Even the café's logo is dog-loving – a dog (Barclay, we presume) in a chef's hat surrounded by mixing bowls and spoons. I frankly wouldn't feel comfortable with Jake the yellow lab preparing my meal, but goldens are another matter all together. On the menu, in small print: "We accept Visa, MasterCard, and 50-lb. bags of Eukanuba." You've gotta love this place, whether you're a human or a dog.

Forge in the Forest, Carmel - Dogs would give this wonderful restaurant five paws up if they had five paws. They get to dine with their humans at a delightful outdoor area, which is warmed by an outdoor fireplace when a chill sets in. Better yet, lucky dogs get to order from their very own dog menu! They get to choose from several dishes, including the Quarter Hounder (a burger patty, $3.95), Hot Diggity Dog (all-beef kosher hot dog, $3.95), and the Good Dog, which the menu announces is "for the very, very good dog." The Good Dog is six ounces of grilled juicy New York steak. The cost: $12.95. If you don't feel like spending any money for your dog's dining, that's okay too. All dogs get dog treats here. The price: The wag of a tail.

Plaza Café & Grill, Carmel - They've got everything a human could want, from fresh fish to pizza. But more important, they’ve got everything a dog could want, including fresh water and a menu with the things dogs usually only dream about. Canine cuisine includes steak, chicken, hamburgers, and dog food. (Jake says yes, yes, yes, no!) "We love it when people bring their dogs to eat with them," says café owner Ken. "The dog menu is just our way of making everyone is happy."

Portabella, Carmel - Since dogs are the toast of the town at this upscale yet laid back restaurant, their water comes not in a bowl but in a champagne bucket. It's enough to make even the most earthy mutt feel just a bit classy. Jake the Dog’s first time with the champagne bucket was an embarrassingly noisy affair. The sound of his giant slurps echoed loudly off the walls of the semi-enclosed back patio, causing a bit of a titter among the patient diners. “Your dog was so good,” said a fellow diner when we passed in the street later. “And so quiet – except when he drank.”

Le Coq D’or, Carmel - This intimate, delightful European country-style restaurant is a paws-down favorite among dogs: Pooches who come here get a burger to call their own. The dog-loving restaurant owner, Annelore, serves her own special dog burgers, which consist of ground beef, rice, and garlic, with a dash of salt and pepper. "They smell so good I could eat one myself," she says. The burger comes with a dog bowl filled with fresh water. The cost for all this: $0. "I do it because I love dogs and I think customers like seeing their dogs eat at a restaurant," says Annelore, who also doles out cookies to dogs who are just passing by.

Fleur de Lis, Long Beach - Your dog will think he's in pooch paradise when dining at this lovely café's shaded outdoor tables on its lower terrace. From here, you get wonderful bay views. Dogs love this, because there's just something about big bodies of water that sets a dog's nose aquiver. But that's not the half of it. The Fleur de Lis staff makes sure dogs feel welcome by giving them tasty dog biscuits and big bowls of water. That puts the "wow" in bow-wow.

Park Bench Café, Huntington Beach - The motto here is "Every Dog Has his Day at the Park Bench Cafe." On weekends, the place is jammed with dogs having their days. "It's crazy busy," says owner Mike Bartusick. "I love it." With Central Park’s leash-free pooch park just a bone’s throw away, this place is almost always hopping.

The Canine Cuisine menu items include the Hot Diggity Dog (a plain all-beef hot dog, sans bun, cut up in doggy bite sizes), the Wrangler Roundup (a juicy lean turkey burger patty, again bun-free), and Anabelle's Treat (four chopped strips of bacon). As you can see, the dog menu is much like the human menu, only with the focus more on meat, less on accessories. All pooch items are served on disposable dishes, so don't worry about finding dog slobber on your plate when you're downing your own food here.

Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery, Corona del Mar - If you don't have a dog, you may feel positively naked here. This terrific bagelry is so doggone dog-friendly that on weekends, you can find up to a couple dozen dogs at a time hanging out on and around Bruegger's wraparound porch. Dogs love it here, not only because they get to chat with each other and socialize with other humans, but because Bruegger's treats dogs like kings: Dogs who visit get a free bagel! And not even a day-old bagel; a fresh one.

Terra, San Diego - This upscale restaurant doesn't forget your canine companion. In fact, Terra has teamed up with the Original Paw Pleasers pet bakery to provide dogs with some lip-licking choices from their very own menu. You may want to try the Puppy Pizza, followed by a carob-dipped pig's ear (advertised as "same great taste, no hair or veins!"). Dogs can dine alfresco at the lovely patio. (At night, you wouldn't even see the veins anyway.)

Top 10 Wineries

Dogs are being welcome on the grounds of an increasing number of wineries. Here are our top picks, in a semi-geographical order.

The Wine Room, Kenwood - Features a new dog-labeled wine line, and provides treats to visiting pooches

Mutt Lynch Winery, Healdsburg - Has several wines named after dogs, and a dog-friendly party in summer

Casa Nuestra, St. Helena - Mellow winery where dogs get treats and get to stare at resident goats from the picnic tables

Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery, Sonoma - Serves dogs fresh water and provides a leash if you forget yours

Mumm Napa Valley, Calistoga - Has its own line of logo doggy products, and dogs get treats and water

Graeser Winery, Calistoga - Has a new line of dog-labeled wines named after winery dogs

Dutch Henry Winery, Calistoga - Dogs are greeted by the winery's friendly Airedales and a dog-loving wine maker, and get water if thirsty

Eberle Winery, Paso Robles - Thirsty dogs get water here

Bella Vista Cilurzo Vineyard & Winery, Temecula - "We LOVE dogs!" a winery rep exclaims

Keyways Vineyard & Winery, Temecula - Dogs are nothing; they even welcome horses here.

Top 5 Chain Stores

If your dog is longing to do more than just window shop, she'll likely be in luck if one of these stores is on your shopping list. Not all stores within these chains welcome dogs, but most do.

Borders
Big Dogs Sportswear
Nordstrom
REI
Restoration Hardware
Saks Fifth Avenue

Top 10 Rides

Riding in a car is so last year. These days, California dogs are hopping aboard all kinds of interesting vehicles as they explore the Golden State. Here are some of the most fun, from north to south.

Blue Goose Steam Train, Yreka

Ski gondolas at Squaw Valley Ski Resort, Squaw Valley

Tom Fraser's Carriage Tours, Jamestown

Sugar Pine Railroad, Fish Camp (Yosemite area)

Blue & Gold Fleet ferries, San Francisco Bay

San Francisco cable cars, San Francisco

Roaring Camp & Big Trees Narrow-Gauge Railroad, Felton (Santa Cruz Co.)

Catalina Express ferry, Catalina/Long Beach, San Pedro, Dana Point

Newport/Balboa ferries, Newport Beach

Country Carriages buggy rides, Julian

Gondola Company gondolas, Coronado

Top 4 Kitschy Attractions

Trees of Mystery, Crescent City / Klamath - This bizarrely wonderful attraction comes with a 50-foot-tall talking Paul Bunyan that converses with guests and gives sensitive dogs the creeps.

Shrine Drive-Thru Tree, Myers Flat - Drive through a 275-foot-tall tree and then grab an ice cream at the kitschy, fun gift shop.

Petrified Forest, Calistoga - A big sign announces "Once Towering Redwoods – Now the Rock of Ages." The forest is dotted by strange little lawn elves.

Tail o' the Pup, West Hollywood - This isn't really an attraction but one of the last examples of architectural kitsch in LA. The counter where you order food is encased in a giant hot dog, complete with mustard and bun.

Top 10 Best of the Rest

All the fun places listed below allow dogs, of course.

Nudest Nudist Beach: Garrapata State Park, Big Sur area

Coolest Place for a Hot Dog: Tail o' the Pup, West Hollywood

Bow-wowest Dog Park Design: Drigon Dog Park, Union City

Best Day to Have a Ball: San Francisco Giants Dog Days of Summer,
San Francisco

Best Slice of Farm Life: Pizza Farm, Madera

Cleanest Fun: 20 Mule Team Borax park/museum, Boron

Best Place to be a Poodle: Bastille Day Parade, Santa Barbara

Best Place to Pretend You're in a Western: Alabama Hills, Lone Pine

Best Place to Find God with Your Dog: First Presbyterian Church Drive-In Car Church, Richmond