Pet-Friendly Family Hotels in and Around Dundee

A pet-friendly policy is the starting point, not the whole answer. What matters next is where you can walk the dog morning and evening, whether the room has space for a bed or crate, and whether everyone can eat without leaving the animal alone for long. The three hotels here answer those questions differently: one by being steps from the river, one by offering apartments, and one by sitting in open country outside Dundee.

Malmaison Dundee works for families who want the city on foot. The hotel sits about 100 metres from the riverfront, so the first walk of the day can follow the Tay towards the V&A Dundee and the RRS Discovery without getting in the car. Rooms are stylishly furnished with an en suite power shower and a flat-screen TV, and the on-site brasserie with its Josper Grill means dinner is downstairs. With 3,015 reviews behind its rating of 8.4, it is also the most reviewed hotel on this page, which gives a reliable picture of what to expect before you book a weekend.

Staybridge Suites Dundee by IHG is the strongest choice for a longer stay with a pet. Its spacious apartments have kitchenettes, which lets a family cook, keep a routine and avoid leaving the dog alone during restaurant meals. Family suites, a fitness centre, a lounge and spa and wellness facilities round out the offer, and guests score it 8.9 across 2,308 reviews, the best rating of the three. For a week spent between the Dundee waterfront, Broughty Ferry and day trips into Angus or Fife, I would book here first, because the apartment format absorbs a dog far better than a standard hotel room.

Longforgan Coaching Inn takes you out of the city to the village of Longforgan, west of Dundee on the road towards Perth. The building is a converted 17th-century inn with recently refurbished en suite rooms, free WiFi and a pet-friendly policy, and it rents out bikes, which opens up quiet rides through the farmland of the Carse of Gowrie. Several golf courses are within easy reach, a draw if one parent plays. Its rating of 7.6 from 513 reviews is the lowest here, so I see it as a base for countryside walks and cycling rather than for exploring Dundee itself.

Choosing between the three comes down to how the dog will spend its day. If the plan is museums and the waterfront, Malmaison keeps everything within walking distance of the Tay and the V&A Dundee. If the stay runs to several nights, Staybridge Suites gives room to cook and settle into a routine, which calmer pets and younger children both appreciate. If the trip is really about open space, bikes and golf, Longforgan Coaching Inn puts you among the fields of the Carse of Gowrie. All three state a pet-friendly policy, so confirm any size limits for your animal when you reserve.