Beach Zoomin: Doggo Adventure by Boat, Golf Cart, Ferry & Paw

“Get ready to ZOOM! There’s nothing quite like getting to run full-out, off-leash on a doggo-friendly beach. It gives me 5 o’clock tongue. Every. Single. Time. Then I cool off by hopping aboard a ferry (with a built-in breeze) to go splorin a remote island. And while I love a car ride at home, here I get to go 4x4 beachin! Once you and your hoomans experience North Carolina’s southern coast, you’ll never want to leave. So, extend your stay in a downtown ‘bed and snack’ or a beachside cottage.”

– Mo, North Carolina’s
dog travel agent

Pet-Friendly Accommodations COME & STAY

1 Bald Head Island Vacation Rental

1 Bald Head Island Vacation Rental

Bald Head IslandSee on map

Live like a local pupper in doggo-friendly condos and cottages on Bald Head Island. With no cars allowed on the island, you’ll get around by the power of your paws or riding in a golf cart, your snoot in the ocean breeze. Check out options at Tiffany’s Beach Properties and Bald Head Island Rentals.

Directions

2 Nacho Mama’s Bed and Snack

2 Nacho Mama’s Bed and Snack

WilmingtonSee on map

Guests have stayed in this B&B for nearly 200 years – it’s the oldest in Wilmington – but now it’s a place for in-the-know puppers and their hoomans. Each room is a private residence with its own kitchen and living area, and you’re only a two-block walkie to the sights and restaurants of the riverwalk. Instead of traditional breakfasts, hoomans receive a collection of tasty snackos (sharing with doggos required).

Website(910) 297-0145 Directions

Dog-Friendly Things To Do PLAAAAYYY

3 Bald Head Island Ferry

3 Bald Head Island Ferry

Bald Head IslandSee on map

If you’ve never sniffed the scent of saltwater from atop a great big ferryboat, I highly recommend it. Hop aboard this one to head for an adventure on the quaint Bald Head Island. Go splorin on a nature tour with your hoomans, frolic on a doggo-friendly beach and see Old Baldy, North Carolina’s oldest standing lighthouse. This might even top that day I got two breakfasts.

Website(910) 457-5003Directions

4 Freeman Park at Carolina Beach

Instagram: @ambassador_rosey

4 Freeman Park at Carolina Beach

Carolina BeachSee on map

Adventure doggos, here’s your beach. Ride shotgun in a 4x4 joyride or go full borkdrive in the surf. Either way you’ll feel the wind in your floof, and during the offseason (October through March), you don’t need to leash your hoomans. Plus – it’s cooler then anyways. Hook, Line and Paddle, a shop with a few area locations, rents kayaks and paddleboards for a do-your-own adventure or group tour. (Forget your pupper float coat? No fear, the shop sells them.) A bit farther away, Topsail Beach offers doggo-friendly beaches that go leash-free in the offseason too. Countdown to zoomies in 3 … 2 …

Website(910) 458-4614Directions

5 Boat Ride to Masonboro Island Reserve

Instagram: @brewster_the_beer_pup

5 Boat Ride to Masonboro Island Reserve

Wrightsville BeachSee on map

Do you an ocean-faring adventure! Leave the land doggos on shore, rent a boat and take to the water with your best frens. You’ll head to the biggest undisturbed barrier-island system in the area, full of sea turtles, birds and other sea creatures. Your hoomans must be leashed, but your journey will be wide open.

Website(910) 200-4002Directions

6 Ghost Walk of Old Wilmington

6 Ghost Walk of Old Wilmington

WilmingtonSee on map

Ready for a borkin big scare? Hear ghost stories, see haunted homes, visit burial grounds and protect your hoomans against a frighten. If your best frens prefer movies to mayhem, try a self-guided tour to see locations and memorabilia from Wilmywood’s film and TV hits, like Pawson’s Creek, A Walkie to Remember and Snoozle with the Enemy.

Website(910) 794-1866Directions

Dog-Friendly Restaurants DOGGOS GOTTA EAT

7 Java Dog Coffee House

Instagram: @miriam_khamis_horsley

7 Java Dog Coffee House

WilmingtonSee on map

You wake up wagging, but your hoomans need help. Lead them here to power up with caffeine and breakfast snackos before your big day. Doggos are welcome inside and on the patio with treatos and full water bowls. Make frens with other beach doggos while your hoomans get the sleepies out of their eyes.

Website(910) 343-8890Directions

8 Fishy Fishy Café

Instagram: @bentleywestie

8 Fishy Fishy Café

SouthportSee on map

After a day of splorin, keep the menu of sniffs comin with dinner out on the water, including a front row seat to the sunset. Show your hooman how to make the mostest of every second on this doggo-friendly patio with servers who bring water bowls to visiting puppers. Tip: The manager is your fren (that’s the one who keeps the treatos).

Website(910) 457-1881Directions

9 The Brewer’s Kettle

Instagram: @lil.miss.haven

9 The Brewer’s Kettle

WilmingtonSee on map

Fill ‘er up at this old 1950s service station that now offers fill-ups of craft beer and fine wines. Your best frens can relax with tasty beverages – and maybe even one of their many cigar options – while you relax on the patio with the other doggos.

Website(910) 502-0333Directions

10 Sandpiper Coffee & Ice Cream

Instagram: @sandpipercoffee

10 Sandpiper Coffee & Ice Cream

Bald Head IslandSee on map

It’s hooman law: Each day of vacation begins with coffee and ends with ice cream. Here, your best frens can get both. Settle down at a patio table or take a short walkie to the beach to enjoy an oceanfront view with your latte or cone. If you want goodies to take back to your hotel, hit Maritime Market Café to grab treatos or dinners to go.

Website(910) 457-1222Directions