City Sniffin: A Posh Pupper’s Guide to Art, Parks & Doggo Yoga

“It’s not every day you can go for a walk through works of art in an outdoor museum park. And imagine your hooman’s face when you show off your new yoga move. Maybe you’ll get to go to class more often! Then if you’re like me, you’re always watchin out for your own doggo menu – mlem – sweet potatoes! Of course after all that – you couldn’t just stay in an ordinary hotel – only a luxurious museum hotel will do. Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill feature all sorts of places that’ll get your tail waggin.”

– Mo, North Carolina’s
dog travel agent

Pet-Friendly Hotels COME & STAY

1 21C Museum Hotel

1 21C Museum Hotel

DurhamSee on map

Sure, you’re a posh pupper, but have you ever stayed in a museum during your stylish travels? Here, you can’t tell where the hotel ends and the gallery begins. It’s all art at 21C! But the finest art of all is the pet-friendly room you’ll share with your best frens as a base for splorin downtown. Doggos must be less than 50 pounds (sorry, big woofers), and their hoomans pay a one-time-per-stay cleaning fee of $75.

Website(877) 226-9957Directions

2 The Umstead Hotel & Spa

2 The Umstead Hotel & Spa

CarySee on map

While your hoomans do a relax in the spa, your hotel room will be stocked with all the goodest things in life: plush pupper bed, tennis ball and (mlem!) treatos. After a well-deserved snoozle, unleash your zoomies in the hotel’s enclosed play area with new doggo frens. And then snoozle again. It’s a vacation, doggonit! All size doggos welcome for a fee of $200 per stay.

Website(919) 447-4000Directions

Dog-Friendly Things To Do PLAAAAYYY

3 North Carolina Museum of Art Park

Instagram: @nala_da_golden

3 North Carolina Museum of Art Park

RaleighSee on map

You’ve never taken a walkie anywhere like this. Guide your hoomans through wooded trails, a greenway and wide lawns, splorin art installations and gardens along the way. With more than 160 acres of trails winding through natural areas and modern art exhibits, you can wander here for hours. Just don’t forget to stop and find the pawfect spot to create your own masterpiece – a selfie with your best frens.

Website(919) 839-6262Directions

4 Durham Central Park

Instagram: @fozziedoodlebear

4 Durham Central Park

DurhamSee on map

The zoomies never take a vacation, and here you can go full borkdrive in a 5-acre downtown park. In fall, bring your hoomans here by their leash during Barktoberfest for costume contests, a photo booth, and a market with must-have treatos and souvenirs (you can never have too many stuffed frens).

Or try the Raleigh Market on weekends – CNN called it one of the country’s best. No fleas for sale (I checked), but you will find pet supplies and homemade treatos (I checked those too – quality control and all).

Website(919) 794-8194Directions

5 Coker Arboretum

Instagram: @kellymcboone

5 Coker Arboretum

Chapel HillSee on map

Take a sniff-filled stroll through the quiet, shaded gardens and wisteria-covered walkways on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. Your paws will feel the packed sand of the trails, the smooth plank bridges covering the stream and the mosaic stones of the gathering circle. If you venture through all 5 acres, take a rest by one of the hand-crafted benches while you bird (and squirrel!) watch.

Website(919) 962-0522Directions

6 Woofinwaggle

6 Woofinwaggle

RaleighSee on map

Enter vacation-level zen with your first outdoor yoga / doga class. Whether you’re a beginner downward doggo or an expert doggi yogi, you can enjoy bonding time with your best frens at North Carolina’s first fitness center created for hoomans who want to work out with their woofers before stretching into savasana.

Website(919) 249-9663Directions

Dog Boutiques & Souveniring SOUVENIRING

6 Briggs Hardware

DECO Raleigh

6 Briggs Hardware

RaleighSee on map

A basket of bones, a bowl of water and shop doggo Ellie May welcome you into this old-timey general store. Your hoomans can shop for North Carolina souvenirs – tasty BBQ sauces, moonshine jelly, stone ground grits – while you sniff through Ellie May’s doggo department of toys and treatos.

While in Raleigh, take a walkie over to DECO Raleigh to find one-of-a-kind doggo gifts (including some for hoomans too) designed by local artists.

Website(919) 802-5272Directions

Dog-Friendly Restaurants DOGGOS GOTTA EAT

7 Town Hall Grill

Instagram: @louienglish

7 Town Hall Grill

Chapel HillSee on map

Yip yip hooray! Prepare for the best decision of your life when you get the Puppy Patio Menu. What will you choose – the grilled chicken breast, roasted sweet potatoes, or carrots and parsley served with beef? With so many choices for the goodest doggos, you won’t even need to beg for your hoomans’ dinner. (But who are we kidding? That’s what we do!)

Website(919) 960-8696Directions