Brisbane doesn’t get enough credit as a dog city. I’ve lived and practised here for nearly a decade, and I can tell you that the combination of year-round mild weather, genuinely off-leash-friendly parklands, and a café culture that actually welcomes dogs makes it one of the best cities in Australia to travel with your pet.

That said, knowing where to go — and when — makes an enormous difference. As a local vet, I’ve designed this itinerary around what actually works for dogs in Brisbane: venues with genuine off-leash access rather than just “dog tolerant” policies, walks that are safer in Brisbane’s climate, and accommodation that won’t give you the runaround at check-in. I’ve included the safety considerations you won’t find in generic travel guides, because Queensland has some genuine hazards that every pet owner needs to know about.

This is a guide I’d hand to a client arriving from interstate with their dog. It is not exhaustive — Brisbane has dozens of worthy dog-friendly spots — but it covers three days that I’d confidently recommend.