A holiday without you pet isn’t really a holiday, because you can never truly relax if you don’t know how happy your favourite furry friend is. Kenneling can work, as can leaving a dog with a friend, or having someone house sit the cat.
But, even if you can sort out pet-sitting, it’s still not the same. Strolling down a beach you will find yourself looking forlornly at sticks on the beach wishing you had your best buddy with you. Luckily many caravan holiday parks do accept pets, especially dogs.
Hoseasons for example have 313 locations that accept pets although not all of these are caravan parks. If you use the ‘Features Filter’ on their website search (left side of the page), you can select ‘Pet Friendly’ and a whole variety of other features. You can select the region, pet friendly, and e.g. indoor swimming pool to narrow down the results and quickly find a suitable destination.
Please note that the term ‘pet friendly’ is open to interpretation, as not all pets will be accepted. We contacted Hoseasons regarding the definition of pet friendly and their response was:
“I can advise that it is dogs that are mainly taken away and other animals are at the discretion of the parks. Some for example do not allow cats. If you have a holiday park in mind, we can check this for you.”
So, once you have found a Hoseasons park that suits your needs you will then need to check with Hoseasons or the park owner. We then get into what is a bugbear for many dogs owners. It seems that some breeds may not be welcome.
Park Resorts for example have 38 parks with pet friendly accommodation, however, they have a list of breeds that are not acceptable, “These include but are not limited to:
- Pitbull Terrier
- Japanese Tosa
- Dogo Argentino
- Fila Brasiliero”
The Haven list is exactly the same, with an additional “Other pets may be permitted at the discretion of the park General Manager. Please contact the parks directly to discuss charges prior to making your booking.”
In short the golden rule is you really need to contact the park directly before booking a holiday. Even if you have the cutest, fluffiest, friendliest mutt on the planet, if it isn’t allowed on the beach then that’s going to put a real dampener on your holiday.
It is a bit of hassle to have to ring the park with a list of questions, but if you want to make sure that you and your ‘best friend’ have a great holiday it’s a call worth the effort.
See our pet friendly holiday page here.
By: Gareth Whieldon
