Dog friendly hotel - Melbourne

A staycation at Citadines on Bourke, Melbourne, by Eddie the Chihuahua

Earlier this week I was lucky to have a staycation with my family at the pet friendly Citadines Melbourne Apartment Hotel, located right in the heart of Melbourne, Australia, surrounded by cafes, parks and attractions.

As part of their #happyHOUND Package my family and I enjoyed a modern apartment with city views, which included a special dog bed just for me, toys, water and food bowls, as well as a special gift pack and treats. Am I a pampered Chihuahua? Yes indeed!

This was my first hotel stay, and I wish more Australian accommodation would offer this, us pups like to travel too you know!

The Hotel

Citadines has everything the humans need, including a gymnasium, pool, events and business centre, as well as stylish off lead courtyard for pets to do their business on level 2! The pet courtyard was well equiped with seating for the humans, and had an ample supply of water and poop bags for clean ups.

Living in a Covid world, the Ascott Cares program allows contactless checkin, advanced cleaning and hygiene protocols and there were ample supplies of hand sanitiser throughout the hotel and at the elevator entrances.

The Room

As I travelled with my family we had a clean and modern 2 bedroom deluxe apartment* on level 23 which boasted magnificent city views from 3 rooms. I loved looking out the window at the city and watching the birds fly by!

As mentioned the #happyHounds package included all the things I needed including a dog bed, toys and food and water bowls, but was also fitted out with a kitchen including plates/cutlery/toaster/fridge etc, a living room, 2 bedrooms and two bathrooms with plenty of wardrobe and luggage storage. It was the perfect size for a family of 4 and me of course! I have to note, I did have a word with Mum and Dad about taking the master suite - and I think they deliberately wore me out on walks so I crashed out in the dog bed!

*#HappyHOUNDS rooms are usually Studio or One Bedroom Apartments with access to the courtyard, however if you are travelling with family like we were, please contact them for larger options.

The Location

Located on Bourke Street in Melbourne, Citadines is a short walk to the Bourke Street Mall and the Emporium, the Luxury end of Collins street and the theatre district. A little bit further (but still only 20min walk) is the Southbank and river precinct.

Like all pups, this Chihuahua loves the park and the Treasury Gardens park is a stunner with the city as a backdrop, just a 14 minute walk from Citadines, or you could head to the Royal Exhibition Building and gorgeous Carlton gardens, about a 12 minute walk.

If you’d like a bit of a river walk, Birrarung Marr park is about a 16 minute walk and sits behind Federation Square on the banks of the Yarra River.

Dog friendly cafes and restaurants

There are plenty of outdoor dining options in the city that are suitable to take your dog.

Flinders Lane and Little Bourke Street have a number of outdoor dining options, or you can head towards Southbank like we did (22 min walk) and enjoy one of the outdoor restaurants riverside.

Below are the places we visited on this trip (all have outdoor seating, and are dog friendly).

Pellegrini’s - if you’re after an iconic cafe and bar serving authentic Italian coffee, Pellegrini’s serves up an awesome cup and is just a 4 minute walk from Citadines. Has outdoor seating and pet friendly. Opens at 8am

Brioche by Philip - cute little pastry and bakery store (also serves coffee) just around the corner from Citadines. Also has some outdoor tables if you want to sit, but we chose to take back to the room for the teenagers that wanted to sleep! Opens 7am on week days or 7.30/8.00am on the weekend.

Roadshow Coffee Cart - this cart is right outside the Citadines entrance in the mornings. No seating here, but is perfect for a quick takeaway coffee or to grab a pastry/fruit to take back up to your apartment (Was open at 7am when we headed down).

Coffee Exchange - There aren’t a lot of cafes open before 8am in the city, but the Coffee Exchange and a few others at the top end of Little Collins street are near the Treasury gardens are open early (6.30/7.00am), and have outdoor seating so you can take your dog. We quite enjoyed the early morning walk before the city got too busy. Treasury Gardens is just across the road for a bit of park time before/after breakfast or lunch.

Hopscotch on Southbank - lots of outdoor seating here, plenty of food and drink options and the lovely staff brought a much needed drink for me after my walk. (22 min walk from Citadines).

Nitro Lab - the humans wanted ice-cream (of course) - Nitro Lab is just a short walk from Citadines and has a small amount of outdoor seating too.

This is just a selection of what is on offer - the options surrounding the hotel are limitless - it really is in the perfect location!

Thanks again for having us Citadines - this Chihuahua is one very #happyHOUND with his stay!

For information on Citadines on Bourke #happyHounds dog friendly vacation packages visit this link. You can also sign up for free to the Ascott Cares program to save 10%.

Want more info? Watch some videos of my stay on my Citadines highlights on my instagram page here

Other things you’ll need on a dog friendly vacation

All of the dog harnesses and leads I have used in this article are from Australian pet brand, Mister Woof. Having trustworthy hardware when navigating the city is important. Mister Woof always create a quality product and their leather leads are also waterproof which is essential in a city like Melbourne where it can be sunny one minute and raining the next! Click here to see the Mister Woof dog collection.

If you are a smaller pup like me - we use the Max Bone City Carrier. This dog bag is our go-to dog carrier and was great for shopping in the city as it enabled the humans to take me through the shopping centres and stores (be sure to ask that this ok of course), or when my little legs needed a rest from walking. The bag has a comfy sherpa lining and has plenty of pockets for the humans phone/wallet etc too. You can use my code EDDIE15 at Max Bone that will grab you a discount on the carrier. They ship to Australia as well.
Click here to shop at Max Bone.

Note: This review is part of a collaboration with Citadines on Bourke. All of the thoughts however are our own. We would definitely recommend and stay again. :)