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# Dog Friendly City Guide: Charlotte, USA
- URL: https://rochsociety.com/dog-friendly-city-guide-charlotte-north-carolina/
- Published: 2026-10-14T00:09:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-14T00:09:58.000Z
- Description: Greenways that follow the creeks for miles, fenced dog parks run by the county, and a German biergarten under old oaks where a leashed dog is part of the crowd. Where to stay, eat, drink and walk with a dog in Charlotte.
- Author: Oliver Williams
- Tags: City Guides

Charlotte is a city built for a dog that likes to walk. Behind the towers of uptown, a network of greenways follows the creeks out through the old neighbourhoods, paved, shaded and shared by runners, cyclists and a great many leashed dogs. The county runs several fenced dog parks where a dog can run free, and the city's brewery boom has given it beer gardens and taprooms where a well behaved dog is welcome at your feet. It is a green, easy going place in the North Carolina Piedmont, with long warm seasons, so plan your walks for the cool of the morning and the evening.

## Getting There With a Dog

Whether you fly into Charlotte Douglas International Airport or arrive by road, a dog coming from abroad has to meet the rules of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before it is let into the country. The first question is where your dog has spent the past six months. If that time has been only in [countries the CDC treats as rabies-free or low risk](https://www.cdc.gov/importation/dogs/rabies-free-low-risk-countries.html?ref=rochsociety.com), the dog must be microchipped, at least six months old, and travelling with a receipt for the CDC Dog Import Form, which you complete online before you travel. Time in any [country on the CDC's high-risk list for dog rabies](https://www.cdc.gov/importation/dogs/high-risk-countries.html?ref=rochsociety.com) brings more paperwork and stricter checks at the port of entry. Read the [CDC's guidance on bringing a dog into the United States](https://www.cdc.gov/importation/dogs/index.html?ref=rochsociety.com) in full before you book a flight. A dog already in the United States needs nothing more than its usual papers, though a current rabies certificate is worth carrying, because you will need it at the county dog parks.

## Where to Stay

Charlotte's dog friendly hotels are in uptown. The most open of them is [Embassy Suites Charlotte Uptown](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/embassy-suites-by-hilton-charlotte-uptown?ref=rochsociety.com), on East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which holds a D. Most of its rooms take dogs, one to a room, up to 75 lb, for a fee of $85 a stay. What sets it apart is how far a dog can go inside: yours is welcome in the bar, the restaurant, the lounge and on the terrace, so it can be with you through the evening, and a settled dog may be left in the room while you go out.

[The Ivey's Hotel](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/the-ivey-s-hotel?ref=rochsociety.com), a small hotel of 59 rooms on North Tryon Street, also holds a D. It suits the owner of a small dog, with a weight limit of 20 lb. Most rooms take dogs, the fee is $150 for the first night and $50 for each night after, your dog is welcome in the lounge, and it can be left in the room when you head out to dinner.

On West Trade Street, the [Grand Bohemian Hotel](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-hotel/grand-bohemian-hotel-charlotte-autograph-collection?ref=rochsociety.com), ranked F, takes up to two dogs of up to 30 lb in most of its rooms for $150 a stay, and its staff can point you to the local walking routes. Dogs stay with you here rather than being left in the room. Every hotel, with its rank, its fee and its rules, is on [our ranked dog friendly hotels in Charlotte](https://rochdog.com/dog-friendly-cities/charlotte?ref=rochsociety.com).

## Eat and Drink

Charlotte's dog owners do much of their socialising at the breweries, and the grandest of them is the [Olde Mecklenburg Brewery](https://www.ombbeer.com/?ref=rochsociety.com) on Yancey Road in LoSo, the city's oldest standing independent brewery. It brews German-style beer with only water, malt, hops and yeast, and its biergarten, set on an acre under oak, pecan and hickory trees, calls itself the largest in the Southeast and "the perfect place for people, pets, and life's simple pleasures". The brewery's own answer to whether you can bring a friendly dog is "Definitely", in the biergarten outdoors and on a leash, so take a table under the trees rather than heading inside.

On The Plaza, [Hattie's Tap & Tavern](https://www.hattiesclt.com/?ref=rochsociety.com) is a neighbourhood bar for beer, wine and cocktails, with karaoke and bingo nights, and its own page puts it plainly: pups welcome inside and out. It is the place to go when the weather turns and you want the dog in from the patio with you.

On JW Clay Boulevard, [Armored Cow Brewing](https://www.armoredcowbrewing.com/?ref=rochsociety.com) goes further than most. Its own page says dogs are part of its family and its herd, that it is thrilled to welcome well-mannered pups in the brewery, and that it was named one of Chewy's top dog friendly breweries in the country for 2025\. Dogs stay leashed and friendly in the taproom, and the brewery even introduces its own brewery pups on its site.

Back uptown, the dog does not have to wait in the room while you eat at Embassy Suites Charlotte Uptown, where it is welcome in the hotel's bar and restaurant as well as on the terrace.

## Walks and Parks

The rules first. On the greenways and in the parks a dog stays on its leash: the [Little Sugar Creek Greenway](https://www.carolinathreadtrailmap.org/trails/trail/little-sugar-creek-brandywine-to-7th?ref=rochsociety.com) lists pets as permitted on a leash, and the county keeps its [off-leash areas](https://parkandrec.mecknc.gov/Places-to-Visit/Dog-Parks?ref=rochsociety.com) inside its fenced dog parks. Save the running for those.

The walk to start with is the [Little Sugar Creek Greenway](https://www.carolinathreadtrailmap.org/trails/trail/little-sugar-creek-brandywine-to-7th?ref=rochsociety.com), which runs for nearly four miles from 7th Street, near uptown, south to Brandywine Road near the Park Road Shopping Center. It is paved, with boardwalk in places, open from dawn to dusk, and pets are permitted on a leash. Along the way it gives access to [Freedom Park](https://blog.mecknc.gov/mecklenburg-county-greenways?ref=rochsociety.com), with its nature museum, ball fields, tennis courts and playgrounds, so it makes an easy out-and-back of whatever length suits your dog. The county's [guide to its greenway trails](https://blog.mecknc.gov/mecklenburg-county-greenways?ref=rochsociety.com) lists this urban stretch at 3.52 miles, plus a separate 1.28 mile section through NoDa from 24th Street to 12th Street.

In the east, the [Campbell and McAlpine Creek Greenway](https://blog.mecknc.gov/mecklenburg-county-greenways?ref=rochsociety.com) runs 4.77 miles from Lockmont Drive to Sardis Road. In the north, the [creek greenways around Mallard Creek, Clarks Creek, Toby Creek and Barton Creek](https://blog.mecknc.gov/mecklenburg-county-greenways?ref=rochsociety.com) add up to 10.74 miles of trail, with parking on Mallard Creek Road and Mallard Creek Church Road.

If you are staying uptown, [Frazier Park Dog Park](https://blog.mecknc.gov/dog-days?ref=rochsociety.com), on the west side of uptown, is a fenced park with separate sections for small and large dogs and water for them. It is one of several [Mecklenburg County dog parks](https://parkandrec.mecknc.gov/Places-to-Visit/Dog-Parks?ref=rochsociety.com), which are open daily from 7:30 a.m. to sunset. To use the off-leash areas your dog must be current on its vaccinations for rabies, with its tag number, DHLPP and Bordetella, and children under 12 are not allowed inside.

## A Day Out

Start early on the Little Sugar Creek Greenway at 7th Street and walk south towards Freedom Park while the path is still cool and quiet. In the late morning, give the dog a proper run at Frazier Park Dog Park before the heat of the day. In the afternoon, head south to LoSo and find a table under the old trees of the Olde Mecklenburg biergarten, with the dog on its leash beside you. When the light goes, finish at Hattie's on The Plaza, where the dog can come inside with you.

![A paved path between clipped hedges leading through an open gate into a tree shaded biergarten with umbrellas and picnic tables](https://rochsociety.com/content/images/2026/10/clt-omb-1.jpg)

The way into the biergarten at the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. Photo: City Dweller 2, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

## Good to Know

Keep your dog on a leash on the greenways and in the parks, and let it run only inside the county's fenced dog parks. Carry your dog's vaccination record if you plan to use the dog parks, which close at sunset. Charlotte summers are long and hot, so walk early and late, carry water on the greenways, and test the pavement with the back of your hand before a midday walk. At the Olde Mecklenburg Brewery dogs belong in the biergarten, not indoors, while Hattie's and Armored Cow welcome a leashed dog inside.