Dog Friendly City Guide: Paris, France

Paris has always made room for dogs at the table. The city is less generous with its grass: lawns are kept for people, and dogs walk the gravel paths. But the council has opened more and more of its parks to dogs on a lead, two great woods at either edge of the city let them run free, and a short list of hotels and cafés treat a dog as a guest rather than a problem. This guide is built from our own venue data, the hotels we have assessed in Paris and the city's own rules.

Getting There With a Dog

Coming from another European Union country, your dog needs a microchip, a valid rabies vaccination and a European pet passport. The European Union's Your Europe guide sets out the timing: the first rabies jab can be given from twelve weeks old, and you must then wait at least 21 days before you travel. Arriving from outside the European Union, you need an animal health certificate signed by an official state vet no more than ten days before you arrive, and most countries also need a rabies blood test taken at least 30 days after vaccination, with three months to wait from the sample before travelling. You may bring up to five pets, and you must enter through a designated travellers' point of entry, where French customs ask you to declare and present your animal.

From Britain, the GOV.UK pet travel page explains that a pet passport cannot be used to enter the European Union, so your dog needs a new animal health certificate from your vet for every trip. It is valid for ten days for entry, then for onward travel inside the European Union for six months. The train is not an option from London: Eurostar's pet page says pets are not carried on trains to and from London, so most British owners drive through the Channel Tunnel or take a ferry. Between France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, Eurostar does carry dogs: a small dog under 6 kilos travels free in a carrier, and a larger dog rides on a lead and muzzled on a single fare of 30 EUR.

Inside France, SNCF charges a flat fee from 10 EUR a journey on TGV INOUI and Intercités trains, whether your dog rides in a closed carrier of up to 45 by 30 by 25 centimetres or lies at your feet on a lead, in which case it must be muzzled for the whole trip. Be aware that it is an offence to bring a dog France classes as Category 1, an attack type dog without a pedigree, into the country, and that the service-public.gouv.fr page on dangerous dogs sets the rules for both categories.

Where to Stay

Paris holds two of the highest ranked hotels in our whole directory, and both sit in the heart of the city. Cheval Blanc Paris, on the Quai du Louvre facing the Seine, holds an A+ rank, the first hotel in France to reach our top tier. Most of its rooms take dogs, and dogs are welcome in the bar, the lounge and across the dining rooms. A bed and real bowls are in the room, toys and poop bags come on request, the Majordomes will walk your dog around the Maison, the concierge keeps a list of trusted dog sitters, and room service carries a dog menu. There is no dog fee.

Bvlgari Hotel Paris on the Avenue George V holds an A rank. Dogs are welcome in the bar, the restaurant and the lounge, the room comes with a dog bed and bowls, and the hotel can arrange dog walking and sitting. It also charges no dog fee.

In the Marais, two hotels hold a B rank a short walk apart. Hotel de la Bretonnerie is a charming three star house where most rooms take dogs, a bed and bowls are provided, dogs join you in the breakfast room, the staff keep an emergency vet's number to hand, and there is no dog fee. Le Grand Mazarin on the Rue de la Verrerie welcomes dogs in its bar and restaurant, provides a bed and bowls, and can arrange dog walking.

By the Opéra, Sofitel Le Scribe Paris Opéra holds a C rank, with a dog bed, free treats and toys in the room and both walking and sitting on call. You can compare every hotel we have assessed in the city in our ranked dog friendly hotels in Paris.

Eat and Drink

Begin on the Boulevard Saint-Germain, where two of the most famous cafés in the world sit almost side by side. Les Deux Magots, on the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés since 1884 and named for the two carved figures on its central pillar, has a leafy terrace facing the church, and dogs are welcome, especially out on that terrace. A few doors along at 172 Boulevard Saint-Germain, the Café de Flore has been pouring coffee since 1887. Dogs are welcome on its terrace, and small dogs may come inside.

On the Rue de Rivoli, Angelina has served its hot chocolate and Mont-Blanc pastries in its tea room at number 226 since 1903, and dogs under 10 kilos are welcome inside.

For breakfast near the Canal Saint-Martin, Holybelly at 5 Rue Lucien Sampaix serves pancakes, eggs and daily specials from nine in the morning, with the kitchen open until four, and its own page says that well behaved pets are welcome. It takes no bookings, so arrive before the late morning rush. Up in the 18th, La REcyclerie has turned a former station on the old Petite Ceinture railway into a café canteen with an urban farm, built around the idea of reducing, reusing and recycling, and its large space gives a dog room to settle.

Walks and Parks

The city's page on dogs in Paris lists every green space open to dogs on a lead, arrondissement by arrondissement, 165 of them. The finest is the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in the 19th, a hilly park built around a lake, with paths that wind up and down its slopes and around the water. In the 14th, the Parc Montsouris is a gentler landscape park of lawns, a lake and big old trees, and its curving paths make an easy hour's loop.

The Champ-de-Mars, stretching from the Eiffel Tower to the École Militaire, is on the list too, and so is the Esplanade des Invalides nearby, which together make a grand walk across the 7th. In the 8th, the Jardins des Champs-Élysées are open, and the Parc Monceau joined the list in December 2025, when the city opened a new round of parks to dogs. In the east, the Parc de Bercy, opened to dogs the same month, runs along the Seine, and the Coulée verte René-Dumont runs as a long planted walk from the Bastille out to the Rue Édouard-Lartet, a way to cross the 12th without walking a single busy street.

When your dog needs to run, head for the woods. The city has set aside off lead areas of more than a hectare in the Bois de Boulogne on the west side of Paris and the Bois de Vincennes on the east, where dogs can run free under your watch. It also counts 45 smaller fenced dog areas in squares and parks across the city, mapped on the same page, where a dog may go off the lead.

A Day Out

Spend a day crossing the Right Bank. Start with pancakes at Holybelly, then walk up the Canal Saint-Martin and on to the Buttes-Chaumont for a lap of the lake and a climb up its slopes. Take the Métro back to the centre, if your dog is happy to ride, and settle in for a hot chocolate at Angelina on the Rue de Rivoli. Then cross the river to Saint-Germain for an evening on the terrace at the Flore.

Good to Know

The city's rules are simple. Dogs must be on a lead in all public space, and in the parks open to them they may use the paths but not the lawns or the planted beds. Cemeteries and the old Petite Ceinture railway line are closed to dogs. The fine for not picking up after your dog is 135 EUR. A Category 1 dog is barred from public places and public transport, and a Category 2 dog must be on a lead and muzzled in public. On the city's transport, the same page on dogs in Paris says that small dogs in a bag or basket travel free, that larger dogs ride the Métro and the RER on a lead and muzzled, and that on the Transilien suburban trains a large dog needs a reduced fare ticket. Cafés decide for themselves whether a dog comes inside, so ask at the door. At Cheval Blanc, dogs must weigh under 12 kilos (26 pounds) and two may stay in a room; at Bvlgari the limit is 10 kilos (22 pounds) and two dogs; at Le Grand Mazarin the fee is 35 EUR a night and the weight limit 18 pounds; and at the Scribe the fee is 50 EUR a day, the limit 22 pounds, and dogs are not left alone in the room.