Dog Friendly City Guide: Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine is a working harbour that turned into one of the best eating cities in the country without losing the working harbour. The Old Port still smells of the sea, the wharves still land fish, and the restaurants that made the city's name mostly sit within a few streets of the water. For a dog it is a compact, salty, walkable place, with the coast path and the parks a short hop south across the bridge.

Everything below comes from our own verified data, not the booking-site badges that pass for research elsewhere. Each place has been checked as genuinely dog friendly, and the hotels at the end are ranked against the Roch Dog Friendly Standard.

Where to Walk

Most of the walking sits just over the water in South Portland. The South Portland Greenbelt is the spine of it, a paved route that carries you a good distance without traffic, with the Wainwright Recreation and Greenbelt Walkway extending the same idea.

For the coastal one, Fort Preble and Spring Point gives you the lighthouse, the fort and the open water in a single short circuit, and Thomas Knight Park Lookout hands you the harbour view back towards the city. When you want trees instead of sea, Hinckley Park Trail and the Winnick Woods Loop are the woodland options, both short enough for an evening.

Where to Eat

This is the reason people come, and a good number of the places will take the dog outside. Three Dollar Deweys is the pub institution, LFK does the more characterful end of a drink, and Bread & Friends handles the bakery stop.

On the water, Portland Lobster Company and Becky's on Hobson's Wharf are the harbourside plates, the Clam Bar does what its name promises, and Butcher Burger Portland covers the straightforward hungry option after a long walk.

Where to Stay

Which leaves the bed. Portland's certified hotels are each assessed and ranked against the Roch Dog Friendly Standard on what they actually do for a dog and its owner, not on what the booking page claims. Browse the full list of certified dog friendly hotels to see how each one was rated, and what that rating buys you and your dog.