Dog Friendly City Guide: San Francisco, USA

San Francisco is a city of hills, fog and open ground, and a good deal of that ground is open to dogs. The city's parks department runs off-leash play areas in neighbourhoods from the Mission to the Richmond, the Presidio lets dogs walk on a lead across most of its old army post, and along the ocean the Golden Gate National Recreation Area is the only park in the whole National Park Service to set aside places where a well trained dog may run under voice and sight control. Two of its smartest hotels charge nothing for a dog, and its beer halls welcome dogs at their outdoor tables.

Getting There With a Dog

A dog flying into San Francisco from abroad has to meet the rules of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the first question is where it has spent the past six months. If that time has been only in countries the CDC treats as rabies-free or low risk, 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 brings more paperwork and stricter checks at the port of entry, so read the CDC's guidance on bringing a dog into the United States before you book anything.

Where to Stay

The highest ranked of our dog friendly hotels in San Francisco is also one of the most generous. Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco, at 757 Market Street, holds a B, and dogs stay free. Most of its 277 rooms take dogs, there is no weight limit, and the room is set with a bed and bowls. Your dog may use the garden, staff suggest walking routes, and dog walking can be arranged.

Down at the waterfront, at 8 Mission Street, 1 Hotel San Francisco holds a C and is also free for dogs, with no fee, no damage deposit and no weight limit, so a big dog is as welcome as a small one. Most rooms are dog friendly, a bed and real food and water bowls are provided, your dog is welcome on the terrace, and the waterfront of the Embarcadero is on the doorstep.

Up on Nob Hill, the InterContinental Mark Hopkins, at 999 California Street, holds a C and opens more of itself to dogs than any other hotel here. Your dog is welcome in the bar, the restaurant, the lounge and on the terrace, there is a garden it may use, and staff hand out free treats and suggest walking routes. Dogs of up to 50 lb are welcome for $50 a stay, most rooms take them, and a settled dog may be left in the room while you go out.

Around Union Square, Staypineapple Elegant on Geary Street holds a C, charges $25 a night, and has no weight limit. Your dog is welcome in the bar, the lounge and on the terrace, and the room comes with a bed, treats, toys and poo bags, with an emergency vet number kept at the desk. Further along Geary, The Marker, also a C, takes dogs of up to 50 lb for $250 a stay, welcomes them in the lounge, sets out a bed, bowls and a treat, and sells dog food on site. On Market Street, San Francisco Proper, a C as well, charges $100 a stay for dogs of up to 50 lb, with a bed, bowls and treats in the room, dog food for sale and a welcome in the lounge. Every hotel, with its fees and its grade, is on our ranked dog friendly hotels in San Francisco.

Eat and Drink

San Francisco's dog owners drink outdoors, and the beer halls lead the way. Fort Point Beer Company runs two of them. At the Fort Point Ferry Building beer garden, at One Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, the seating is outdoors and partly covered, and the brewery's own page says plainly that dogs are welcome; order a fresh pour and a crab roll and watch the ferries come and go. Its sister, Fort Point Valencia at 742 Valencia Street in the Mission, serves beer, cider, wine and a casual menu of San Francisco seafood, and welcomes dogs at its outdoor tables. Neither takes reservations.

A few blocks east, Southern Pacific Brewing, at 620 Treat Avenue, fills a 10,000 square foot old warehouse named after the historic railroad. Its own page says dogs are welcome outside on the patio. Over the hill in Bernal Heights, the Barebottle Brewing taproom at 1525 Cortland Avenue lists pets as welcome, with a food truck calendar and wine, kombucha and coffee too.

For breakfast or lunch, Eats, at 50 Clement Street, says on its own page that it loves its fur friends and has plenty of outdoor seating for the whole family, including a covered parklet. And for a cocktail with the dog, The Sea Star bills itself as a dog friendly bar, with ten rotating taps of Bay Area craft beer, cocktails and its own house shot, the Monte Vida, poured from the tap.

Walks and Parks

In the city's own parks, dogs run off the lead in the designated dog play areas, which the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department lists in full.

The best known is Mission Dolores Park, on the slope above the Mission, where dogs are free to run off the lead across two areas in the centre of the big grassy park. The dog play areas are open from five in the morning until midnight; keep the lead on near the athletic fields, the children's playground and the tennis courts. The city's great green lung, Golden Gate Park, has four dog play areas of its own across its 1,017 acres, including an all-sand dog training area in the north west corner of the park.

For space, head south to McLaren Park, whose dog play areas are among the largest in the city. Most of the ground inside the loop of John F. Shelley Drive is open for off-leash running across big fields and along trails, though dogs go on a lead at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater during performances and events, near the children's play and picnic areas, and on the trails south of the amphitheater, where the habitat is sensitive.

The Presidio, the old army post at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge, is unusual among national park sites in that most of it is open to dogs. They walk on a lead of no more than six feet, and the only place a dog may be off the lead under voice control is a small, defined area on and near West Pacific Avenue. Dogs are kept off the golf course, ball fields and playgrounds, and large sections of the Park Trail and the Bay Area Ridge Trail close to dogs from April to October each year, when the park's coyotes are protective of their young.

On the ocean side, the coast belongs to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which sets particular areas aside for dogs off the lead under voice and sight control. A special regulation protects the snowy plover at Crissy Field and Ocean Beach, so watch the signs. The pick of its places for a dog is Fort Funston, on 200 foot bluffs at the western edge of the city and one of the country's premier hang-gliding spots, where a network of trails makes ideal ground for dog walking. The way down to the beach is a steep, strenuous hike, and if your dog gets stuck on the bluffs, the park asks you not to go after it.

A Day Out

Start early at Dolores Park, whose dog play areas open at five in the morning. Walk down to Valencia Street for a crab roll at a Fort Point outdoor table, then cross to Southern Pacific for a beer on the patio with the dog beside you. In the afternoon, drive out to Fort Funston and walk the bluff trails above the Pacific, and finish the day back on the Embarcadero at the Ferry Building beer garden, close to a free night with the dog at 1 Hotel.

Good to Know

Outside the designated dog play areas and the voice control areas of the national park, keep your dog on a lead, and in the Presidio keep that lead to six feet. Check the Presidio's seasonal trail closures and keep a close eye near the cliffs at Fort Funston. The beer halls above welcome dogs at their outdoor tables rather than indoors, so ask for a table outside, and bring a towel for the sand.