Dog Friendly Getaways From Mumbai: 6 Places, Honestly Assessed

Almost everything worth reaching from Mumbai with a dog is within three hours, which matters more than it sounds. A dog that has been in a car for three hours arrives ready to walk. A dog that has been in one for eight arrives ready to lie down.

The drive is the part people underplan. A dog does not experience four hours in a car the way you do, and the difference between a three hour destination and an eight hour one is not twice the effort, it is a different kind of trip. So this is ordered by drive time rather than by how good the place is.

Within four hours of Mumbai

These are the ones you can leave after breakfast and arrive at before your dog gets restless. For a senior dog or a flat faced breed, this is the range to stay inside.

Lonavala, Maharashtra

About 2 hours from Mumbai. The easiest pet trip in India for Mumbai and Pune families, because the drive is short enough to avoid a long car journey. Monsoon is beautiful and genuinely slippery, and leeches are common on wet trails. Waterfall spots get very crowded on weekends.

• Best months: October to February. Worth avoiding peak monsoon weekends, because of crowds and slippery trails.

• Watch out for: leeches in monsoon, slippery rock near waterfalls, heavy weekend traffic.

• Someone stays back for: Karla and Bhaja caves, protected monument areas, crowded weekend waterfall spots, unsafe rather than prohibited.

• Suits: Almost any breed, since the climate is mild and the drive is short. Particularly good for a first trip with a nervous or older dog.

• Stays: Della Resorts, DATA Resort by Della, The Bark, An Art Hotel, all worth confirming directly before booking.

Go midweek. Lonavala on a weekend is bumper to bumper and the viewpoints are packed, which turns a relaxed trip into a stressful one for a dog.

Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Lonavala with a dog.

Matheran, Maharashtra

About 3 hours from Mumbai. Vehicles are banned inside Matheran, which makes it unusually calm for a nervous dog. The flip side is the last stretch is walked or taken by horse or hand-cart, so a large dog needs to be able to walk in. Red laterite dust stains light coats.

• Best months: October to May. Worth avoiding monsoon, because of slippery red mud paths.

• Watch out for: red dust staining coats and irritating eyes, monkeys, numerous and bold, unfenced cliff viewpoints.

• Someone stays back for: the toy train from Neral, horse rides.

• Suits: Fit dogs who can manage the walk in, and nervous dogs who benefit hugely from a town with no traffic noise.

• Stays: Westend Hotel, Radha Cottage Heritage Resort, Treebo Cecil Resort, all worth confirming directly before booking.

The absence of cars makes Matheran unusually calm for a reactive or noise-sensitive dog, which is a rare thing in India and worth the awkward arrival.

Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Matheran with a dog.

Alibaug, Maharashtra

About 3 hours from Mumbai. The closest beach escape for Mumbai families and popular for exactly that reason. Villa stays with private compounds tend to work far better with dogs than hotels.

• Best months: November to March. Worth avoiding peak monsoon, because of rough seas.

• Watch out for: big tidal swings that strand people and dogs on sandbars, hot sand in the afternoon, jellyfish stings, which are common on this stretch in some months.

• Someone stays back for: the temple inside Kolaba Fort, the fast catamaran ferries from Mumbai in most cases.

• Suits: Almost everything in the cool months, and it is one of the easiest coastal trips in the country for a senior dog because the ground is flat and the drive is short.

• Stays: Acons Palm Beach Hotel, Shree Cottage, Taj Alibaug Resort, all worth confirming directly before booking.

Book a villa rather than a hotel. Alibaug's whole accommodation market is private villas with walled compounds, they are usually relaxed about dogs, and it means your dog has somewhere to be at midday when the sand is too hot to walk on. Go midweek. Weekend Alibaug is Mumbai with sand.

Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Alibaug with a dog.

Igatpuri, Maharashtra

About 3 hours from Mumbai. Green and dramatic in and just after monsoon, with villa stays that suit dogs. Short enough drive from Mumbai and Nashik for a weekend.

• Best months: October to February. Worth avoiding peak monsoon weekends, because of crowds and slippery trails.

• Watch out for: flash rises in waterfall and stream levels through the monsoon, slippery basalt and moss on every trail in the wet months, leeches from June to September.

• Someone stays back for: the Vipassana centre, waterfall pools during and just after the monsoon.

• Suits: Nearly everything in the cool months, and it is one of the shortest escapes from Mumbai heat, which makes it kind on dogs that do not travel well.

• Stays: Regenta Place Igatpuri, Grand Parivaar, Natures Dreamland Villas, all worth confirming directly before booking.

Everyone comes here in the monsoon for the waterfalls, and the monsoon is exactly when the water is dangerous and the leeches are worst. October and November give you the same green hills, dry rock underfoot, and no crowds. That is the window worth booking.

Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Igatpuri with a dog.

Nashik, Maharashtra

About 4 hours from Mumbai. Vineyard country with open land, and several estates are relaxed about dogs in outdoor areas. Grapes and raisins are toxic to dogs, so a vineyard is one place to be genuinely careful about what they pick up.

• Best months: October to March. Worth avoiding April and May, because of heat.

• Watch out for: grapes and raisins, which are toxic to dogs and cause kidney failure in some of them, and this is a place where fruit is on the ground everywhere between January and March, vineyard netting and irrigation wire at dog height, pesticide and fungicide spray schedules in the vineyards, so ask before letting a dog wander the rows.

• Someone stays back for: Trimbakeshwar and the Ramkund temple area, winery indoor tasting rooms and production floors.

• Suits: Almost everything between October and March. The plateau altitude keeps the nights cool, which matters more for a dog than the daytime figure.

• Stays: Vip Guest House, Regenta Resort Soma Vine Village, Viveda Wellness Resort, all worth confirming directly before booking.

Grapes and raisins are genuinely toxic to dogs, and harvest runs from January to March when fallen fruit is lying between every row. Keep your dog on a lead in the vines however tempting the photo is, and if they do swallow some, ring a vet the same day rather than waiting to see what happens.

Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Nashik with a dog.

Worth the longer drive

Everything below is five hours or more. Break the journey if you can, stop every two hours regardless, and travel on a light stomach because car sickness is the most common thing that ruins the first day.

Goa, Goa

About 12 hours from Mumbai. Beaches are the draw and also the risk. Sand gets hot enough to burn paws through the middle of the day, so walk early or after sunset. Sea water is not safe to drink and often causes stomach upset, so carry fresh water. Many shacks are relaxed about dogs on the sand, though this varies by beach and season.

• Best months: November to February. Worth avoiding June to September, because of heavy monsoon and rough seas.

• Watch out for: hot sand midday, strong sea currents, free-roaming beach dogs.

• Someone stays back for: boat and dolphin trips, most operators refuse dogs, temples and churches.

• Suits: Short-coated and heat-tolerant dogs, and Indies who handle humidity well.

• Stays: Taj Holiday Village Resort & Spa, Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Novotel Goa Dona Sylvia Resort, all worth confirming directly before booking.

Test the sand with the back of your hand before every walk. If you cannot hold it for five seconds it will burn paw pads, and Goan sand stays hot well past sunset.

Full detail, including vet access and what you can do together, is in our guide to Goa with a dog.

Before you book anything

Two things decide whether a trip works, and neither is the destination. The first is the month. Several places above are genuinely unkind to a dog in the wrong season, and the difference is not comfort, it is safety. The second is where you are staying, because pet policies in India are set per property and change with the owner, so a place that welcomed dogs last year may not this one. Call and get the pet permission added to your booking confirmation in writing.

If you are taking the train rather than driving, read the rules for taking a dog on an Indian train first. Dogs are barred from 2AC, 3AC and Sleeper, which catches out almost everyone, and the parcel office step has to happen on the day.

And if you would rather not plan it yourself, our trip planner will build a day by day plan for your dates, your dog and how you are travelling, and email it to you.

The unglamorous part

A dog who will not go to the toilet in a strange place holds it far longer than is good for them, and a long drive followed by an unfamiliar room is exactly that situation twice over. Carrying a familiar surface from home is the single easiest fix, which is the reason we make a portable coir potty.