Which City Has the Most Pet-Friendly Hotels in Europe?

When travelling with your dog, one of the biggest non-negotiables is finding somewhere they are allowed to stay. And after visiting over 30 different countries in Europe and countless cities, large and small, we’ve found this to be easy in some places but downright difficult in others.

But rather than just reflect on our own experience, which has been subject to our small budget and whether it’s peak or low season, I thought I’d research some concrete data on how many pet-friendly hotels there are in different cities across Europe.

Methodology

To come up with these figures, I used the Booking.com hotel listing website, as it displays the number of hotels in a city and the number of hotels remaining after applying a filter. All searches were done on 29th September 2025.

Booking.com doesn’t allow a search to take place without specifying dates, so I ran a flexible search covering a period well into the future – any weekend in January, February or March. After running a search I then filtered by Property Type to just show hotel or similar. This was mainly to ignore the large number of apartment listings in some cities.

To then determine the number of pet-friendly hotels, I then filtered by Pets Allowed. I didn’t look at the conditions attached to this (such as Pets on Request only, or whether charges apply.)

I also previously ran virtually the same search back in August 2018. However, at that point I could run a search without specifying dates and I only selected the property types of hotel, guesthouses and bed and breakfasts. I also previously included Moscow, St Petersburg and Istanbul.

Which European Cities Have the Most Pet-Friendly Hotels?

The city that comes up on top, with a surprising 84% of hotels listed allowing pets, is Helsinki in Finland. This was the same when I ran the search in 2018. At that time I was surprised, as I had recently stayed in Helsinki and didn’t find it that easy to find a place to stay that allowed pets. That was probably due to my limited budget and the total number of hotels being rather small.

(Also, the other Nordic countries don’t follow suit, with Stockholm in Sweden and Copenhagen having just 51% to 53% of properties allowing pets, and Oslo a lowly 38%.)

After Helsinki, come the German-speaking cities of Munich (71% pet-friendly), Zurich (also 71%), Berlin (64%) and Salzburg (63%). I’m not at all surprised by this, as I’ve always found the German-speaking countries of Europe to be amongst the most dog-friendly countries. This applies not just to hotels, but restaurants, too.

Which European Cities Have the Least Pet-Friendly Hotels?

While in some cities the majority of hotels allow pets, such as the previously mentioned cities, in many cities it’s only a small minority that will allow pets. It’s surprising how much the percentages vary across Europe!

At the other end of the spectrum is Dublin in Ireland. In Dublin, a miserly 18 out of the 225 hotels and similar properties listed on Booking.com allow pets – just 8%! (Dublin was also bottom of the ranking back in 2018.) It’s certainly something to keep in mind when visiting.

Other cities with a low percentage of pet-friendly hotels are Lisbon (11%), Sarajevo (12%) and Dubrovnik (14%). I’m not surprised about Lisbon, as I know first-hand from visiting Portugal that it’s not that dog-friendly (with no dogs allowed inside restaurants until a few years ago). The Balkan countries also tend to be less pet-friendly.

The Full List

Here’s the complete list of 37 European cities I researched, ranging from most dog-friendly to least dog-friendly (along with links to my guides on selected destinations):

1. Helsinki (Finland): 82% of properties allow pets (80 out of 98 properties)
2. Munich (Germany): 71% (287 out of 404)
3. Zurich (Switzerland): 71% (101 out of 143)
4. Berlin (Germany): 64% (365 out of 573)
5. Salzburg (Austria): 63% (84 out of 134)
6. Nice (France): 59% (113 out of 192)
7. Krakow (Poland): 59% (196 out of 334)
8. Stockholm (Sweden): 53% (103 out of 196)
9. Ljubljana (Slovenia): 52% (54 out of 104)
10. Vienna (Austria): 51% (262 out of 512)
11. Copenhagen (Denmark): 51% (72 out of 142)
12. Riga (Latvia): 50% (54 out of 107)
13. Prague (Czech Republic): 49% (282 out of 579)
14. Tallinn (Estonia): 46% (50 out of 108)
15. Vilnius (Lithuania): 46% (43 out of 94)
16. Kiev (Ukraine): 44% (78 out of 178)
17. Florence (Italy): 43% (330 out of 759)
18. Budapest (Hungary): 42% (159 out of 377)
19. Paris (France): 40% (672 out of 1701)
20. Belgrade (Serbia): 39% (81 out of 207)
21. Oslo (Norway): 38% (44 out of 115)
22. Brussels (Belgium): 37% (105 out of 286)
23. Bratislava (Slovakia): 36% (43 out of 118)
24. Sofia (Bulgaria): 29% (53 out of 180)
25. Rome (Italy): 29% (920 out of 3195)
26. Edinburgh (UK): 25% (65 out of 257)
27. Bucharest (Romania): 24% (70 out of 297)
28. Madrid (Spain): 22% (154 out of 708)
29. Seville (Spain): 22% (55 out of 254)
30. Barcelona (Spain): 21% (135 out of 633)
31. London (UK): 19% (338 out of 1788)
32. Amsterdam (Netherlands): 19% (86 out of 459)
33. Athens (Greece): 18% (118 out of 639)
34. Dubrovnik (Croatia): 14% (10 out of 73)
35. Sarajevo (Bosnia): 12% (16 out of 132)
36. Lisbon (Portugal): 11% (83 out of 728)
37. Dublin (Ireland): 8% (18 out of 225)

(As I side note, I ran the same search for my hometown of Sydney, Australia. Only 33 hotels out of 417 allow pets, a lowly 8%, the same as for Dublin.)

Changes Since 2018

I initially ran the same study back in 2018. Probably the biggest surprise when comparing the results in 2018 and 2025 is how similar the results are. Both lists place Helsinki at the top and Dublin at the bottom. In 2018 the average number of pet-friendly hotels in a city was 38% and this has only changed to 39% in 2025.

There are though a number of smaller changes. Some of the main changes are:

• There are less cities where 10% or less of hotels are pet-friendly.
• Both Bratislava and Sarajevo have significantly less pet-friendly hotels in 2025 compared to 2018 (36% down from 64%, 12% down from 21%), although both of these cities have a relatively low number of hotels.
• Stockholm and Copenhagen both have more pet-friendly hotels in 2025 compared to 2018 (53% up from 44%, 51% up from 41%).

Multiple Degrees of Pet-Friendliness

I should note that the above figures just look solely at whether the hotel is marked as allowing pets. (And usually I’ve found this to be correct: I’ve only booked one hotel through Hotels.com, which had recently stopped being pet-friendly and not yet had its listing updated.) But hotels can also vary in degrees of pet-friendliness in other ways:

• Do they charge a fee for pets, and how much? I’ve generally found about 75% of hotels charge fees, but this varies from around €5-10 at budget properties to €50+ at luxury digs.
• What types of pets are allowed? It’s often assumed (and sometimes clearly stated) that only dogs and cats are allowed, or sometimes only dogs.
• Are there size limits on dogs? Some hotels only accept dogs up to 5kg, sometimes more, so it’s necessary to read the fine print or contact the hotel.
• Are multiple dogs accepted? Some properties list a maximum of 1 or 2 dogs per room. Other hotels might not also welcome a large number of dogs in a single room.
• Are all rooms dog-friendly, or only selected rooms that you need to request?
• Are additional amenities provided for dogs, such as dogs bowls and food?

It’d be great to have some additional data on this, but as there’s so many variations and often these questions can only be answered by directly contacting the hotel, it’s outside the scope of this review. I’d expect though, partially based on personal experience, that the cities with more dog-friendly hotels are also more dog-friendly in these ways (reasonable charges and less restrictions).

How Dog-Friendly are Restaurants in these Cities?

Although I’ve visited most of these cities personally with my dog, it’s much harder to judge how dog-friendly their restaurants are, specifically whether dogs are allowed inside. There’s no central database where dog-friendly restaurants can be listed, in the same way as for hotels, although there are various listings from city to city.

Usually the only way to find out is to ask individual restaurants (often while you’re standing outside with your dog, or in advance over the phone if you make a reservation). Plus, for the cities that I’ve visited in summer time, when it’s natural to dine on the outdoor terrace, it’s harder to know for certain.

Thus, while I provide guidance on whether dogs are allowed inside restaurants on this blog based on my experience and reports from fellow travellers, I won’t be making up a list like this ranking cities.

How to Use This Information

Just because a city doesn’t have many pet-friendly accommodation options, doesn’t mean that you should skip visiting that city with your dog.

As long at you can find a single property that allows dogs and meets your other criteria, plus has vacancies, you’re good to visit. However, if there aren’t many dog-friendly hotels, I recommend that you book further in advance than you would normally, especially during peak periods.

On the other hand, if you’re visiting cities where the majority of properties allow dogs, it’s easier to make a last-minute booking.

Happy travels with your dog no matter which city in Europe you’re visiting!

You May Also Like

• Tips for Staying in a Pet-Friendly Hotel with Your Dog
• How to Book Pet-Friendly Accommodation on Booking.com
• How to Book Pet-Friendly Accommodation on Hotels.com

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