290 places
Parks, trails, historic grounds and places to stay in and around New Jersey where your dog is welcome
Photo: NJ Getaway
New Jersey is good country to explore with a dog. The state parks and forests welcome one on a leash, and so do the natural areas, the Natural Lands Trust's preserves, the battlefields at Princeton and Monmouth, Washington's camps at Morristown and Valley Forge, and the grounds of many historic villages and houses. Each place here says where dogs may go, taken from the place's own website or its park system's published rules, with the month we checked it.
To make a weekend of it, two dozen inns, bed and breakfasts and small hotels in and around our featured towns take dogs too, from Victorian Cape May to the river towns around New Hope and Lambertville. Most set aside a few rooms or a cottage for guests with dogs, so book ahead and say you're bringing one.
The leash rules. The state parks, forests and natural areas ask for a leash no longer than six feet and that you clean up after your dog. The Natural Lands Trust's preserves allow no unleashed pets and ask you to carry the waste out, and the national parks have the same six-foot rule as the state.
Where dogs can't go. Even where the trails welcome them, dogs stay out of buildings. The state parks also keep them off the swimming beaches and out of the water there, out of campgrounds not marked pet friendly, and out of botanical gardens. At the shore, summer is the hard season: Sandy Hook's ocean beaches are closed to pets from mid-March to mid-September, the beaches at Barnegat Lighthouse, Corson's Inlet and Cape May Point from April to mid-September, and Cape May's beach and promenade take dogs only from mid-September to mid-May. At historic houses a dog can usually come along on the grounds but not inside. Most public gardens, museums and zoos that publish a rule admit service animals only; the few that welcome dogs are listed here.
Before you go. Rules change, so check the place's own website, especially for events. Many preserves and natural areas are open to hunting in season; their pages say so.
Our picks
State Park · Berkeley Township, Ocean County
A barrier island of dunes and open beach where a leashed dog can walk the ocean and bay shores outside the guarded swimming areas, even in summer. Two nature trails and the nesting areas are off limits.
State Forest · Hardwick Township, Warren County
The Appalachian Trail climbs from the Delaware Water Gap to Sunfish Pond, a glacial lake on the ridge. Leashed dogs are welcome on the trail and on the loop around the pond.
Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
National Historical Park · Morristown, Morris County
Leashed dogs can go everywhere outdoors in the park, from the lawn of Washington's headquarters to the trails through the Jockey Hollow encampment. Only the buildings are off limits.
Photo: Magpieturtle, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
State Park · South Brunswick Township, Middlesex County
The canal towpath runs for miles past locks, bridge tenders' houses and river towns, flat the whole way, with a leashed dog welcome on all of it.
State Park · Wantage Township, Sussex County
Trails along the Kittatinny Ridge to the monument at the state's highest point. Dogs on a leash are welcome everywhere except the Lake Marcia swimming beach and the buildings.
Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
National historical park · Valley Forge, Montgomery County, PA
Just over the Pennsylvania line, the trails and roads of Washington's winter camp are open to leashed dogs, except the Grand Parade trails from April through mid-September.
Photo: Dough4872, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The full list
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails, picnic areas and pet-friendly campsites; not on the Lake Absegami beach or in the water, cabins, shelters or lean-tos.
New Jersey's first state forest, from 1905, with a swimming lake, campsites and a boardwalk trail through a white-cedar swamp.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not at the Lake Marcia swimming beach or in buildings, including cabins.
The top of New Jersey at 1,803 feet, crowned by a war memorial obelisk, with views over three states, a swimming lake and miles of ridge trails.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails, forest roads and grounds and at pet-friendly campsites; not in Batsto Village's buildings or on swimming beaches.
The largest single tract in New Jersey's state park system: Pine Barrens rivers for canoeing, sand roads for biking, and the restored 19th-century village at Batsto.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not in buildings.
Rolling Highlands woods with a big network of hiking and mountain-bike trails, the Musconetcong River, and the old canal settlement of Waterloo Village.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not in buildings.
A harborfront park facing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, with a waterfront promenade, the historic Central Railroad terminal, and ferries to both islands.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not in the visitor center museum, the historic houses, the nature center or overnight facilities.
Where Washington's army landed after crossing the icy Delaware on Christmas night 1776, with the 18th-century Johnson Ferry House and miles of wooded river trails.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails, picnic areas and pet-friendly campsites; not on the Lake Absegami beach or in the water, cabins, shelters or lean-tos.
New Jersey's first state forest, from 1905, with a swimming lake, campsites and a boardwalk trail through a white-cedar swamp.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not at the Lake Marcia swimming beach or in buildings, including cabins.
The top of New Jersey at 1,803 feet, crowned by a war memorial obelisk, with views over three states, a swimming lake and miles of ridge trails.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails, forest roads and grounds and at pet-friendly campsites; not in Batsto Village's buildings or on swimming beaches.
The largest single tract in New Jersey's state park system: Pine Barrens rivers for canoeing, sand roads for biking, and the restored 19th-century village at Batsto.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not in buildings.
Rolling Highlands woods with a big network of hiking and mountain-bike trails, the Musconetcong River, and the old canal settlement of Waterloo Village.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not in buildings.
A harborfront park facing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, with a waterfront promenade, the historic Central Railroad terminal, and ferries to both islands.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not in the visitor center museum, the historic houses, the nature center or overnight facilities.
Where Washington's army landed after crossing the icy Delaware on Christmas night 1776, with the 18th-century Johnson Ferry House and miles of wooded river trails.
Dogs: Leashed dogs in the gardens.
A hillside of thousands of iris varieties in Montclair, at their dazzling best for a few weeks in mid to late May.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the garden paths and grounds.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the arboretum's pathways.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the Lyndhurst Nature Preserve, Transco Trail, Saw Mill Creek Trail and Kingsland Overlook; not on the Marsh Discovery Trail.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the garden grounds; not inside the historic house (certified service dogs excepted).
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the arboretum's trails and grounds.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds; not in the visitor center museum, the historic houses, the nature center or overnight facilities.
Where Washington's army landed after crossing the icy Delaware on Christmas night 1776, with the 18th-century Johnson Ferry House and miles of wooded river trails.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the battlefield grounds and trails; not in the visitor center or the Craig House.
The farm fields and orchards of one of the largest battles of the Revolution, fought in June 1778, with a visitor center and miles of trails.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the battlefield grounds; not in the Clarke House.
The quiet fields where Washington defeated British troops on January 3, 1777, with the Thomas Clarke House and a stone colonnade marking the soldiers' grave.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the lawn around the lighthouse; no pets in the tower, museum or visitor center (service animals excepted).
New Jersey's tallest lighthouse, first lit in 1857, with a long climb to a gallery overlooking Atlantic City and the ocean.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the trails and grounds of every unit of the park; not in buildings.
The country's first national historical park: Washington's headquarters in the Ford Mansion and the woods of Jockey Hollow, where his army lived through the hard winter of 1779–80.
Dogs: Leashed dogs on the grounds during open hours only; no pets in the lighthouse or museum (service animals excepted).
A brownstone lighthouse with two towers on the bluff above Sandy Hook Bay, with a museum of lighthouse history and wide views of the bay and harbor.
Dogs: Dogs allowed only in a limited number of garden rooms and suites, each with a private outdoor sitting area.
A beach hotel on Beach Avenue near Cove Beach, a short walk from the centre of Cape May, home to the Rusty Nail outdoor bar.
Dogs: Dogs allowed only in four of the twelve ground-level rooms, which are set aside as pet friendly.
A twelve-unit motel around a pool and courtyard on Madison Avenue, about six blocks from the beach and the Washington Street Mall.
Dogs: Dogs welcome in the dog-friendly rooms; some rooms are kept dog-free for guests with allergies.
A small hotel on Lafayette Street, rebuilt in 2019 from a 1960s motel on the site of the Hotel Dale, which served African American guests in the early 1900s.
Dogs: Pets allowed in guest rooms; not in food and beverage areas or the pool area.
A country inn on Goat Hill Road just outside Lambertville, with rooms in the main house and suites in a converted barn.
Dogs: Dogs and other pets welcome; the inn's site gives no room or size limits.
A bed and breakfast in a house of about 1850 near Wilbraham Park, a few blocks from the beach, with guest rooms and efficiency suites.
Dogs: Pets allowed only in the first-floor rooms and suites, some of them beside the pool.
An oceanfront hotel on Beach Avenue with 84 rooms and suites, almost all facing the ocean, and a pool.
