I am currently at the end of a 3 week stay (extended from an initial week) in Alice Springs/Mparntwe region with my dog in August 2026 and I’m so happy to be back exploring central Australia after nearly 20 years between visits!
See more of my dog friendly trip here:
Like many of Australia’s biggest tourism destinations there is a lot of nature based activities where dogs are not welcome, however there has been some beautiful places to visit, walk and eat/drink with your pup.
Where to stay with a dog in Alice Springs
Dog Friendly Camping in Alice Springs/Mparntwe
Dog Friendly Caravan Parks in Alice Springs town
Many of the Caravan Parks in Alice Springs are dog friendly.
Discovery Parks Alice Springs
In the end I chose to stay at Discovery Parks for its facilities (plus it has a keycard swipe security gate through the fencing, instead of remembering a pin) and proximity to town for shopping and walking along the Todd River plus my friend wanted to be riding distance to the 200km+ mountain bike trail network. Plus to be honest in August 2026 they had an awesome deal on for 3 day plus stays which meant we paid $32-$35 a night on a powered site as the camper fits on a tent site which requires navigating up a hill caravans cant fit on and this was cheaper than unpowered at many other parks.
It has an entire dog friendly half of the park making it easier to take your dog with you to do jobs like hang out the washing if you’re travelling solo.
Heritage Caravan Park
Just around the corner from Discovery and also walking distance from the Brewery. It looked like it has a more traditional caravan park feel in the unpowered section and it has a fenced dog offload area for doggo to stretch their legs (bigger dogs would probably need to visit an oval for a proper run but at least it has the option which other parks do not).
Alice Springs Tourist Park
Located close to the west side of town Alice Springs Tourist Park is also dog friendly and advertises shady and grassed sites.
Dog Friendly Caravan Parks near Alice Springs
Temple Bar & Wanngardi
I’m grouping these together as they are both out of town and next to each other under gorgeous towering ranges in the suburb of White Gums. Reviews and other bloggers report that the parks are quiet and the stars are great out at these parks due to the lack of light pollution.
The are also very close to the claypans where dogs can be exercised.
Winngardi
You can email them to book.
Temple Bar
I don’t even know how you book temple bar, it’s a phone hating millennials nightmare 😉 The only contact I can find is a number on their wikicamps listing.
Free Dog Friendly Camping near Alice Springs/Mparntwe
There is a handful of small basic roadside stops within the vicinity of Alice on WikiCamps.
Point Howard Lookout
This is the closest and best rated bush feel dog friendly free camping (it is outside of the National Park) with lovely views over MacDonnell Ranges/Tjoritja. It has no facilities so you need to be self contained.
Wikicamps Link: You will need the app for it to open the campsite
Dog Friendly Accommodation in Alice Springs/Mparntwe
Discovery Parks Alice Springs
Discovery Parks is dog friendly and kid friendly holiday park a short drive from Alice town centre. Apart from dog friendly camping they also have dog friendly accommodation which is a ‘standard two bedroom – pet friendly’ cabin. You can book directly or via Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com. They are quite popular so it pays to book in advance, particularly for weekends.
Heritage Caravan Park
Likely the most dog friendly option in town, Heritage Caravan Park says all its cabins are dog friendly (3 different options) and that their ensuite container cabin option has an external fenced area. They also have a fenced dog off lead area in the campground for cabin and camping guests.
Other dog friendly options include several holiday homes as well as the Alice on Todd Apartments by prior arrangement.
Things to do with a dog in and near Alice Springs/Mparntwe
Around and near Alice Springs Town
Fun fact, Alice is still a town because people surveyed rejected becoming a city. So it is things to do around town!
1. Visit Anzac Hill
A popular lookout you can visit by car or by foot for views out over Alice Springs. I never made it up there for sunrise but I have on previous trips and it’s lovely watching the sky slowly light up over town.
2. Walk Along the Lhere Mparntwe/Todd River
Alice/Mparntwe is a very walkable/rideable town, with an extensive network of footpaths and mountain bike tracks.
My two regular places to walk were morning a loop walk from Discovery Parks down to the river and back over the Ross Hwy bridge to the park, a round a 3km loop. I saw birds of prey swooping and galahs nesting on this walk which never see in town at home (although there is a lot of highway noise on this 80km section of road).
When it was warmer and dusty needed a walk I drove and parked a few times in Stuart Rotary Park for a short wander but mostly parked in the more heavily visited Leichhardt Terrace in town as there was nice grassy shaded areas under the river red gums to wander amongst. It is possible to do very long walks along all these tracks.
You may wish to avoid walking through the gap into town from the Caravan Parks on this side as the footpath is narrow and terrifying on the side of the heavily trafficked road, with a lack of even a proper curb but rather the ramped ones cars can easily mount. It desperately needs a raised seperate footbridge as many people were regularly walking along the train line due to a lack of footpath on that side of the road.
3. Visit the Alice Springs Dogs Park or Offload Parks & Ovals
I have created this map from the Alice Springs Council website. Always check the government links for updated information. The green paw prints are all day, the red are 5am-8am morning only big ovals and the blue are little suburban parks that are 5-8am and 5-8pm. Press the slider to turn layers on and and off and use the square to load it on your google maps if your one a phone.
Side note this took forever, please feel free to buy me a coffee lol.
We very fortunately rolled into town the same week a brand new dog park opened. Dusty isn’t super social so we took the chance to let her run around in there before word got out (somehow google AI dug up the announcement for it when it wasn’t even listed on the map) and on a few rainy days throughout our stay. It’s a great facility at our time of visit, nice green grass, doggy poo bags and a foot pedal water bowel plus a few seats under shelter.
There is also the original Roteract Dog Park however at our time of visit the large dog side had a several metre long panel missing and so was not securely as they could just waltz out into a block of housing. If this is fixed in the future the new bigger dog park may mean this will become a quiet option for less social dogs.
You always of course have the option of finding dog sitting but dusty has never spent any time in a kennel and I decided 9.5 is probably not the age to start trying.
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4. Honeymoon Gap
A short drive from town, Honeymoon Gap is a picturesque roadside stop with the road passing between the gap. There is no formal facilities, just a few pull ins for a photo opportunity or a picnic lunch by the river.
Honeymoon Gap is also mentioned in this written record of verbal account of 1870’s history (I have not read the whole document I was just found this while trying to learn more about the area). I also looked it up and the area is part of the Iwupataka Aboriginal Land Trust so best visited sticking close to the road corridor.
Longer Day Trips & Overnight Trips from Alice Springs
1. Owen Springs Nature Reserve – Redbank Waterhole & Southern Section
Not to be confused with Redbank in the West Redbank Waterhole in Owen Springs is lovely dog friendly camping spot surrounded by river red gums. It is not a permanent waterhole but does hold water for an extended period after rain so it depends on how long since rain if it will have water.
We were super thankful to have the option for proper bush camping with Dusty in the region. I think that national parks created from previously degraded landscapes such as agriculture are the perfect places to include dog friendly recreational opportunities for the community and tourists.
This waterhole is marked as high clearance 4wd only however we observed several non 4wd vehicles accessing the campsites on the entrance road (not crossing the river) however it was a very rocky 2km road in with somewhat deep ruts (although with well worn wet weather detours round them). Make of that what you will, it is obviously against parks recommendations.
You can book and pay for you campsite online via NT Parks. As above, please pay they need the money!
TIP: Visiting NT Parks
You will need to get an NT Parks Pass to visit the parks around the area. Please buy one, NT government is so poor and they desperately need income to inject into park management and the buffel grass turning the entire state into an ecological disaster of understory monoculture :(. However if you think there is a chance you might extend your stay in the area an annual pass is a great idea as I ended up having to buy a two week pass twice, should have just got the year, it was only $60 in 2026
2. Tjoritja / West MacDonnell loop drive returning via views of Tnorala Gosse Bluff Conservation Reserve
Allow a full day for this trip to do a loop through the park (dogs can travel through without exiting the vehicle) and past Tnorala Gosse Bluff Conservation Reserve and Ntaria/ Hermannsburg.
Sadly as it’s National Park there is really no dog friendly stops however the mountains really are geologically spectacular. However the road goes in and out of the park occasionally so you can at least stop for doggy toilet breaks. Point Howard Campsite is out of the park however had signs for 1080 baiting when we visited 🙁
Be aware that Ntaria has an abundance of free roaming dogs so it’s not really a dog friendly stop.
Alternatively, rather than doing this loop drive you might do the drive through Tjoritja / West MacDonnell as part of a long day drive when travelling from Watarrka to Alice as long as you left early in the day and took breaks.
3. Arltunga Bush Pub and Eco Retreat
The Arltunga Bush Pub and Eco Retreat is a great distance for a dog friendly camping night or weekend away from Alice. Getting there takes you through the less visited but very beautiful East Macdonnell Ranges. See below for a few places you can stop if you are travelling with someone and can swap staying with your pup!
You can book your stay with them at https://www.arltunga.com.au
Unfortunately it was closed for camping the two weeks we were in town after visiting Alice Springs or we 100% would have gone.
Things to visit near Alice Springs that are not dog friendly but can be visited fairly easily if traveling with someone else
In addition, if you’re travelling with another person there are also some extras you can easily visit by taking it in turns while the other stays in the car (which you will have to do due to the year round warm daytime weather if like me you don’t have a caravan for the second person and pup to stay).
Traveling with someone else? I really wish you were allowed dogs in the the National Park carparks as long as they don’t exit cars for drop offs and pic ups (fully support no dogs in most parks for ecological reasons). But in the absence of that you can do these stops quite easily taking it turns to get out of the car if your travelling with someone:
1. Corroboree Rock Conservation Reserve
The entrance to the Reserve (which is not dog friendly) is only about 200 metres from the start of the walk. We just parked on the outside of the park on a cleared side of road area before the welcome sign and took it in turns to walk in and do the short walk.
It was a really lovely short walk, traversing the full circle of the rock with a small hill around half way round giving views showing the 350 degrees of the ranges around you.
Unfortunately I had a pretty f’ed up experience where someone flew what I and the internet determined together was probably an illegal high speed first person drone within metres of me, the whole air buzzed and then it wirred past almost to fast to track, scaring the absolute crap out of me and the birds in the trees it smashed between afterwards.
2. Jessie Gap
Jessie Gap is immediately on the edge of the through road corridor so we pulled over onto a cleared area off the road in the road corridor and took it in turns of visiting.
3. Emily Gap
A slightly longer walk in from the road corridor with limited roadside parking but still doable.
4. Olive Pink Botanical Gardens
This is also only a short walk from the road where you can park while waiting while the other person goes into the Botanic Gardens. I highly recommend the Hill Walk / Arrernte Trail which leaves from the left of the cafe, the views at the top are great but even better is the rock wallabies! (both my friend and I saw Rock Wallabies on different days at around 60% of the way up the walk to the somewhat flat outcrop on left of path and also on the way to the lookout to the left at the top of the hill.
Cafes, Breweries & Places to Eat with a dog around Alice Springs
Alice Springs Brewery
A great vibe with friendly staff the Alice Springs Brewery is also walking distance from Discovery Parks and Heritage Caravan Park.
You can have dogs in the beer garden at the back and the two front of the brewery. As our dog doesn’t love to socialise with other dogs we selflessly visited the front beer gardens several times during the stay to test it out for you 😉 Apart from good beer they also do a mean cosmo and have a variety of wines (I even found a Tempranillo) .
In an absolute bizarre exclusion from liquor licensing rules you can also buy takeaway beverages from them on Monday and Tuesday before 7pm when everything else is closed.
Cafes
I didn’t get a chance to test them out but I saw dogs at most of the cafes around town, particularly along the Todd mall that have outdoor tables and really wished I got to visit Watertank Cafe.
Other Important Information for visiting with a Dog
Free Roaming Dogs
Were much more limited and controlled than when I was here 20 years ago however they still exist. They were mostly very timid, it’s just important to be aware they may be around especially if you have a reactive dog.
I saw 3 puppies one day and a very emaciated dog another day plus a solo dog on two occasions. I reported the skinny dog to the council who were supper responsive and helpful and showed up quickly to the callout.
Dingos
Dingos were always in the back of my mind up here. We didn’t see any but were fairly vigilant when visiting areas on the outskirts of town like Honeymoon Gap. Please visit the Alice Springs Page and read the Dingo information under the ‘Where can I walk my Dog’ tab.
