Vista Cafe Bar

Vista Cafe Bar sits inside the Mildura Arts Centre precinct at 199 Cureton Avenue, beside the historic Rio Vista House and a short stroll from the Murray River. It is one of the more genuinely dog-welcoming stops in Mildura: the council venue provides water dispensers for dogs, and the setting, verandas, lawns and a sculpture park, is made for a slow coffee with a dog settled nearby.

The dog setup

Dogs are welcome on the cafe's veranda and patio under the umbrellas, on the open lawns in front of the Arts Centre, and on the Rio Vista House veranda. Water dispensers are provided. The indoors, gallery and theatre are people only, so this is an outside visit, and the lawns give a dog room to settle rather than being pinned at a tight table.

The menu

It is a relaxed, arty cafe doing coffee, teas, light meals and locally made cakes, and it is fully licensed for a glass of wine over lunch. It opens daily from 10am to about 2pm, with extra evening service during theatre events, which makes it a lunch stop rather than a breakfast one.

Getting there and parking

Free parking sits in the Arts Centre car park and along Cureton Avenue. The precinct is an easy walk from the river end of town, and entry to the gallery and Rio Vista Historic House, built for irrigation pioneer W.B. Chaffey, is free if you want to pair the visit with culture while the dog waits on the lawn with a second human.

Close by with the dogs

Mildura Fenced Dog Park (Rio Vista Park) on Hugh King Drive is a few minutes away, with separate large and small dog areas, and the Apex Park sandbar at 435 Cureton Avenue is the designated off-lead river beach. Bobby + Me on the riverfront does puppiccinos and homemade dog treats, and Mocha Mecca is another local coffee option.

More options are on the Victoria dog friendly cafes guide and the Mildura destination page.

Pepsi: lawns to sprawl on, a water dispenser I can actually reach, and my humans argue about paintings while I guard the cake.