Seaford (Keast Park) Off-Leash Dog Beach

Keast Park is the free-roam beach the Frankston and Carrum locals build their day around: a marked stretch of Seaford sand where dogs run free every day of the year, backed by a reserve with everything the post-swim hour needs.

We have walked it across four seasons now, from an October swell to a flat January morning, and the shape of a good visit never changes: early in, off-lead on the marked sand, and gone before the summer crowds set their umbrellas up on it.

Photo: Pepsi & Max

Reading the markers

The free-roam zone runs between foreshore emergency marker FCC14 and the concrete water outlet at its southern end, and the markers matter more than any map.

Rangers patrol this stretch, and the sand past the outlet is outside the zone even when it looks like more of the same beach.

Greyhounds are the one breed exception everywhere in Frankston, off-lead free-roam areas included, so they stay clipped on.

Carry a lead and keep the dog under control even inside the zone, which is the council's baseline rule for every free-roam area it runs.

Photo: Pepsi & Max

Pepsi: the markers matter more than the map. The off-lead sand ends at a concrete outlet structure and Kingston's rules start just past it, so we always turn back there.

Summer is the season that catches visitors out, in a good way: from 1 December to 31 March dogs are banned from most Frankston beaches between 9:30am and 7:30pm, but this zone is exempt, so the off-lead hours run straight through the holidays.

The complications are human, not council.

The zone is compact, and on peak summer days families set up picnics and cabanas directly on the off-lead sand, which makes an early arrival the difference between a clean run and weaving between deck chairs.

Kingston council's different dog rules begin just past the outlet to the north, so hold the line at the markers. The fenced dune revegetation areas stay out of bounds at all times, and the lead goes back on for the path from the car park down to the sand.

Photo: Pepsi & Max

The reserve does the rest

Keast Park itself is an on-lead reserve with BBQs, a playground, toilets and a water tap with a bowl near the pavilion, plus dog bag stations at the access points.

The pavilion houses the Carrum Bowls Club and a cafe with bay views, which is the usual post-swim stop, and a paved walkway runs behind the dunes in both directions for an on-lead cool-down leg before the drive.

The main car park is ticketed from 9:30am to 8pm and sits right off the Nepean Highway, with Frankston station a short drive south for the train-and-walk option.

Photo: Pepsi & Max

If you are making a morning of it, the fenced Ballam Park Dog Off-Leash and Fenced Agility Park inland covers agility gear a beach cannot, and Two Boys One Beagle and A Coffee Shop in Frankston is the dog-friendly caffeine stop on the way home. More sand options are in the Victoria dog beaches guide.