Dartmouth Motor Inn

Dartmouth is a small high-country town in the Mitta Valley, built around the Dartmouth Dam, and the Dartmouth Motor Inn is its motel: the place dam crews, fishermen heading for the Mitta branches and travellers crossing between the Murray Valley and the alpine country actually stay. It sits on Eustace Street in the town's small grid, with the pub across the road handling dinners.

Dogs at the Dartmouth Motor Inn

Per the motel's own pet policy, every room category is labelled pet friendly: the motel rooms, the family room, the apartments and the studios all take dogs, which is rarer than it sounds. Most stays confine pets to a single designated room; here the whole book is open to travellers with a dog, so a family room or an apartment is a genuine option rather than a work-around.

Pet fees are not published online, so the policy runs on a call-ahead basis — ring the motel directly and settle the pet arrangement for your specific room before you lock in the booking. A guest review of an Easter stopover with a dog in tow is the honest tier of evidence here: this is a no-fuss roof in the high country, not a pet resort, and that is its charm.

The grounds back onto native bush, and that shapes the dog routine: kangaroos and wombats move through the fringes at dawn and dusk, so keep the lead on for the late toilet walks even for a dog with good recall. After heavy rain the carpark pools in the low spots, so park near your room door rather than dead centre and spare yourself a muddy-paw crossing.

Practicalities worth knowing before you arrive: the general store keeps old-school country hours and is typically shut by late afternoon, so stock dog food in Wodonga or Albury on the way up, and mobile reception runs patchy in the valley — download maps before the climb. The motel is practical rather than plush, with spacious rooms, a pool for the kids, a playground on the grounds and the town quiet enough to walk at any hour.

Close by with the dogs

If Dartmouth is booked out or you want a bigger-town base, the Warrina Motor Inn in Wodonga is a published stay with the dogs down the valley, while the Beechworth Lake Sambell Caravan Park puts you near water and pines in the gold town. More options sit on the VIC stays guide.