Buccaneer Motel

The Buccaneer Motel sits on The Entrance Road at Long Jetty, the strip that serves the Central Coast's lakeside belt. It is a classic single and two-storey motel with the things travellers actually grade it on: comfortable beds, clean rooms and staff who remember your face.

The water at Long Jetty is minutes away, and the cafes along the strip have made the suburb a destination in its own right.

Dogs at the motel

The motel's own site says it plainly: proudly pet-friendly. It is not just a line on a page either, because guests travelling with dogs report the stays are convenient and the grounds include BBQ facilities and shaded areas that work well for a dog on a lead.

Fee and restriction detail is not published, so ask at check-in about any size caps or room categories. Treat it as a welcome-with-conditions arrangement and you will not be surprised.

The rooms are all hard timber-look tiles rather than carpet, which is why guests keep saying the place holds no dog smell and sandy paws wipe clean in a pass. Deluxe Queen, Twin and Family configurations cover the span from couples to a household travelling with two dogs.

Two practical limits shape the stay: the big road out front carries traffic noise into the front rooms, and there is no fenced run on the property, so the lead stays on until the foreshore. Regulars ask for a rear room away from The Entrance Road and let the dog settle in the shaded BBQ corner of an evening.

For the morning walk, locals slip out the back paths straight down to the Tuggerah Lake foreshore cycleway instead of working the main road. They catch the pelicans at Picnic Point at sunrise rather than joining the 3.30pm feeding crush at The Entrance.

Worth knowing

The location does a lot of the work. Long Jetty's foreshore path is an easy morning walk with the dog.

The beach at the end of the strip is close enough that guests flag it as a highlight. Rooms are functional rather than fancy, which is exactly what a coastal overnight wants.

If you are chaining Central Coast stops, check in late and walk the jetty at dusk.

Make a day of it

For a proper off-leash run, North Shelly Beach dog beach is the standout on this stretch of coast. NSW dog friendly stays rounds up more dog friendly stays across NSW if you are working down the coast.