Valley View Motel

Valley View Motel is a 16-unit country motel on the New England Highway at Murrurundi, the last proper town before the highway climbs onto the Liverpool Range and runs down into the New England tablelands. It is the kind of place road-trippers and local workers both rely on: ground-level units, comfortable beds with good pillows, warm rooms in winter and genuinely welcoming owners. The name is accurate; the views up here are the Hunter's northern hills, and they are better than most motels bother with.

Dogs at Valley View Motel

Per the motel's own information, two of the 16 ground level units are dedicated pet friendly rooms. Pet rooms are limited, so pets must be arranged with the motel in advance; turning up and hoping is not a plan when half the highway traffic overnight here in peak season. If you are travelling with a dog on a Sydney-to-Tamworth run, this is one of the few highway motels on that stretch where a pet room is genuinely an option, so ring ahead and lock it in.

The setup works for travellers in ways that only show up on a second stay. Parking sits right at your door under shade, so the dog hops straight from car to unit without a corridor, and the garden between the highway and the rooms gives a quiet morning stretch away from the truck noise. No pet fee is published, so confirm terms when you book.

Locals add a couple of notes. The pub walk into town is an easy ten minutes with a well-mannered dog on lead, and the pizza place delivers to the motel when you cannot face going out. Pack a coat for short-coated dogs too: Murrurundi sits under the Liverpool Range and the evenings drop fast after a hot drive up the highway.

Worth knowing

Murrurundi is a small town and the motel's location on the highway puts the pub and the general store in walking distance. For dog owners the town is a pleasant on-lead walking stop, with the paddocks and river flats at the southern end of town making for a decent morning leg-stretch before the climb north. The Kingdon Ponds runs through the valley, and the range wall of the Liverpool Ranges fills the horizon in every photo anyone takes here.

Pair it with

If you are building a dog-inclusive road trip over the ranges, our NSW pet friendly stays index covers the whole state. Further north on the tablelands the options thin out, so plan fuel and stops carefully, and consider pairing a Murrurundi overnight with a Mudgee-side loop instead: Mudgee Common is a good off-lead stretch, and First Ridge Wines welcomes dogs at cellar door.