Apollo Motel Parkes

The Apollo Motel Parkes is a classic country motor inn on Peak Hill Road, serving travellers on the Newell Highway and visitors in town for the annual Elvis Festival. It is the sort of place truck drivers, grey nomads and festival goers all end up in, drawn by a reputation for clean rooms and a good night's sleep in a town that can get loud when the festival is on.

Guest feedback centres on a few constants: comfortable beds, spotless rooms, strong hot showers and genuine quiet despite the highway position. There is a pool for hot central west afternoons, and the ground floor layout makes unloading the car painless. The motel bills itself as pet friendly accommodation, a label that matters in a region where country motels often draw the line at dogs.

Dogs at the Apollo

Per the motel's own website, the pet friendly pitch comes with ground floor rooms and a garden area where dogs can stretch. There is no published rulebook on the site, so specifics like size limits, fees and whether dogs can be left alone in the room need to be confirmed directly when you book. The garden area is the practical win here: your mate has somewhere to do their business without a midnight lap of the car park.

Regulars add texture the website does not. The grass gets used early, before the Newell heat starts radiating off the asphalt, and the resident dog around the office often handles the welcome committee.

Book a room back from the highway edge if your dog is a light sleeper, because the trucks change gear right outside. The staff keep local tips on hand too, including which pubs take dogs in the beer garden.

Walking the dog in Parkes is straightforward. Peak Hill Road sits on the edge of town, so quiet residential streets start within a couple of hundred metres, and Cooke Park in the town centre is an easy drive for a proper off lead session before a long driving day.

Close by with the dogs

Fill in the trip with a coffee stop at Margot Espresso Bar or a morning brew at Walter Cafe before you head off, and when the day's driving is done the Bridge to Bridge Loop is a decent way to unwind the dog along the river. The full run of NSW dog friendly stays is worth a scan if Parkes is just one stop on a longer western NSW loop.