Hotel Gracelands

Hotel Gracelands is a modern motel-style hotel in the heart of Parkes, handy for travellers crossing the central west and for visitors in town for the Elvis Festival each January. The rooms run to a deluxe king standard with quiet interiors and an on-site restaurant, the Ikon, so you can eat without leaving the building. It suits road-trippers heading along the Newell Highway who want a comfortable night rather than a bare-bones motel stop, and it works just as well as a base for a few days exploring the region's radio telescope country.

Dogs at the Gracelands

Per the hotel's own pet policy page, well-behaved pets are welcome, provided you advise the hotel at the time of booking so a suitable room can be allocated. There is no published pet fee.

In practice that means ring ahead rather than arriving with a dog unannounced, because rooms set aside for pets will differ from standard allocations.

The low-rise layout works in a dog owner's favour: no interior hallways or lifts between the car and the room. Regulars ask specifically for ground-floor positioning when they call, which makes midnight toilet breaks and hauling crates and food tubs far simpler.

Book direct rather than ticking a generic pet box on a booking platform, since the fee structure is not laid out upfront on automated channels.

The surrounding streets of Bushman Street give you easy early morning and evening walks. In summer, skip the midday pavement and time dog walks for the tree-shaded residential streets back towards Cooke Park, where the grass stays cool longer.

Worth knowing

The Ikon restaurant and the hotel's modern room fit-out are the recurring notes from guests, along with friendly owners and polite staff. The rooms are well insulated against highway noise, which matters if your dog startles at late trucks on the Newell.

Parkes itself has good coffee and pub options in the CBD, and the town is a sensible overnight stop between larger regional centres.

Close by with the dogs

For coffee the next morning, Walter Cafe and Margot Espresso Bar are both central Parkes options. If you want a pub meal instead, Lager House by Capital Brewing Co pours closer to home. For a leg stretch before you hit the road again, the Bridge to Bridge Loop is a solid town walk with the dog.