Sunshine Valley Cottages

Sunshine Valley Cottages is a four-star accredited group of self-contained cottages set in rainforest-style gardens in the Sunshine Coast hinterland at Woombye. It is a stay that is genuinely engineered around dogs rather than one that merely tolerates them: every cottage has its own fenced yard, and there is a second, dedicated fenced dog park on the property with agility equipment for proper off-lead time.

Dogs at the cottages

Dogs of any size are welcome, and multiple pets are allowed, for a fee of $10 per pet per night on top of the accommodation rate. Dogs may go inside the cottages but must stay off the furniture and bedding. Each cottage yard is fenced to about 1.2 metres, so a serious jumper or digger needs watching. Outside your own yard and the dog park, dogs stay on leash, and the pool area is off limits to pets. The conditions are firm: dogs must be fully house-trained, vaccinated and current on flea and worm treatment, they cannot be left unattended in the cottage or anywhere on the property, you bring your own bedding and bowls, and you vacuum up the hair before you leave.

The setting

Reviewers consistently point at the same things: private, clean cottages in a garden setting a world away from the coastal strip. Access to the cottages is via stairs, which matters if you have an older dog or a heavy crate. Woombye's small township is close by for essentials, and the hinterland roads around it are quiet enough for an easy on-lead sniff walk straight from your door.

Getting there and out and about

Woombye sits between Nambour and Palmwoods, about twenty minutes from Maroochydore, so you can split time between the hinterland and the coast. In the village, Kimnat Cafe is the local coffee stop and The Woombye Pub is the town's dog-friendly pub. For a coastal day, Sunshine Coast Council runs time-share off-lead beaches north and south of here; check the council's dog exercise map for the current windows before you drive over.

If the cottages are full, Sunshine Coast Motor Lodge is the other Woombye option. More detail is on the Woombye destination page, and the full list is in the QLD stays index.