We spontaneously booked a trip to Wilmington this past weekend and it was much needed! It was so fun to explore a new place and also have some time to relax over the long weekend. We brought Sunny along with us on this trip, so I will be sharing all of the dog friendly things we did! I also want to point out that all of the places we went were following social distancing protocols and wearing masks. It was very important to us to stay safe while enjoying some time out of the house!
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Where We Stayed
We stayed at ARRIVE Hotel while in Wilmington. This was my first choice of hotels, but since this trip was a spontaneous Labor Day weekend trip, they were already booked. I checked back every day and when I saw that they had a room opening I immediately booked it! I have so many good things to say about this place. First of all, the hotel is dog friendly! It’s also very conveniently located to downtown Wilmington so it’s within walking distance of tons of restaurants and coffee shops. The rooms at ARRIVE are so cute! I love all of the little details and modern touches. The grounds of the hotel are beautiful and have tons of places to sit outside and enjoy a drink from their gazebo bar. Lastly, their rooms are very clean. They have their COVID-19 response on their website and also informed us of it while checking in, so we felt comfortable staying there.
What We Ate
Luckily we had great weather while visiting Wilmington. All of the places we ate were dog friendly with outside patio seating. We also grabbed food or drinks to go from a few places. I will list where we ate, plus a few other recommendations we didn’t have the chance to try.
- Bespoke Coffee & Dry Goods: This coffee shop was recommended to us by our hotel. The coffee was great! We grabbed a coffee to go since there was not outdoor seating.
- Java Dog Coffee House: Of course I wanted to try this place out since dogs are allowed inside! It was so cute and the coffee was delicious. I loved the large variety of syrups (even many sugar free choices).
- Beach Bagels: We grabbed breakfast here and were very pleased! They are currently closed for dining inside, but have several outdoor patio tables.
- Bitty and Beau’s Coffee: This was a place I definitely wanted to stop at while in Wilmington! The coffee was great, but the service was excellent! If you aren’t familiar with the company, I highly recommend checking it out! It’s more than a cup of coffee. 🙂
- Front Street Brewery: We really enjoyed eating here at their outdoor seating area. They have a large selection of craft beer and pub food. Their famous nachos were delicious!
- Fat Tony’s Italian Pub: We chose to eat here because of their large covered patio with live music! It’s a great place to stop by for an appetizer or a pizza.
- Michael’s Seafood: This restaurant is the only one not in Downtown Wilmington. We ate here when we ventured out to Carolina Beach. It’s a great spot for classic seafood! They also had a covered outdoor patio.
A few other places along Water Street and Front Street that we wish we would have had the chance to try were: The George on the Riverwalk, Floriana Wilmington, Circa 1922, and Little Dipper Fondue.
What We Did
We definitely enjoyed some time to just relax at our hotel while on this trip. However, we did get out and explore a few places we’ve never been to while in Wilmington! I will share below a few of the dog friendly things we did.
- Carolina Beach State Park: This was by far one of the coolest things we did on this trip! The state park was about a 20 minute drive from our hotel. We thought it would be fun to spend the morning exploring some trails since Sunny did so well hiking on our Sugar Mountain vacation. The park has 8 unique trails to choose from – you can find the explanation of each on HERE. The reason that this was one of the coolest things we did is because we were able to see Venus Flytraps along the Flytrap trail! The biker shorts I wore for this excursion are from Amazon and super comfy – linked HERE!
- Downtown Wilmington/Riverwalk: We spent the rest of our time in Wilmington exploring the downtown and riverwalk areas. Both of these areas are very dog friendly. Sunny met tons of friends while walking around! The majority of shops allow dogs and have water bowls available for them. And like I mentioned previously, most of the restaurants have dog friendly outdoor seating. A few of the top sights are the Battleship North Carolina, Bellamy Mansion, and River Park. We also enjoyed seeing all of the historic government buildings and churches.
We thoroughly enjoyed spending this long weekend in Wilmington, NC! There are tons of dog friendly activities and restaurants so this is definitely a trip to bring your pup on! Whether you’re looking to explore or to just simply relax, keep Wilmington in mind for your next weekend getaway!
