City guide · Argentina · South America
Buenos Aires is a dog city by culture more than by rule: paseadores move packs through Palermo every morning and terraces fill with dogs at the first coffee. Leashes are required and off-leash is confined to fenced caniles, but the density of pavement tables makes eating out with a dog unusually easy.
6 places4 categories3 neighbourhoods
6 places, each checked against the venue's own information
Neighbourhoods covered: Palermo, Recoleta, Puerto Madero.
No photo yetThe city's largest green space: 370 hectares of woods, four lakes and 29 separate plazas, wrapped around the Rosedal, the Planetarium and the Japanese Garden. The free-access plazas and promenades make up most of the park; the golf course, Japanese Garden and museums are ticketed or restricted.
No photo yetA 3.4-hectare rose garden inside the Bosques, with more than 18,000 roses, a Greek bridge over its lake, an Andalusian patio gifted by Seville and a garden of busts honouring poets. It was given the World Federation of Rose Societies' Garden Excellence award in 2012.
No photo yetA premium outlet built into the old railway land under the Mitre viaduct, where brick arches frame outdoor walkways, pergolas and terraces rather than an enclosed mall. Common areas are almost entirely open air, with cafés and food stops mixed among the outlet units.
No photo yetA gin-and-tapas bar with a large planted terrace beside the National Library, where the greenery screens out most of the city. It is a sunset-and-cocktails kind of place rather than a quick stop.
No photo yetA 36,000 sq m open-air gastronomic walkway under the brick arches of the Mitre line, packed with cafés, breweries, burger spots and design shops, and connected straight into the Bosques de Palermo. Everything faces outward onto pedestrian space.
No photo yetA 197-room design hotel on the Puerto Madero docks, with balconies over the canal, a spa, the Red Resto and Lounge and the open-air White Bar terrace. It is a modern, walkable base a short hop from Plaza de Mayo.
Leash rules, off-leash hours and whether dogs are allowed inside are set locally and change without notice. Each listing here says what the venue or the responsible authority publishes, and the listing page links to the page we checked, so you can confirm the current rule before you set out. Outside a signed off-leash area, keep the dog on a lead.
No venue can pay to be listed or to rank higher, and no listing carries an invented rating or a stock photograph standing in for the real place. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will re-check it.
Lima's dog scene runs through Miraflores, which certifies pet-friendly shops, runs dog events on its clifftop malecón and posts brigadistas to enforce leashes. Outside certified venues, expect leashed parks and terrace-only dining.
Bogotá is a park city for dogs: huge green spaces, published leash rules and official dog areas, plus pets allowed up Monserrate on weekdays. Restaurant pet policies are rarely published, so confirm before you sit down.
Rio made dogs legal on the sand in 2019, so every municipal beach is fair game - on a lead. In practice the dog day happens on the waterfront promenades at dawn and dusk, in the Aterro and around the Lagoa, with a small but growing set of pet-friendly kiosks and hotels.
Santiago is a leash-law city with a serious park culture: municipal dog zones are fenced, free and often fitted with agility kit. Off-leash freedom exists, but almost always inside a designated canil rather than on open lawns.
Medellín is casually dog-friendly: dogs ride the Metrocable to Arví, trail owners through malls and check into boutique hotels. The catch is that few places publish formal dog rules, so what you get often depends on who is at the door.
Sao Paulo is genuinely dog-friendly at ground level: municipal parks admit leashed dogs by written regulation, several have fenced off-leash runs, and cafes and hotel terraces increasingly say yes. The catch is distance and traffic - the good walks are spread across a city 20 km wide.
Send it in and we will check it against the venue's own information before it goes live. Venue owners can also send a photograph of their place — free, with the credit kept.