Dog Friendly Dana Point Harbor is a beautiful way to spend sunrise, a morning, afternoon or sunset exploring! If you can’t do the whole Harbor, take the bridge to Dana Island and walk the Island loop which takes you along the jetty next to the boats and back around along the ocean entrance. It’s amazing! Drinking fountains are ready for you and your pup around the entire loop! As you walk along, you may see the albino squirrels (sooooooo hard not to bark at them!) and giant blue heron nesting if you look up high in the trees. There are lots of other seabirds, dolphin, seals and sea lions enjoying the harbor with you! If you are lucky, you may get a rare siting of a whale swimming through the harbor during migration season!
Our Secret Tip in Dana Point Harbor
After you walk Dana Island and the Harbor, our favorite area to watch (and listen to) waves crash is behind the Ocean Institute. Pick up a snack at the Harbor or pack a picnic – there are tables and benches where you can relax and listen to waves and watch boats and tall ships head out to the open sea! Dogs are not allowed on the small rocky beach below because it is a marine preserve (it can also be a little treacherous at high tide). This is our FAVORITE place to watch the sunset!
Best Dog Friendly Restaurants in Dana Point Harbor
Full Service
What A Dish Cafe (Across from the Harbor)
We love What A Dish! They are open for breakfast and lunch 7 days a week and for dinner Thursday – Sunday. Mom loves their omelets, coffee & chai lattes, pastas & appetizers. What a Dish serves sustainable, natural food and they have a doggy menu!! YES! Oh, and to quote mom, the bakery is “TO DIE FOR”! Did I emphasize enough that they WUV dogs?!
RJ’s (In front of What a Dish)
Diner-style food which is popular and really good. They have an outside area where both dogs and people are seated and served! Mom says all the egg dishes are De-Lish!
Beach Harbor Pizza (In the Harbor) – not sure if coming back after the harbor restoration project – we hope so!
This is the first place Mom and Scooby ate on his gotcha day as soon as they pulled into town! Mom loves to “make her own” pizza with pesto base, olives, mushrooms, & sun-dried tomatoes. We admit the crust is pretty tasty too! The patio is dog-friendly and has a TV if you want to watch sports. Mom says to mention beer and wine….We love it here!
Self-Service
Many say this is the best coffee in town and you can’t beat the view as you are sitting next to the Harbor – just outside of the Ocean Institure. Personally, mom loves to get fresh veggie juices here. The bagels are yummy as well. Mom loves to order the scrambled eggs with spinach and instead of the bagel, she gets the sundried tomato wrap and when she wants to splurge – the homemade biscuits are out of this world! We always get some egg and fruit so we can attest Coffee Importers is YUM! Did me mention it’s right in front of our favorite location at the harbor? You must pawventure fur yourself to know first hand!
Other Dog Friendly Restaurants in Dana Point
Coastal Kitchen – The food is fantastic and they have a wonderful outdoor heated patio where you and your humans can relax have a nice meal and cocktails! Mom loves the halibut and clam dishes. We order “off menu” and get grilled chicken breast with broccoli! Yum!
Cassanova’s – Just up the road from the Harbor on Del Obispo is Cassanova’s. Lunch and dinner is so wonderful it just can’t be overlooked! They recently updated their patio seating area and added heat lamps and now it’s super pawesome for pups and their people! Mom loves so many things here! Pizza, vongole, pasta, and she said the eggplant Parmesan is the best she’s ever had!
Download Your Free Dana Point Harbor Map!
You can spend days meandering around Dana Point Harbor, Doheny State Beach and Dana Island…..We fur sure do! We spend lots of time at Dog-Friendly Dana Point Harbor and restaurants and hope to see you there soon! We hope you love our recommendations!