Staycations in Singapore with large dogs? Here's the only truly pet-friendly place. Also brought my new kitten one time! So that pretty much proves it!
Singapore was home for many years. It is a hub for travel connections and dream destinations such as Bali are only a short flight away. Growing up in the expanse of Canada, if I didn’t travel, I definitely would have gotten “cabin fever” in Singapore. With dogs, this means that reliable pet-sitters are essential… and why pet-friendly staycations are fantastic (God-sent, really) for when those pet-sitters just aren’t available.
Why Pet-Friendly Staycations are Fantastic
Being a city-state, there were only so many places I could take my dogs for outings. The easiest, by far, was the beautiful Botanic Garden where we often went for our nightly strolls to enjoy the evening-blooming flowers. When we lived in the East Coast, we could easily drive to the park and beach nearby where we could walk for miles and miles.
Many expats fly with their dogs back home for the summers. This makes sense if they already have a pet passport and can bypass the Singapore quarantine and especially if they are small enough to travel in-cabin. Travelling, crated for hours, in the cargo, is extremely stressful. For me, short trips back home to Canada didn’t make any sense. The stress, and also the regular rabies vaccinations required for the pet passport, just weren’t worth it for only a month-long stay.
If you travel from places such as Hong Kong, a rabies antibody test confirming adequate levels means no quarantine. Again, there’s that cargo issue. And travelling to Hong Kong for animals is always by cargo. Doing this yourself, and I’m speaking from experience, is rather challenging.
(I couldn’t not done it without two strong men – once Lou was inspected, she had to be taken to another place to check in, inside her giant crate which barely fit in one taxi and didn’t fit through the front door of where we had to go! And I had two large dogs!)
Unlike back home in Vancouver, road trips were also out. Our next-door neighbour Malaysia is not a rabies-free. All roads lead back to quarantine.
For these reasons, staycations are fantastic, especially if you have dogs! Who doesn’t love a staycation anyway, right?
If you have small dogs, staycation options in Singapore are much more plentiful. When you have a 50-lb dog? Or two? Alamak, as they say in Singapore.
Pet-Friendly Staycation at Capella Sentosa
The only truly pet-friendly hotel we found in Singapore was Capella on Sentosa. Driving over that bridge felt like leaving Singapore! We were two large dogs and a human on our first visit and our newly adopted kitten joined us for our second visit. Such wonderful experiences both times! We were indeed well looked after.
Here are some reasons we loved Capella:
☞ Capella was very welcoming to their animal guests; the rooms were outfitted with dog beds and bowls.
☞ The hotel grounds are beautiful and offer many walking routes. Lou and Abby were both quite excited and intrigued to see the peacocks!
☞ The side gate provides easy access to the beach. We went early mornings before the beachgoers for their swim.
☞ We also walked outside Capella and of course another option was taking a drive to different parts of Sentosa for outings.
☞ The villa patio was perfect for the dogs to get cleaned and dried off after their morning beach walks.
☞ The room service menu included their favourite – chicken sausage. Who doesn’t love room service?
☞ For me, the spa and in-villa massage and facials were heavenly!
To be respectful to the Muslim staff and those not keen on animals, here are some things I did:
☞ The hotel is not overrun with guests and so it wasn’t a problem running into too many people while walking Lou and Abby. We did mostly walk where the rental houses and villas were and the streets were wider, rather than the more narrow paths on the hotel grounds. Or we were outside Capella, where we hardly saw anyone.
☞ The dogs were either on the suite balcony or another room when we had room service. Or I took them out on a walk when the cleaning staff came. (Note: the villa patio is not walled off – so please don’t leave your dogs unsupervised outside.)
☞ I left the “Do Not Disturb” sign up when I was out myself. While Lou and Abby are very friendly, not everyone loves dogs. Of course I would imagine that the hotel staff knew which guests had animals. That’s just my assumption! Both Lou and Abby are also well-trained and are used to being left alone for hours at a time. This meant I could go for my buffet breakfast, take a dip in the pools, take an art tour at the hotel, or my favourite – a spa treatment! I also met up with friends and had a fantastic catch-up over happy hour.
☞ I packed what they needed, including extra towels and mats. I also made a disposable litter box for the kitten to use in the bathroom.
☞ And of course, always always always pick up after your dogs.
