How the costs of foreign travel mount up quickly for dog owners

Holidaying abroad as a dog owner usually means two things - emotional strain and extra financial burden.

We all want the best for our furry friends, so when it comes to holidays overseas, that means making sure they’re being looked after and loved in our absence. For those dog owners unable to call on friends or family to take our canine companions in temporarily, that can also mean a pretty hefty addition to the cost of a break abroad.

At Dog Friendly Cottages, we’re proud to offer more than 40,000 properties across the UK you can enjoy with your four-legged friends too. But we’ve also been crunching some numbers to give you a fuller picture when factoring in dog boarding for a foreign break that means leaving them behind.

We looked at the average cost in each UK region of placing your dog in two types of professional pet boarding - kennels and home stays.

Our analysis found that, including flights, accommodation and paid-for dog boarding, the average cost of a self-catering break abroad to some of the most popular European destinations for UK tourists was 270% more than a UK stay in a dog-friendly cottage.

We also found the cost of dog boarding varies across the UK regions, with dog owners in London facing the highest costs to have their pet looked after in their absence where rates are 24% more on average than Scotland, the most affordable area for both kennels and home dog boarding.

For our comparison, we looked at four of the most popular foreign destinations for Brits heading abroad - Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.

At £203 per person per night, including accommodation, flights and dog boarding costs, Greece was the most expensive of the foreign destinations analysed - 320% more than a dog-friendly break in Yorkshire. Portugal worked out as the cheapest of the foreign destinations analysed, at £133 per person per night - still an average of 197% more than a dog-friendly stay in the UK.

Dog Friendly Cottages has also shared its own data comparing the average booking price for each UK region across tens of thousands of its properties, excluding London, this spring. Northern Ireland worked out as the cheapest at £27.59 per person per night, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber (£35.14), the North East (£35.63), Wales (£36.04) and the East Midlands (£39.16).

The West Midlands (£40.94), South West (£43.33), North West (£43.34), East of England (£45.21), South East (£49.15) and Scotland (£59.82) made up the rest.

Dog Friendly Cottages has more than 40,000 pet-friendly properties listed all across the UK including cottages, lodges, apartments and more, so dog lovers can take their canine companions along for the break too. Some of its stunning homes-away-from-home include a former watermill in Peterborough, the ‘Hideout’ overlooking the Herefordshire countryside or the picturesque Jasmine Cottage in Dorset.