Pet friendly

With a dog, a station hotel has two jobs: the room tonight, and the train tomorrow morning. This site lists 577 hotels that accept pets around 52 stations. The longest lists are at Berlin Hauptbahnhof and Helsinki Central, with 31 each, then New York's Penn Station with 25, Munich Hauptbahnhof with 24 and Milano Centrale with 23. A hotel that takes animals can still set its own conditions, such as a supplement, a weight limit or one pet per room, so I read its pet clause before anything else, then the rail operator's rule for the next train. London is the trap. Eurostar does not carry pets to or from London: only guide and assistance dogs travel, booked in advance, and Deutsche Bahn's own rules exclude pets on journeys to or from Great Britain. A dog cannot reach St Pancras International on the train from Paris or Brussels. British domestic trains are relaxed: National Rail lets you bring up to two animals at no extra charge, on a lead or in a closed rigid carrier, never on a seat, and dogs must be carried on station escalators. Around King's Cross and St Pancras, seven hotels on the King's Cross page accept pets. The Standard, on Argyle Street opposite the station, lists dog-friendly rooms on its own website. The St. Pancras London, Autograph Collection, is part of the station building itself, and the Kaya Great Northern Hotel is attached to King's Cross. The Megaro on Belgrove Street, The Gyle, Keystone House and the Travelodge London Central Kings Cross complete the list. If your onward train leaves from London Bridge or Fenchurch Street instead, the Bank and Monument page lists nine pet-friendly hotels averaging 8.4 out of 10. The Ned London, in the former Midland Bank headquarters, is the most reviewed of them; the Novotel London Tower Bridge is the best rated at 9.2, ahead of The Ned and the Hotel Motel One London Tower Hill at 9.0. The DoubleTree by Hilton London - Tower of London, Locke at Broken Wharf Millennium Bridge, Club Quarters Hotel London City and The Rose & Crown are also on it. Germany is the easy country. On Deutsche Bahn, a small pet up to the size of a house cat rides free in a carrier that fits under the seat or in the overhead rack. A larger dog needs its own ticket and must be leashed and muzzled, so pack the muzzle even for a calm dog. Berlin Hauptbahnhof has 31 pet-friendly hotels here, from the IntercityHotel Berlin Central Station and the MEININGER beside the station to the Hilton Berlin on the Gendarmenmarkt; Munich has 24 and Frankfurt (Main) Hbf 22. Helsinki Central ties with Berlin at 31 pet-friendly hotels, averaging 8.6 out of 10, from the Scandic Helsinki Station and the Original Sokos Hotel Presidentti to the Clarion Hotel Helsinki, the most reviewed of them. VR, the Finnish operator, seats animals only in separately marked pet areas on long-distance trains, so add the pet when booking and the seat is allocated there. You can bring two dogs or two carriers; a dog lies on a lead on the floor in front of your seat, and on a Pendolino you can reserve a larger floor space, about 70 x 110 cm, for a big dog. Wien Hauptbahnhof has 22, averaging 8.7, and seven carry the station's name: the B&B Hotel, the ibis, the Premier Inn, the Leonardo, the Four Points Flex by Sheraton, the Motel One and the Hotel Zeitgeist. ÖBB carries a small, harmless animal free in a closed, secure carrier; a dog outside one needs a lead, a muzzle and its own ticket, and sits on the floor under its owner's watch. The rule starts before the train: ÖBB's station house rules forbid dogs on station premises without a lead and a muzzle, so the muzzle goes on at the hotel door, not on the platform. In France, SNCF lets a small animal ride on TGV INOUI and Intercités in a container of at most 45 x 30 x 25 cm; any other dog travels on a lead and muzzled, with its own ticket, and each passenger may bring up to two animals. Intercités night trains refuse pets in the couchette cars, guide and assistance dogs aside. Paris has six station pages with pet-friendly hotels, led by Gare d'Austerlitz with 20 and Gare de Lyon with 18, then Gare de l'Est with 12, Saint-Lazare and Montparnasse with 10 each and Gare du Nord with 8. Italy's Trenitalia accepts a dog of any size on the Frecce and Intercity with a ticket, a lead and a muzzle, and a small pet free in a carrier of up to 70 x 30 x 50 cm. Carry the paperwork: Trenitalia asks for the dog's registration certificate and health booklet, or the pet passport for foreign travellers. Milano Centrale has 23 pet-friendly hotels on this site, Venezia Santa Lucia 13 and Roma Termini 11. In Switzerland, SBB carries a dog under 30 cm at the withers free in a carrier or basket under the seat. A bigger dog needs a ticket, and the day pass for dogs covers trains, boats, PostBus routes and the trams and buses of most Swiss cities, which makes a day out from Zurich simple. Zurich Hauptbahnhof has 21 pet-friendly hotels on this site, averaging 8.3 out of 10; the two best rated, the Ruby Mimi Hotel Zurich at 9.4 and the 25hours Hotel Zürich Langstrasse at 9.2, are also the two with the most reviews. Amtrak is the strictest of the operators that accept pets. It takes dogs and cats only, 20 pounds for pet and carrier together, on trips of up to seven hours including connections, one pet per customer, in Coach and Acela Business Class. At a staffed station such as Penn Station you check in at the ticket office 45 minutes before departure. The 25 pet-friendly hotels on the Penn Station page include The New Yorker Hotel on Eighth Avenue and the Moxy NYC Times Square. Beyond Amtrak's network, Vancouver and Dallas-Fort Worth have station hotels that take pets. Sperling-Burnaby Lake, on Vancouver's SkyTrain Millennium Line, has nine pet-friendly hotels averaging 8.4 out of 10, among them the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown, the Element Vancouver Metrotown, the Delta Hotels Burnaby Conference Centre, the Best Western Plus Burnaby and Accent Inns Burnaby. DFW Airport Station has 18, averaging 8.2, from the Hyatt Regency DFW International Airport and The Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport to the Home2 Suites by Hilton Irving/DFW Airport North, the best rated of them at 9 out of 10. My verdict: with a dog, the station hotel makes most sense in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France, where a large dog can board the fast trains with you. It makes little sense if you plan to cross to London by Eurostar with a pet, or to ride Amtrak with a dog that is too heavy for a 20-pound carrier; in those two cases I would plan the leg by car or ferry before booking any room near the station.