A Dog-Friendly Guide to Rome, WI | Sand Valley Resort

Did you know Wisconsin is a golf destination? In 2024, Golf Digest put ten Wisconsin courses in the top one hundred, making Wisconisn the highest ranked state! Two of those ten courses are at Sand Valley Resort in Rome, Wisconsin. Rome is a small town in central Wisconsin that is home to lots of outdoor recreation in addition to its remarkable golf courses. We packed up our two pups, Pabst and Leine, and made our way to Rome for a weekend getaway at the one and only Sand Valley Resort. You’re probably wondering why we stayed at a golf resort in the middle of winter, and at first, I was wondering that too. As it turns out, Sand Valley (and the rest of the town) is a winter wonderland in the off season! 

This blog is brought to you in part by Visit Rome, but all opinions are my own. 

We really enjoyed our stay at Sand Valley! Our dog-friendly room was in the Fairview Lodge and had a lovely view of one of the courses. In addition to the nice accommodation, there are also lots of amenities for guests to enjoy, and we took full advantage of them! They supply gear for so many fun activities—fat tire bikes, curling equipment, and sleds. Hayden loved fat tire biking while exploring the on-site trails. They also groom ponds for ice skating that you can enjoy if you bring your own skates–which I did! However, my favorite activity was hiking the lovely dog-friendly on-site trails. I highly recommend the Ridge Trail. I got to hike it when we arrived with no snow on the ground and then again the next day as the snow was flying, and it was beautiful in both conditions. I can’t wait to come back and see it in the summer! The Ridge Trail takes you out above the beautiful sand dunes and winds its way through the nationally ranked golf courses. It felt a little silly to be crossing a golf course with my dog, but it sure was beautiful! The trails are well marked and are definitely worth the trip. 

In addition to the outdoor activities, Sand Valley also has some great restaurants. The Mammoth Bar is open for breakfast and lunch. We were really impressed by their lunch menu and loved that they would deliver the food right to our room, which made it really easy to dine with the pups. For dinner, you can enjoy The Gallery. It’s located in the resort’s tennis facility and serves delicious Italian food. We couldn’t order this meal to the room, but we ordered it to go and got to enjoy it tail side–in the room with two cute pups watching intently to see if we dropped something! 

Sand Valley has reasonable dog policies: clean up after your pet, keep your pet on a leash, your pet must not disturb other guests, and crate your pet if leaving them alone in the room. So if you were looking to dine outside of your room, you could pack your dog’s crate. However, our chocolate lab, Pabst, is basically a magician and can get herself out of anything, so we found another alternative to dining out of the room. We called over to Hoozels at the Lakes and placed an order for takeout, drove the 3.5 miles over to the restaurant to pick up our order, and took it to Up North Brewing Company. This taproom welcomes dogs inside and also has a dog-friendly patio in the warmer months. They don’t serve food, hence the takeout, but they do have some really great beers. I loved both the passion fruit and lavender sours. We ordered beers, chatted with the locals, and devoured our take out–the Poppin Cowboy burger is 12/10!

For even more adventures with the pups, we enjoyed Roche-A-Cri State Park and the Room-to-Roam dog park. We made pit stops along the way to check out more local businesses. A Slice of Heaven Bakery is a must for a coffee or a sweet treat–I highly recommend one of their muffins. We also enjoyed build-your-own sandwiches from Rome Country Meats and Deli. 

If you are looking for an outdoorsy and charming trip away, I highly recommend visiting Rome, Wisconsin!