Esplanade Court, Oban

Esplanade Court is a block of holiday apartments on Oban's seafront in Argyll, facing straight out across the bay. For anyone travelling with a dog it solves the two problems Oban usually creates: parking, which is free and on site, and distance, since the shops, restaurants and the ferry terminal for island day trips are a flat walk along the esplanade rather than a drive.

Only some of the apartments take dogs, so the property asks you to say at the time of booking that you are bringing one, and allocates a pet-friendly flat accordingly. The charge is £50 for the stay, and one dog is the limit, so this is a base for a single-dog household rather than a pair. Booking blind and mentioning the dog on arrival is the one way to come unstuck here.

Guests with dogs describe the welcome as the best part. The managers are consistently called friendly and easy to find when something needs sorting, and dog owners note that they made the dog feel expected rather than tolerated. The apartments themselves are spacious and properly equipped for self-catering, with more than one bathroom in the larger ones, and towels and cleaning kit provided. The bay views draw comment in almost every review, and despite the main road the flats are reported as quiet.

Two caveats. These are apartments in a shared building, so a dog is on the lead in the corridors, the lift and along the seafront, and there is no private garden to let one out into. The compensation is that the esplanade itself is the walk. Pricing draws the odd grumble too: guests rate the apartments clean and comfortable but fairly plain for what they cost, so the location is what you are paying for.

It suits a couple or a family with one dog who want a walkable, sea-facing base for Oban, the Argyll coast and the island ferries, and who would rather have a proper apartment and free parking than a garden.