First pick
Deerpark Forest
Wood or forest
141 ha10.6 km of path
2 h 20 minto walk all 10.6 km of path
1.5 km westfrom the centre
Lough Ramor LoopGolden Way Heritage Trail and Lough Ramor LoopVirginia Golf Club+3 paths
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Christopher Kirk · CC BY-SA 2.080%near a park
Outdoors in Virginia · parks, paths & countryside
Virginia is more wooded than 9 in 10 Irish towns
Woods cover 18% of Virginia and the kilometre around it. There are 2.2 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Virginia, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town. Footpaths add up to 15 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 1.1 for every square kilometre.
Near a park
80%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
2.2 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
15 km
1.1 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
0.2%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC
Woodland
18%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Virginia?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Wooded country18% mapped woodland in and around town, more than 99% of Irish towns.Hills close byMurmod Hill, 203 m, is within 2 km.
Virginia’s strongest suit is its woods, followed by the hills close by.
Against other towns
How Virginia compares with Irish towns
Each figure against Ireland’s 321 towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500+ (city hubs left out): the marked bar is the town’s, the line the median. Ireland has no Outdoors Grade yet: the figures are described, each against other Irish towns, and none of them counts towards the overall grade.
A park within a walk80%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
33out of 100
Public green space2.2 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
27out of 100
Footpaths1.1 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
33out of 100
Protected for nature0.2%of the land within 5 km
29out of 100
Woodland18%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
100out of 100
Parks, paths and woods: OpenStreetMap; residents: CSO Census 2022 Small Areas; protected sites: NPWS; sea: CSO and ONS land outlines. A 0 means nothing is mapped.
Towns its size
Virginia has the 20th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (2,803 to 3,664 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Ballybrack (8.6 km per km²) to Sixmilebridge (0 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Virginia1.1
Towns its size1.1
Co. Cavan towns0.6
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Virginia2.2
Towns its size3.5
Co. Cavan towns2.2
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Virginia80%
Towns its size82%
Co. Cavan towns80%
Typical Irish town92%
Virginia falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 26 of the 39 others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballybrack Dublin | 8.6 | 8% | 0.2% | 36% |
| 2 | Sunday's Well Cork | 7.3 | 2.7% | 0.4% | – |
| 3 | Shandon Cork | 7.3 | 1.9% | 0.9% | – |
| 4 | Ballyfermot Dublin | 6.8 | 8.7% | 0% | – |
| 5 | Blackpool Cork | 6.6 | 3% | 1.4% | – |
| 6 | Carna Dublin | 5.4 | 1.7% | 0% | – |
| 7 | Taylor's Hill Galway | 5.1 | 1.2% | 15% | 37% |
| 8 | Togher Cork | 5 | 1.5% | 0.5% | – |
| 9 | Mayfield Cork | 4.7 | 5.3% | 3.3% | – |
| 10 | Limerick City Centre Limerick | 3.5 | 1% | 11% | – |
| 11 | Edenmore Dublin | 2.8 | 3.6% | 5.9% | 24% |
| 12 | Ballynanty Limerick | 2.5 | 5.7% | 12% | – |
| 13 | Rahoon Galway | 2.3 | 2.3% | 27% | 20% |
| 14 | Murrough Galway | 2.3 | 5.1% | 10% | 26% |
| 15 | Annacotty Limerick | 2 | 2% | 6.2% | – |
| 16 | Westbury Clare | 1.7 | 3.3% | 9.6% | – |
| 17 | Crosshaven Cork | 1.2 | 8.9% | 0.4% | 44% |
| 18 | Rathnew Wicklow | 1.2 | 1.3% | 3.9% | 17% |
| 19 | Cleaboy Waterford | 1.2 | 0% | 5.8% | – |
| 20 | Virginia Cavan | 1.1 | 18% | 0.2% | – |
| 21 | Enfield Meath | 1.1 | 3.9% | 0% | – |
| 22 | Bantry Cork | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | 18% |
| 23 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 24 | Riverstown Cork | 0.8 | 14% | 2.9% | – |
| 25 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 26 | Tower Cork | 0.7 | 13% | 0% | – |
| 27 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 28 | Newtownmountkennedy Wicklow | 0.6 | 12% | 4.9% | 6.2% |
| 29 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 30 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 31 | Rathangan Kildare | 0.5 | 4.5% | 0% | – |
| 32 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 33 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 34 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 35 | Kanturk Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 5.1% | – |
| 36 | Ballinrobe Mayo | 0.3 | 0.5% | 11% | – |
| 37 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 0.2 | 7.6% | 0% | – |
| 38 | Clara Offaly | 0.2 | 6.1% | 6.4% | – |
| 39 | Gort Galway | 0.2 | 4.3% | 24% | – |
| 40 | Sixmilebridge Clare | 0 | 0.7% | 2% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Virginia’s urban area.
Green: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces and woods, named or not.© OpenStreetMap contributors · NPWS · Sport Ireland · CSO
Places to walk
Parks to walk in, in and around Virginia
The biggest is Deerpark Forest, 141 ha (347 acres).
All 5 named parks and woods by size: 148 ha (366 acres) and 11 km of path
Parks & gardens 0.8 haWoods 147 ha
The two biggest, Deerpark Forest and Fishers Forest, are 97% of the named green space and carry 11 km of path between them.
Fishers Forest
Wood or forest · 390 m outside town
3.6 ha
1.4 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Virginia lakeshore
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.2 km of path
0.7 km southfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Named parks, gardens, commons and woods in the town or within 400 m of it, from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); pieces of one name that touch are one place. Sizes are the whole site; directions go to a point inside.
Close to home
8 in 10 Virginia residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park
Each square is 1 in 100 residents: green lives within 400 m of a public park, garden or playing field (CSO Census 2022 Small Areas against OpenStreetMap).
Within 400 m (80%)Further (20%)
Virginia80%
Co. Cavan towns80%
Typical Irish town92%
About 700 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC is the nearest protected area, 3.8 km away
Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Natural Heritage Areas designated by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, within 5 km of the town’s edge.
Inside Virginia0%
Within 5 km0.2%
Co. Cavan towns0%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Virginia. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 2.9% of the land within 5 km as well; many have been proposed since 1995 and aren’t counted here. Ireland’s National Parks have a block of their own on this page; much of their land also lies inside these sites.
Protected sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service designated site boundaries (CC BY 4.0), 2026; land within 5 km from CSO Small Areas and, over the border, ONS. Overlapping sites are counted once.
National Parks
Wicklow Mountains National Park is 80 km away
Ireland’s National Parks within 100 km, and the nearest always, by direction and distance from the town’s edge; circle size shows each park’s area.
National ParkThe 5 km around the town
National Park
Wicklow Mountains National Park
80 km south-east223 km²
National Park boundaries: National Parks and Wildlife Service, generalised to 50 m (CC BY 4.0, © Government of Ireland), 2022. Distances from the town’s outline (CSO Small Areas).
Footpaths and woods
15 km of footpaths cross Virginia
Footways that aren’t pavements, paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, and mapped woods and forest, in the town and 1 km around it, each beside the county’s and Ireland’s typical town of 2,500+.
Footpaths
15 km
over 13.2 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
18%
about 2.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
VirginiaCo. Cavan townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths1.1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
VirginiaCo. Cavan townsTypical Irish town
Woodland18%
0%50%100%
Virginia has less footpath per km² than 67% of Irish towns and more woodland than 100% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
Footpaths in and around Virginia
15 km of footpaths are mapped in Virginia and the kilometre around it, 1.1 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
No waymarked trail starts within 5 km of Virginia; its footpaths are counted above.
Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0), registered trails within 5 km; footpaths: OpenStreetMap (ODbL). Coillte’s own forest trails and recreation sites aren’t included: Coillte’s terms limit its data to research or private study. Its trails on the National Trails Register are listed.
History
One historic park or garden on the record in Virginia
Parks, gardens, walled gardens and demesne walls in the town on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, each with its record.
Garden structure miscVirginia Park Lodgefrom 1860Regional rating (NIAH)
The oldest dated is Virginia Park Lodge, from 1860.
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0).
When to get out
The best walking months in Virginia: May to September
Met Éireann’s 1991–2020 averages for the town’s 1 km square and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 15 to 30 °C and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 7.9 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 17.1 | 16.6 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.4 | 7.4 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 97 | 82 | 76 | 70 | 68 | 76 | 86 | 93 | 80 | 104 | 104 | 107 |
May is the driest month (68 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.4 hours of daylight in December, and 107 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Virginia →
Things to do
5 hills and peaks and 2 playgrounds
Mapped on OpenStreetMap in the town and 2 km around it; each count per resident beside Irish towns’ typical town of 2,500+. Beaches are on the coast’s list, from the EPA.
The highest named top on the map is Spink's Hill, at 140 m, 0.2 km from town.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 5
Spink's Hill140 m · 0.2 km from town
DirectionsSergeant's Hollow115 m · 0.6 km from town
DirectionsCornaslieve125 m · 1.0 km from town
DirectionsKillykeane Hill177 m · 1.2 km from town
DirectionsMurmod Hill203 m · 1.2 km from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 2
Ramor Community Playground0.0 km from town
DirectionsPlus 1 playground without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Next door
Next to Virginia
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
BallyjamesduffOldcastleMullaghBailieboroughKellsVirginia
Under 1%1–10%10–25%25–50%50%+
| Town | Near a park | Green space, ha per 1,000 | Paths (km/km²) | Protected within 5 km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | 80% | 2.2 | 1.1 | 0.2% |
| Ballyjamesduff 8.5 km | 91% | 2.6 | 0.2 | 0% |
| Oldcastle 8.9 km | 100% | 2.7 | 0.1 | 0% |
| Mullagh 9.4 km | 78% | 4.7 | 0.4 | 1.7% |
| Bailieborough 11 km | 55% | 1.9 | 0.3 | 0% |
| Kells 18 km | 100% | 2.6 | 1.3 | 1.1% |
In Oldcastle, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here. Mullagh has at least twice Virginia’s green space per resident.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Green space nearby. The share of residents (CSO Small Areas, by where people live) within 400 m of a park, garden, common or playing field mapped on OpenStreetMap. Mapping is uneven: a town whose parks nobody has mapped looks greyer than it is.
- Protected areas. Land in a Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area or Natural Heritage Area within 5 km, overlaps counted once. Protected for nature doesn’t always mean open to walkers.
- Footpaths and hiking routes. Footways that aren’t pavements, paths, bridleways, steps and tracks open on foot, in the town and 1 km around it, from OpenStreetMap. Trails are the registered ones within 5 km; a trail often follows mapped paths, so the two aren’t added.
- Woodland. Woods and forest as OpenStreetMap maps them, private and Coillte forests included: mapped cover, not access.
- No grade yet. Ireland’s grades don’t include the outdoors yet: these figures describe the town and stand beside the median Irish town.
Questions about the outdoors in Virginia
What is the biggest park in Virginia?
Virginia lakeshore, 0.4 ha (1 acres). Virginia Community Garden (0.3 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Virginia?
2 protected sites lie within 5 km, though together they cover under 1% of the land. The nearest is River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC, 3.8 km from the edge of town.
How many people in Virginia live near a park?
80% of residents live within 400 m, about a 5-minute walk, of a park or playing field; in the typical Irish town it is 92%.
When is the best time of year for walking in Virginia?
On the town’s 1991–2020 averages and its daylight: May to September, when days are long, highs reach 15 °C and rain is light for the place.
Is Virginia near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 80 km south-east of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Virginia?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 5 hills and peaks; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Which parks in Virginia are historic?
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records one historic park, garden or demesne in the town: Virginia Park Lodge.
Sources
Where Virginia’s outdoors figures come from
- Parks, woods and paths. OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): parks, woods and footpaths, Geofabrik extract, October 2026
- Protected sites. National Parks and Wildlife Service: designated sites (SAC, SPA, NHA), 2026
- Trails. Sport Ireland: National Trails Register, 2026
- Residents. CSO: Census 2022 Small Areas (residents)
- National Parks. National Parks and Wildlife Service: National Park boundaries, generalised to 50 m (CC BY 4.0), 2022
- Things to do. OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL): viewpoints, hills, waterfalls, nature reserves, picnic sites, playgrounds, campsites and waymarked walks, Geofabrik extract, October 2026
- Historic parks and gardens. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (CC BY 4.0)
- Weather. Met Éireann: 1991–2020 averages (Copyright Met Éireann)
Protected sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service (CC BY 4.0). Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0). Bathing water: EPA (CC BY 4.0). Parks, woods and paths: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Not on this page yet: Coillte’s forest trails (its terms) and bike routes.
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).