First pick
Deerpark Wood
Wood or forest · 320 m outside town
28 ha
1.4 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Graham Horn · CC BY-SA 2.0100%near a park
Outdoors in Broadford · parks, paths & countryside
The East Clare Way runs through Broadford
4 waymarked trails start within 5 km of Broadford, among them the East Clare Way and 12 O'Clock Hills Looped Walks - Purple Route. 0 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 0.0 for every square kilometre. Burren National Park begins 28 km away.
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
4.7 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
0 km
0.0 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
12%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Doon Lough NHA
Woodland
5.5%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Broadford?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On a long-distance trailThe East Clare Way passes through.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Protected land nearbyDoon Lough NHA reaches the edge of Broadford.Few mapped footpaths0.0 km of path per km²; the typical Irish town has 2.1.
Broadford’s strongest suit is the East Clare Way, followed by parks close to every home. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Against other towns
How Broadford 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 walk100%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
83out of 100
Public green space4.7 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
57out of 100
Footpaths0.0 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
0out of 100
Protected for nature12%of the land within 5 km
93out of 100
Woodland5.5%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
78out 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
Broadford has the 2nd fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (294 to 3,141 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
Broadford0.0
Towns its size0.7
Co. Clare towns0.7
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Broadford4.7
Towns its size4.1
Co. Clare towns1.7
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Broadford100%
Towns its size87%
Co. Clare towns69%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Broadford stands out most for homes near a park: none of the other 39 has more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 38 of the 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 | Blackpool Cork | 6.6 | 3% | 1.4% | – |
| 4 | Carna Dublin | 5.4 | 1.7% | 0% | – |
| 5 | Taylor's Hill Galway | 5.1 | 1.2% | 15% | 37% |
| 6 | Togher Cork | 5 | 1.5% | 0.5% | – |
| 7 | Decies Dublin | 4.8 | 7.2% | 0% | – |
| 8 | Mayfield Cork | 4.7 | 5.3% | 3.3% | – |
| 9 | Kylemore Dublin | 4 | 3% | 0% | – |
| 10 | Edenmore Dublin | 2.8 | 3.6% | 5.9% | 24% |
| 11 | Ballynanty Limerick | 2.5 | 5.7% | 12% | – |
| 12 | Claddagh Galway | 2.4 | 0.2% | 17% | 46% |
| 13 | Murrough Galway | 2.3 | 5.1% | 10% | 26% |
| 14 | Grange Upper Waterford | 1.4 | 1.5% | 6.6% | – |
| 15 | Blarney Cork | 1.4 | 14% | 0% | – |
| 16 | Kilbarry Waterford | 1.3 | 1.6% | 5.1% | – |
| 17 | Bantry Cork | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | 18% |
| 18 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 19 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 20 | Callan Kilkenny | 0.7 | 0.1% | 2.3% | – |
| 21 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 22 | Kenmare Kerry | 0.6 | 7.2% | 6.5% | 6.4% |
| 23 | Athboy Meath | 0.6 | 1.1% | 1.5% | – |
| 24 | Bundoran Donegal | 0.5 | 2% | 5.1% | 35% |
| 25 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 26 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 27 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 28 | Donegal Donegal | 0.3 | 4% | 4.1% | 12% |
| 29 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 30 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 31 | Castleisland Kerry | 0.3 | 1.7% | 12% | – |
| 32 | Kanturk Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 5.1% | – |
| 33 | Baltinglass Wicklow | 0.2 | 4.9% | 0.5% | – |
| 34 | Ballyhaunis Mayo | 0.2 | 2.8% | 3.4% | – |
| 35 | Kilrush Clare | 0.2 | 9.8% | 37% | – |
| 36 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 0.2 | 7.6% | 0% | – |
| 37 | Gort Galway | 0.2 | 4.3% | 24% | – |
| 38 | Carndonagh Donegal | 0.1 | 4.9% | 5.1% | 5.8% |
| 39 | Broadford Clare | 0 | 5.5% | 12% | – |
| 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 Broadford’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 Broadford
The biggest is Deerpark Wood, 28 ha (70 acres).
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
Everyone in Broadford lives 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 (100%)Further (0%)
Broadford100%
Co. Clare towns69%
Typical Irish town92%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
12% of the land around Broadford is protected for nature
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 Broadford0%
Within 5 km12%
Co. Clare towns9.6%
Typical Irish town1.8%
5 protected sites lie within 5 km of Broadford. Ireland’s National Parks have a block of their own on this page; much of their land also lies inside these sites.
Doon Lough NHANatural Heritage Area · 6.0 km² · reaches Broadford
NPWS pageGortacullin Bog NHANatural Heritage Area · 1.4 km² · 1.2 km from the edge
NPWS pageSlieve Bernagh Bog SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 19 km² · 2.0 km from the edge
NPWS pageDanes Hole, Poulnalecka SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 0.4 km² · 3.1 km from the edge
NPWS pageCloonloum More Bog NHANatural Heritage Area · 1.7 km² · 4.2 km from the edge
NPWS pageProtected 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
Burren National Park is 28 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
Burren National Park
28 km north-west21 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
0 km of footpaths cross Broadford
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
0.2 km
over 8.5 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
5.5%
about 0.5 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
4
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BroadfordCo. Clare townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BroadfordCo. Clare townsTypical Irish town
Woodland5.5%
0%50%100%
Broadford has less footpath per km² than 100% of Irish towns and more woodland than 78% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
4 waymarked trails start near Broadford
0 km of footpaths are mapped in Broadford and the kilometre around it, 0.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Long-distance wayWalking trail
East Clare Way168.8 km
12 O'Clock Hills Looped Walks - Purple Route11.7 km
12 O'Clock Hills Looped Walks - Blue Route7.7 km
12 O'Clock Hills Looped Walks - Red Route4.0 km
The East Clare Way (169 km end to end) passes through Broadford. For a shorter walk, the 12 O'Clock Hills Looped Walks - Purple Route is 11.7 km, graded strenuous.
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
Regional
Violet Hill Loop Walk7.0 km
Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0), registered trails within 5 km; footpaths: OpenStreetMap (ODbL). More waymarked walks: OpenStreetMap route relations (ODbL) within 2 km, those already on the register left out. 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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Broadford: 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) | 8.1 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 16.9 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.6 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 140 | 115 | 101 | 85 | 84 | 91 | 99 | 113 | 105 | 127 | 147 | 151 |
May is the driest month (84 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.6 hours of daylight in December, and 151 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Broadford →
Things to do
2 viewpoints and 1 hill or peak
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 Knocksize, at 259 m, 1.4 km from town.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 2
Plus 2 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 1
Knocksize259 m · 1.4 km from town
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Next door
Next to Broadford
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
ArdnacrushaSixmilebridgeKillaloeBallinaCastleconnellWestburyBroadford
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadford | 100% | 4.7 | 0.0 | 12% |
| Ardnacrusha 11 km | 0% | 0.0 | 0.7 | 8.4% |
| Sixmilebridge 12 km | 60% | 0.5 | 0.0 | 2% |
| Killaloe 13 km | 100% | 6.0 | 1.2 | 6.1% |
| Ballina 13 km | 76% | 4.1 | 0.9 | 4.7% |
| Castleconnell 14 km | 37% | 1.4 | 0.4 | 4.9% |
| Westbury 14 km | 60% | 1.7 | 1.7 | 9.6% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Broadford.
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 Broadford
Is there protected countryside near Broadford?
Yes: 12% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 5 sites. Doon Lough NHA reaches Broadford.
What are the best walks near Broadford?
4 waymarked trails start within 5 km, including the East Clare Way, 12 O'Clock Hills Looped Walks - Purple Route and 12 O'Clock Hills Looped Walks - Blue Route.
How many people in Broadford live near a park?
100% 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 Broadford?
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 Broadford near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Burren National Park, 28 km north-west of the town’s edge; it covers about 21 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Broadford?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 2 viewpoints and 1 hill or peak; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Broadford’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
- 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).