First pick
Ballincollig Regional Park
Park or garden
60 ha12.5 km of path
2 h 45 minto walk all 12.5 km of path
1.0 km north-westfrom the centre
Pitch PathBeech Walk/Fairy TrailPark Path
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Ian Paterson · CC BY-SA 2.059%near a park
Outdoors in Ballincollig · parks, paths & countryside
Ballincollig has 4 waymarked trails within 5 km
A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 59% of residents. 62 km of footpaths run through the neighbourhood and the kilometre around it, 1.3 for every square kilometre. Parks and playing fields in Ballincollig add up to 4.4 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1.
Near a park
59%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
4.4 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
62 km
1.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Woodland
8.4%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors neighbourhood is Ballincollig?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Hills with a view3 mapped viewpoints, about 4× as many per resident as the typical Irish town.Parks can be a walk away41% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Ballincollig’s strongest suit is its views. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Against other towns
How Ballincollig 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 walk59%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
9out of 100
Public green space4.4 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
55out of 100
Footpaths1.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
38out of 100
Protected for nature0%of the land within 5 km
11out of 100
Woodland8.4%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
90out 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
Ballincollig has the 12th fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (18,076 to 26,180 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Esker (10.5 km per km²) to Portlaoise (0.6 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Ballincollig1.3
Towns its size3.0
Co. Cork towns1.8
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Ballincollig4.4
Towns its size4.1
Co. Cork towns4.3
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Ballincollig59%
Towns its size96%
Co. Cork towns90%
Typical Irish town92%
Ballincollig falls furthest behind on path per km², where 28 of the 39 others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Esker Dublin | 10.5 | 2.1% | 0.1% | – |
| 2 | Old Bawn Dublin | 8.5 | 3% | 1.8% | – |
| 3 | Dolphins Barn Dublin | 8.4 | 2.9% | 0% | – |
| 4 | Stoneybatter Dublin | 7.5 | 1.6% | 0% | – |
| 5 | The Liberties Dublin | 7.4 | 0.5% | 0% | – |
| 6 | Carpenterstown Dublin | 7.3 | 11% | 0% | – |
| 7 | Blanchardstown Dublin | 7 | 3.8% | 0% | – |
| 8 | Lucan Dublin | 6.8 | 7.3% | 0.2% | – |
| 9 | Mulhuddart Dublin | 6.6 | 4% | 0% | – |
| 10 | Stillorgan Dublin | 6.5 | 3% | 0.1% | 17% |
| 11 | Ballymun Dublin | 6.5 | 2.6% | 0% | – |
| 12 | Clonsilla Dublin | 6.4 | 3% | 0.1% | – |
| 13 | Jobstown Dublin | 6.3 | 1.9% | 2.2% | – |
| 14 | Rathmines West Dublin | 6 | 1.7% | 0.1% | 5.8% |
| 15 | Crumlin Dublin | 5.4 | 0.8% | 0% | – |
| 16 | Templeogue Dublin | 5.2 | 3.8% | 0.1% | – |
| 17 | Clondalkin Dublin | 4.6 | 3.3% | 0% | – |
| 18 | Stepaside Dublin | 4.3 | 15% | 6.4% | 5.9% |
| 19 | Sandymount Dublin | 3.6 | 1.2% | 3.6% | 35% |
| 20 | Clontarf East Dublin | 3.1 | 3% | 6.1% | 38% |
| 21 | Beaumont Dublin | 2.9 | 2% | 3.4% | 9.7% |
| 22 | Celbridge Kildare | 2.4 | 6.9% | 0.5% | – |
| 23 | Malahide Dublin | 2.4 | 3.4% | 2.1% | 32% |
| 24 | Greystones-Delgany Wicklow | 2.2 | 11% | 5% | 35% |
| 25 | Balbriggan Dublin | 2.1 | 1.6% | 0% | 37% |
| 26 | Naas Kildare | 1.9 | 1.4% | 0% | – |
| 27 | Douglas Cork | 1.7 | 4.6% | 5% | – |
| 28 | Knocknacarra Galway | 1.6 | 3.4% | 32% | 34% |
| 29 | Ballincollig Cork | 1.3 | 8.4% | 0% | – |
| 30 | Athlone Westmeath | 1.3 | 6.1% | 14% | – |
| 31 | Sligo Sligo | 1.2 | 6.1% | 9.5% | 18% |
| 32 | Tralee Kerry | 1.1 | 2.4% | 21% | 6.4% |
| 33 | Clonmel Tipperary | 1.1 | 14% | 3.9% | – |
| 34 | Wexford Wexford | 1.1 | 3.8% | 13% | 22% |
| 35 | Dooradoyle Limerick | 1 | 2.6% | 7.7% | – |
| 36 | Carrigaline Cork | 0.9 | 6.5% | 0.2% | 6.7% |
| 37 | Mullingar Westmeath | 0.8 | 8.9% | 3.3% | – |
| 38 | Letterkenny Donegal | 0.7 | 4.9% | 4.3% | 5.3% |
| 39 | Newbridge Kildare | 0.6 | 1.6% | 4.9% | – |
| 40 | Portlaoise Laois | 0.6 | 2.6% | 1.1% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Ballincollig’s neighbourhood.
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 Ballincollig
The biggest is Ballincollig Regional Park, 60 ha (147 acres).
All 4 named parks and woods by size: 101 ha (249 acres) and 13 km of path
Parks & gardens 61 haWoods 40 ha
The two biggest, Ballincollig Regional Park and Garraghvagh Wood, are 99% of the named green space and carry 13 km of path between them.
Garraghvagh Wood
Wood or forest
40 ha0.3 km of path
3.0 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Dog Park at Ballincollig Regional Park
Park or garden
0.5 ha
0.8 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Ballincollig Dog Park
Park or garden · 120 m outside town
0.4 ha
1.8 km south-westfrom 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
6 in 10 Ballincollig 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 (59%)Further (41%)
Ballincollig59%
Co. Cork towns90%
Typical Irish town92%
About 9,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
No protected site lies within 5 km of Ballincollig
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.
No site protected for nature lies within 5 km of Ballincollig.
National Parks
Killarney National Park is 59 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
Killarney National Park
59 km west104 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
62 km of footpaths cross Ballincollig
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
62 km
over 48.3 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
8.4%
about 4 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
4
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BallincolligCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths1.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BallincolligCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Woodland8.4%
0%50%100%
Ballincollig has less footpath per km² than 62% of Irish towns and more woodland than 90% 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 Ballincollig
62 km of footpaths are mapped in Ballincollig and the kilometre around it, 1.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Walking trail
Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Military Trail6.4 km
Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Powdermills Trail4.0 km
Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Ash Trail2.2 km
Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Heron Trail0.8 km
For a shorter walk, the Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Military Trail is 6.4 km, graded easy.
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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Ballincollig: 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) | 8.3 | 9.9 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.6 | 16.7 | 16.2 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 116 | 86 | 78 | 75 | 67 | 70 | 71 | 80 | 78 | 114 | 114 | 121 |
May is the driest month (67 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.8 hours of daylight in December, and 121 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Ballincollig →
Things to do
3 viewpoints, 1 hill or peak and 1 waterfall
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.
3Viewpoints3.7× the typical Irish town, per resident1Hills and peaks1Waterfalls9Playgrounds0.3× the typical Irish town, per resident3Dog parks2Slipways
Per resident, viewpoints stand out most: Ballincollig has 3.7× as many as the typical Irish town.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 3
Ballincollig View1.6 km from town
Directionsviaduct city view1.7 km from town
DirectionsPlus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 1
Grange Hill1.6 km from town
DirectionsWaterfalls 1
Plus 1 waterfall without a name on the map.
Dog parks 3
Dog Park at Ballincollig Regional Parkin town
DirectionsBallincollig Dog Park0.2 km from town
DirectionsBallyCannon Park (The Bog)0.9 km from town
DirectionsSlipways 2
Plus 2 slipways without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Gardens & nature
A garden or nature site to visit near Ballincollig
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
Blarney House and GardensGarden · 1.8 km from town
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Ballincollig
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
KillumneyTowerBishopstownBlarneyInishkennyShanakielBallincollig
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballincollig | 59% | 4.4 | 1.3 | 0% |
| Killumney 4.1 km | 56% | 5.3 | 0.4 | 0% |
| Tower 4.6 km | 62% | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0% |
| Bishopstown 5.2 km | 100% | 6.2 | 3.2 | 0.2% |
| Blarney 6.2 km | 88% | 3.0 | 1.4 | 0% |
| Inishkenny 6.2 km | 69% | 4.1 | 1.1 | 0.2% |
| Shanakiel 6.2 km | 94% | 6.1 | 5.3 | 0.1% |
In Bishopstown, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here.
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 Ballincollig
What is the biggest park in Ballincollig?
Ballincollig Regional Park, 60 ha (147 acres). Dog Park at Ballincollig Regional Park (0.5 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the neighbourhood or within 400 m of it.
What are the best walks near Ballincollig?
4 waymarked trails start within 5 km, including the Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Military Trail, Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Powdermills Trail and Ballincollig Gunpowder Trails - Ash Trail.
How many people in Ballincollig live near a park?
59% 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 Ballincollig?
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 Ballincollig near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Killarney National Park, 59 km west of the town’s edge; it covers about 104 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Ballincollig?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 3 viewpoints, 1 hill or peak and 1 waterfall; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Ballincollig’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).