First pick
Glen River Park
Park or garden · 110 m outside town
24 ha5.6 km of path
1 h 15 minto walk all 5.6 km of path
0.9 km north-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Sebastian “sebrem” B… · CC BY-SA 3.0100%near a park
Outdoors in Blackpool · parks, paths & countryside
Blackpool has more park space per resident than 9 in 10 Irish towns
There are 14.5 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Blackpool, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town. 50 km of footpaths run through the neighbourhood and the kilometre around it, 6.6 for every square kilometre. A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 100% of residents.
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
14.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
50 km
6.6 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
1.4%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Cork Harbour SPA
Woodland
3%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors neighbourhood is Blackpool?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Room to roam14.5 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 90% of Irish towns.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Hills with a view4 mapped viewpoints, about 35× as many per resident as the typical Irish town.A neighbourhood of footpaths6.6 km of path per km², more than 87% of Irish towns. The typical town has 2.1.
Blackpool’s strongest suit is plenty of park space, followed by parks close to every home.
Against other towns
How Blackpool 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 space14.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
90out of 100
Footpaths6.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
88out of 100
Protected for nature1.4%of the land within 5 km
46out of 100
Woodland3%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
55out 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
Blackpool has the 4th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (2,758 to 3,539 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
Blackpool6.6
Towns its size1.1
Co. Cork towns1.8
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Blackpool14.5
Towns its size3.6
Co. Cork towns4.3
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Blackpool100%
Towns its size83%
Co. Cork towns90%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Blackpool stands out most for path per km²: only 3 of the other 39 have more.
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 | Blackpool Cork | 6.6 | 3% | 1.4% | – |
| 5 | Carna Dublin | 5.4 | 1.7% | 0% | – |
| 6 | Taylor's Hill Galway | 5.1 | 1.2% | 15% | 37% |
| 7 | Togher Cork | 5 | 1.5% | 0.5% | – |
| 8 | Mayfield Cork | 4.7 | 5.3% | 3.3% | – |
| 9 | Limerick City Centre Limerick | 3.5 | 1% | 11% | – |
| 10 | Edenmore Dublin | 2.8 | 3.6% | 5.9% | 24% |
| 11 | Ballynanty Limerick | 2.5 | 5.7% | 12% | – |
| 12 | Rahoon Galway | 2.3 | 2.3% | 27% | 20% |
| 13 | Murrough Galway | 2.3 | 5.1% | 10% | 26% |
| 14 | Annacotty Limerick | 2 | 2% | 6.2% | – |
| 15 | Blarney Cork | 1.4 | 14% | 0% | – |
| 16 | Kilbarry Waterford | 1.3 | 1.6% | 5.1% | – |
| 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 | Bantry Cork | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | 18% |
| 22 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 23 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 24 | Tower Cork | 0.7 | 13% | 0% | – |
| 25 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 26 | Newtownmountkennedy Wicklow | 0.6 | 12% | 4.9% | 6.2% |
| 27 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 28 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 29 | Rathangan Kildare | 0.5 | 4.5% | 0% | – |
| 30 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 31 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 32 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 33 | Kanturk Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 5.1% | – |
| 34 | Ballinrobe Mayo | 0.3 | 0.5% | 11% | – |
| 35 | Ballyhaunis Mayo | 0.2 | 2.8% | 3.4% | – |
| 36 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 0.2 | 7.6% | 0% | – |
| 37 | Clara Offaly | 0.2 | 6.1% | 6.4% | – |
| 38 | Gort Galway | 0.2 | 4.3% | 24% | – |
| 39 | Carndonagh Donegal | 0.1 | 4.9% | 5.1% | 5.8% |
| 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 Blackpool’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 Blackpool
The biggest is Glen River Park, 24 ha (60 acres).
All 4 named parks and woods by size: 26 ha (63 acres) and 6 km of path
Parks & gardens 26 ha
The two biggest, Glen River Park and Bell's Field, are 97% of the named green space and carry 6 km of path between them. 3 of the 4 are under 2 ha.
Spring Lane Park
Park or garden
0.5 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Blackpool
Directionsto a point inside
Comeragh (Arderin) Park
Park or garden · 150 m outside town
0.2 ha0.2 km of path
0.6 km north-eastfrom 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
Everyone in Blackpool 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%)
Blackpool100%
Co. Cork towns90%
Typical Irish town92%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
Protected sites cover 1.4% of the land within 5 km of Blackpool
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 Blackpool0%
Within 5 km1.4%
Co. Cork towns1.5%
Typical Irish town1.8%
One protected site lies within 5 km of Blackpool. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 2.4% 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.
Cork Harbour SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 27 km² · 3.1 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
Killarney National Park is 70 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
70 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
50 km of footpaths cross Blackpool
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
50 km
over 7.6 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
3%
about 0.2 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BlackpoolCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths6.6
048 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BlackpoolCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Woodland3%
0%50%100%
Blackpool has more footpath per km² than 88% of Irish towns and more woodland than 55% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
1 waymarked walk passes through or near Blackpool
50 km of footpaths are mapped in Blackpool and the kilometre around it, 6.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
National
Mardyke walk0.7 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.
History
One historic park or garden on the record in Blackpool
Parks, gardens, walled gardens and demesne walls in the town on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, each with its record.
Garden structure miscUrsuline Conventfrom 1900Regional rating (NIAH)
The oldest dated is Ursuline Convent, from 1900.
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 Blackpool: 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 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 118 | 88 | 82 | 78 | 72 | 74 | 76 | 85 | 82 | 119 | 117 | 124 |
May is the driest month (72 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.8 hours of daylight in December, and 124 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Blackpool →
Things to do
4 viewpoints and 22 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.
4Viewpoints35× the typical Irish town, per resident2Picnic sites22Playgrounds5.4× the typical Irish town, per resident3Slipways
Per resident, viewpoints stand out most: Blackpool has 35× as many as the typical Irish town.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 4
Bell's Field (Audley Place)in town
DirectionsShandon Bells Viewin town
DirectionsDublin Hill0.5 km from town
DirectionsMurphy's Rock1.8 km from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 2
Plus 2 picnic sites without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 22
Toddler Play Parkin town
DirectionsPlanet Leisure Centre1.0 km from town
DirectionsPlus 20 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 3
Plus 3 slipways without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Next door
Next to Blackpool
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
FarranreeShandonSt Luke'sThe GlenCork City CentreGurranebraherBlackpool
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackpool | 100% | 14.5 | 6.6 | 1.4% |
| Farranree 0.7 km | 100% | 5.5 | 6.0 | 0.5% |
| Shandon 0.7 km | 100% | 3.4 | 7.3 | 0.9% |
| St Luke's 0.9 km | 100% | 12.0 | 6.0 | 2.8% |
| The Glen 1.1 km | 100% | 7.7 | 5.7 | 1.8% |
| Cork City Centre 1.2 km | 100% | 0.9 | 6.7 | 1.8% |
| Gurranebraher 1.2 km | 100% | 2.3 | 7.4 | 0.5% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Blackpool.
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 Blackpool
What is the biggest park in Blackpool?
Glen River Park, 24 ha (60 acres), just outside the built-up area. Bell's Field (0.8 ha) is second. 6 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the neighbourhood or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Blackpool?
Yes: 1.4% of the land within 5 km is protected, in one site. The nearest is Cork Harbour SPA, 3.1 km from the edge of town.
How many people in Blackpool 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 Blackpool?
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 Blackpool near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Killarney National Park, 70 km west of the town’s edge; it covers about 104 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Blackpool?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 4 viewpoints and 2 picnic sites; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Which parks in Blackpool are historic?
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records one historic park, garden or demesne in the town: Ursuline Convent.
Sources
Where Blackpool’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).