First pick
John F. Kennedy Park
Park or garden
0.4 ha
0.7 km south-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.083%near a park
Outdoors in Cobh · parks, paths & countryside
Cobh is on the coast
The sea makes up 23% of the area within 5 km. There are 0.8 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Cobh, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town. Footpaths add up to 16 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 0.8 for every square kilometre.
Near a park
83%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
0.8 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
16 km
0.8 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
13%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Cork Harbour SPA
Woodland
3.5%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
The sea
23%
of the area within 5 km
A coastal town
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Cobh?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On the coast23% of the area within 5 km is sea.Less park per person0.8 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1.
Cobh’s strongest suit is the sea. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Against other towns
How Cobh 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 walk83%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
37out of 100
Public green space0.8 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
2out of 100
Footpaths0.8 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
23out of 100
Protected for nature13%of the land within 5 km
94out of 100
Woodland3.5%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
60out of 100
The sea23%of the area within 5 km
84out 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
Cobh has the 5th fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (12,163 to 16,038 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Tallaght (8.8 km per km²) to Enniscorthy (0.4 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Cobh0.8
Towns its size3.9
Co. Cork towns1.8
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Cobh0.8
Towns its size4.6
Co. Cork towns4.3
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Cobh83%
Towns its size96%
Co. Cork towns90%
Typical Irish town92%
Cobh falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 38 of the 39 others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tallaght Dublin | 8.8 | 3.8% | 0.6% | – |
| 2 | Cabra East Dublin | 8 | 2.2% | 0% | – |
| 3 | Deansrath Dublin | 7.9 | 2.2% | 0% | – |
| 4 | Ballyowen Dublin | 7.5 | 6% | 0% | – |
| 5 | Fettercairn Dublin | 7 | 3.5% | 0.4% | – |
| 6 | Firhouse Dublin | 6.8 | 4.4% | 4.2% | – |
| 7 | Ballsbridge Dublin | 6.3 | 1.3% | 1.2% | 18% |
| 8 | Ashtown Dublin | 6.3 | 6.9% | 0% | – |
| 9 | Ballinteer Dublin | 6.2 | 7.1% | 2.8% | – |
| 10 | Clonskeagh Dublin | 6 | 2.7% | 0.1% | 16% |
| 11 | Foxrock Dublin | 5.8 | 5.3% | 0.2% | 25% |
| 12 | Knocklyon Dublin | 5.8 | 4.7% | 3.2% | – |
| 13 | Finglas South Dublin | 5.6 | 1.7% | 0% | – |
| 14 | Whitehall Dublin | 5.6 | 2.6% | 0.3% | – |
| 15 | Cabinteely Dublin | 5.1 | 7.6% | 1.1% | 29% |
| 16 | Sallynoggin Dublin | 5 | 2% | 0.3% | 47% |
| 17 | Blackrock Dublin | 4.7 | 1.4% | 0.2% | 30% |
| 18 | Kimmage Dublin | 4.3 | 0.1% | 0% | – |
| 19 | Ongar Dublin | 4.2 | 2.7% | 0.2% | – |
| 20 | East Wall Dublin | 4.1 | 1% | 3.5% | 27% |
| 21 | Belmayne Dublin | 3.8 | 1.9% | 5.2% | 25% |
| 22 | Mahon Cork | 3.6 | 6.1% | 5.3% | – |
| 23 | Hollystown Dublin | 3.3 | 2% | 0% | – |
| 24 | Clontarf West Dublin | 3.2 | 2.2% | 3.5% | 17% |
| 25 | Bishopstown Cork | 3.2 | 6% | 0.2% | – |
| 26 | Corbally and King's Island Limerick | 3 | 3.7% | 9.5% | – |
| 27 | Darndale Dublin | 2.7 | 1.9% | 3.7% | 11% |
| 28 | Castletroy Limerick | 2.4 | 1.8% | 6.6% | – |
| 29 | Ashbourne Meath | 1.6 | 0.3% | 0% | – |
| 30 | Midleton Cork | 1.6 | 2.6% | 4.5% | – |
| 31 | Ballybane Galway | 1.5 | 3.9% | 12% | 15% |
| 32 | Killarney Kerry | 1.3 | 14% | 34% | – |
| 33 | Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney Meath | 1.2 | 0.5% | 4.4% | 39% |
| 34 | Wicklow Wicklow | 1.1 | 0.9% | 4.3% | 38% |
| 35 | Castlebar Mayo | 1 | 3.1% | 2.3% | – |
| 36 | Cobh Cork | 0.8 | 3.5% | 13% | 23% |
| 37 | Tullamore Offaly | 0.7 | 10% | 3.8% | – |
| 38 | Arklow Wicklow | 0.7 | 5.7% | 0.3% | 34% |
| 39 | Mallow Cork | 0.6 | 5.1% | 3.2% | – |
| 40 | Enniscorthy Wexford | 0.4 | 6.9% | 2.1% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Cobh’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 Cobh
The biggest is John F. Kennedy Park, 0.4 ha (1 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
8 in 10 Cobh 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 (83%)Further (17%)
Cobh83%
Co. Cork towns90%
Typical Irish town92%
About 2,400 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
Protected sites cover 13% of the land within 5 km of Cobh
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 Cobh0%
Within 5 km13%
Co. Cork towns1.5%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Cobh. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 13% 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
Killarney National Park is 81 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
81 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
16 km of footpaths cross Cobh
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
16 km
over 20.1 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
3.5%
about 0.7 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
1
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
CobhCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.8
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
CobhCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Woodland3.5%
0%50%100%
Cobh has less footpath per km² than 77% of Irish towns and more woodland than 60% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
One waymarked trail starts near Cobh
16 km of footpaths are mapped in Cobh and the kilometre around it, 0.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Greenway
Carrigaline to Crosshaven Greenway Walking Trail5.0 km
2 cycling or paddling trails also start within 5 km.
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 Cobh
Parks, gardens, walled gardens and demesne walls in the town on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, each with its record.
Garden structure miscThe Promenadefrom 1870Regional rating (NIAH)
The oldest dated is The Promenade, from 1870.
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 Cobh: 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 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 112 | 84 | 81 | 74 | 71 | 73 | 77 | 86 | 81 | 117 | 114 | 122 |
May is the driest month (71 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.8 hours of daylight in December, and 122 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Cobh →
The coast
The coast and bathing waters near Cobh
23% of the area within 5 km of Cobh is sea.
Bathing water classes: EPA, latest season (CC BY 4.0). Sea: the area outside CSO and ONS land outlines. Check today’s water quality on beaches.ie
Things to do
2 viewpoints and 10 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.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 1
Cuskinny Marsh Bird Sanctuary14 ha · 0.5 km from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 10
Plus 10 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Gardens & nature
2 gardens and nature sites to visit near Cobh
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
Fota Arboretum & GardensGarden · 3.0 km from town
Its pageFota House Arboretum & GardensGarden · 3.0 km from town
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Cobh
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
Passage West-MonkstownCrosshavenWhitegateAghada-RostellanGlounthauneCarrigtwohillCobh
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobh | 83% | 0.8 | 0.8 | 13% |
| Passage West-Monkstown 2.9 km | 70% | 1.4 | 1.2 | 10% |
| Crosshaven 5.9 km | 74% | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.4% |
| Whitegate 6.1 km | 100% | 1.3 | 0.4 | 2.4% |
| Aghada-Rostellan 6.6 km | 58% | 66.3 | 0.4 | 6.2% |
| Glounthaune 7.1 km | 45% | 8.7 | 1.2 | 6.1% |
| Carrigtwohill 7.3 km | 60% | 2.7 | 1.8 | 12% |
In Whitegate, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here. Aghada-Rostellan, Glounthaune and Carrigtwohill have at least twice Cobh’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 Cobh
What is the biggest park in Cobh?
John F. Kennedy Park, 0.4 ha (1 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Cobh?
Yes: 13% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 2 sites. The nearest is Cork Harbour SPA, 0.8 km from the edge of town.
What are the best walks near Cobh?
One waymarked trail starts within 5 km: the Carrigaline to Crosshaven Greenway Walking Trail.
How many people in Cobh live near a park?
83% 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 Cobh?
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 Cobh near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Killarney National Park, 81 km west of the town’s edge; it covers about 104 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Cobh?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 2 viewpoints and 1 nature reserve; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Which parks in Cobh are historic?
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records one historic park, garden or demesne in the town: The Promenade.
Sources
Where Cobh’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).