First pick
Doneraile Wildlife Park
Park or garden
162 ha11.1 km of path
2 h 30 minto walk all 11.1 km of path
0.8 km eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Sarah777 · Public domain100%near a park
Outdoors in Doneraile · parks, paths & countryside
Doneraile has more park space per resident than 9 in 10 Irish towns
There are 192.4 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Doneraile, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town. 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field. Footpaths add up to 11 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 1.3 for every square kilometre.
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
192.4 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
11 km
1.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
2.9%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Blackwater River (Cork/Waterford) SAC
Woodland
9.6%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Doneraile?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Room to roam192.4 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 99% of Irish towns.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Protected land nearbyBlackwater River (Cork/Waterford) SAC reaches the edge of Doneraile.
Doneraile’s strongest suit is plenty of park space, followed by parks close to every home.
Against other towns
How Doneraile 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 space192.4 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
100out of 100
Footpaths1.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
38out of 100
Protected for nature2.9%of the land within 5 km
57out of 100
Woodland9.6%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
93out 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
Doneraile has the 17th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (857 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
Doneraile1.3
Towns its size0.7
Co. Cork towns1.8
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Doneraile192.4
Towns its size4.1
Co. Cork towns4.3
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Doneraile100%
Towns its size87%
Co. Cork towns90%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Doneraile stands out most for park space per resident: none of the other 39 has 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 | 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 | Doneraile Cork | 1.3 | 9.6% | 2.9% | – |
| 18 | Bantry Cork | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | 18% |
| 19 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 20 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 21 | Callan Kilkenny | 0.7 | 0.1% | 2.3% | – |
| 22 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 23 | Kenmare Kerry | 0.6 | 7.2% | 6.5% | 6.4% |
| 24 | Athboy Meath | 0.6 | 1.1% | 1.5% | – |
| 25 | Bundoran Donegal | 0.5 | 2% | 5.1% | 35% |
| 26 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 27 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 28 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 29 | Donegal Donegal | 0.3 | 4% | 4.1% | 12% |
| 30 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 31 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 32 | Castleisland Kerry | 0.3 | 1.7% | 12% | – |
| 33 | Kanturk Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 5.1% | – |
| 34 | Baltinglass Wicklow | 0.2 | 4.9% | 0.5% | – |
| 35 | Ballyhaunis Mayo | 0.2 | 2.8% | 3.4% | – |
| 36 | Kilrush Clare | 0.2 | 9.8% | 37% | – |
| 37 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 0.2 | 7.6% | 0% | – |
| 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 Doneraile’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 Doneraile
The biggest is Doneraile Wildlife Park, 162 ha (401 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 Doneraile 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%)
Doneraile100%
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 2.9% of the land within 5 km of Doneraile
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 Doneraile7%
Within 5 km2.9%
Co. Cork towns1.5%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Doneraile. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 1% 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 64 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
64 km west104 km²
National Park
Burren National Park
86 km north21 km²
2 of Ireland’s six National Parks are within 100 km of Doneraile.
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
11 km of footpaths cross Doneraile
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
11 km
over 8.8 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
9.6%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
DoneraileCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths1.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
DoneraileCo. Cork townsTypical Irish town
Woodland9.6%
0%50%100%
Doneraile has less footpath per km² than 62% of Irish towns and more woodland than 93% 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 Doneraile
11 km of footpaths are mapped in Doneraile and the kilometre around it, 1.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
No waymarked trail starts within 5 km of Doneraile; 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.
When to get out
The best walking months in Doneraile: 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) | 8.2 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.7 | 16.7 | 16.3 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.7 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 116 | 86 | 78 | 73 | 68 | 71 | 75 | 82 | 81 | 112 | 116 | 119 |
May is the driest month (68 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.7 hours of daylight in December, and 119 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Doneraile →
Things to do
1 playground
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
Playgrounds 1
Plus 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 Doneraile
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
ButtevantMallowCharlevilleDoneraile
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Doneraile | 100% | 192.4 | 1.3 | 2.9% |
| Buttevant 6.2 km | 76% | 3.5 | 0.1 | 2.4% |
| Mallow 9.8 km | 68% | 3.2 | 0.6 | 3.2% |
| Charleville 17 km | 65% | 3.2 | 0.0 | 0.2% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Doneraile.
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 Doneraile
What is the biggest park in Doneraile?
Doneraile Wildlife Park, 162 ha (401 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Doneraile?
Yes: 2.9% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 2 sites. Blackwater River (Cork/Waterford) SAC reaches Doneraile.
How many people in Doneraile 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 Doneraile?
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 Doneraile near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Killarney National Park, 64 km west of the town’s edge; it covers about 104 km². One more is within 100 km.
Sources
Where Doneraile’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
- 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).