First pick
Santry Demesne
Park or garden
35 ha7.7 km of path
1 h 45 minto walk all 7.7 km of path
1.8 km northfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.098%near a park
Outdoors in Whitehall · parks, paths & countryside
4 waymarked trails start within 5 km of Whitehall
Wicklow Mountains National Park begins 16 km away. Footpaths add up to 85 km in the neighbourhood and the kilometre around it, 5.6 for every square kilometre. There are 7.2 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Whitehall, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town.
Near a park
98%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
7.2 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
85 km
5.6 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
0.3%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: South Dublin Bay and River Tolka Estuary SPA
Woodland
2.6%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors neighbourhood is Whitehall?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A park on every doorstep98% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.A neighbourhood of footpaths5.6 km of path per km², more than 79% of Irish towns. The typical town has 2.1.Countryside close byWicklow Mountains National Park starts 16 km south.
Whitehall’s strongest suit is parks close to every home, followed by dense footpaths.
Against other towns
How Whitehall 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 walk98%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
63out of 100
Public green space7.2 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
69out of 100
Footpaths5.6 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
79out of 100
Protected for nature0.3%of the land within 5 km
33out of 100
Woodland2.6%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
49out 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
Whitehall has the 14th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (11,911 to 15,907 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
Whitehall5.6
Towns its size3.9
Co. Dublin towns5.4
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Whitehall7.2
Towns its size4.1
Co. Dublin towns7.6
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Whitehall98%
Towns its size96%
Co. Dublin towns100%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Whitehall stands out most for park space per resident: only 12 of the other 39 have more.
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 | Summerhill Dublin | 6 | 0.4% | 0.2% | 8.5% |
| 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 Whitehall’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 Whitehall
The biggest is Santry Demesne, 35 ha (86 acres).
All 7 named parks and woods by size: 60 ha (148 acres) and 14 km of path
Parks & gardens 60 ha
The two biggest, Santry Demesne and Albert College Park, are 81% of the named green space and carry 11 km of path between them. 4 of the 7 are under 2 ha.
Albert College Park
Park or garden
14 ha3.1 km of path
40 minto walk all 3.1 km of path
0.9 km westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Ellenfield Park
Park or garden
9.0 ha2.2 km of path
30 minto walk all 2.2 km of path
0.6 km eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Santry Community Garden
Park or garden · 350 m outside town
1.2 ha0.9 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.9 km of path
1.9 km northfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
The Mall
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Whitehall
Directionsto a point inside
DCU Community Garden
Park or garden
0.5 ha
Centralin the middle of Whitehall
Directionsto a point inside
Shangan Park
Park or garden · 300 m outside town
0.3 ha
1.2 km northfrom 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
Almost everyone in Whitehall 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 (98%)Further (1.9%)
Whitehall98%
Co. Dublin towns100%
Typical Irish town92%
About 300 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
South Dublin Bay and River Tolka Estuary SPA is the nearest protected area, 1.9 km away
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 Whitehall0%
Within 5 km0.3%
Co. Dublin towns0.2%
Typical Irish town1.8%
4 protected sites lie within 5 km of Whitehall. Ireland’s National Parks have a block of their own on this page; much of their land also lies inside these sites.
South Dublin Bay and River Tolka Estuary SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 22 km² · 1.9 km from the edge
NPWS pageNorth Bull Island SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 19 km² · 4.3 km from the edge
NPWS pageNorth Dublin Bay SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 15 km² · 4.3 km from the edge
NPWS pageSouth Dublin Bay SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 7.3 km² · 4.6 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
Wicklow Mountains National Park is 16 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
Wicklow Mountains National Park
16 km south223 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
85 km of footpaths cross Whitehall
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
85 km
over 15.1 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
2.6%
about 0.4 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
4
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
WhitehallCo. Dublin townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths5.6
03.57 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
WhitehallCo. Dublin townsTypical Irish town
Woodland2.6%
0%50%100%
Whitehall has more footpath per km² than 79% of Irish towns and less woodland than 51% 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 Whitehall
85 km of footpaths are mapped in Whitehall and the kilometre around it, 5.6 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Long-distance wayGreenway
National Famine Way168.6 km
Royal Canal Way146.3 km
Royal Canal Greenway - Drumcondra - Ashtown - Castleknock8.9 km
Royal Canal Greenway Walking Trail121.4 km
One cycling or paddling trail also starts within 5 km.
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
National
The Royal Canal Way3.9 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 Whitehall: 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) | 8.0 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.9 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 62 | 53 | 54 | 54 | 57 | 66 | 63 | 73 | 65 | 79 | 85 | 74 |
February is the driest month (53 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.5 hours of daylight in December, and 85 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. The climate in Whitehall →
Things to do
2 viewpoints and 50 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.
Per resident, playgrounds stand out most: Whitehall has 2.8× as many as the typical Irish town.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 2
Former swimming area0.9 km from town
DirectionsPlus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 50
Plus 50 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Dog parks 1
Plus 1 dog park 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
6 gardens and nature sites to visit near Whitehall
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
National Botanic GardensGarden · 0.9 km from town
Its pageSaint Anne's ParkGarden · 3.8 km from town
Its pageMerrion SquareGarden · 3.8 km from town
Its pageSaint Stephen's GreenGarden · 4.2 km from town
Its pageSt Anne's Park and Rose GardensGarden · 4.3 km from town
Its pageIveagh GardensGarden · 4.5 km from town
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Whitehall
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
MarinoBeaumontDrumcondraBallymunSantryBallygallWhitehall
Under 1%1–10%10–25%25–50%50%+
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Whitehall.
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 Whitehall
What is the biggest park in Whitehall?
Santry Demesne, 35 ha (86 acres), just outside the built-up area. Albert College Park (14 ha) is second. 8 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the neighbourhood or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Whitehall?
4 protected sites lie within 5 km, though together they cover under 1% of the land. The nearest is South Dublin Bay and River Tolka Estuary SPA, 1.9 km from the edge of town.
What are the best walks near Whitehall?
4 waymarked trails start within 5 km, including the National Famine Way, Royal Canal Way and Royal Canal Greenway - Drumcondra - Ashtown - Castleknock.
How many people in Whitehall live near a park?
98% 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 Whitehall?
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 Whitehall near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 16 km south of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Whitehall?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 2 viewpoints; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Whitehall’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).