First pick
Westside Park
Park or garden
7.2 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
0.8 km south-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: P L Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.053%near a park
Outdoors in Rahoon · parks, paths & countryside
Protected nature covers 27% of the land within 5 km of Rahoon
A park or playing field is within a 5-minute walk for 53% of residents. The sea makes up 20% of the area within 5 km. Burren National Park begins 21 km away.
Near a park
53%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
5.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
43 km
2.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
27%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Lough Corrib SAC
Woodland
2.3%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
The sea
20%
of the area within 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors neighbourhood is Rahoon?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected countryside27% of the land within 5 km is protected, including Lough Corrib SAC.Hills with a view6 mapped viewpoints, about 47× as many per resident as the typical Irish town.Parks can be a walk away47% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Rahoon’s strongest suit is protected countryside on the doorstep, followed by its views. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Against other towns
How Rahoon 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 walk53%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
4out of 100
Public green space5.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
63out of 100
Footpaths2.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
52out of 100
Protected for nature27%of the land within 5 km
99out of 100
Woodland2.3%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
43out of 100
The sea20%of the area within 5 km
83out 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
Rahoon has the 12th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (2,959 to 4,109 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Shandon (7.3 km per km²) to Charleville (0 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Rahoon2.3
Towns its size1.0
Co. Galway towns2.1
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Rahoon5.5
Towns its size3.9
Co. Galway towns5.5
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Rahoon53%
Towns its size84%
Co. Galway towns80%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Rahoon stands out most for path per km²: only 11 of the other 39 have more. It falls furthest behind on homes near a park, where 39 of the others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shandon Cork | 7.3 | 1.9% | 0.9% | – |
| 2 | Ballyfermot Dublin | 6.8 | 8.7% | 0% | – |
| 3 | Cork City Centre Cork | 6.7 | 1.5% | 1.8% | – |
| 4 | Blackpool Cork | 6.6 | 3% | 1.4% | – |
| 5 | Farranree Cork | 6 | 3% | 0.5% | – |
| 6 | Newcastle Galway | 5.4 | 1.7% | 15% | 29% |
| 7 | Shanakiel Cork | 5.3 | 5.7% | 0.1% | – |
| 8 | Taylor's Hill Galway | 5.1 | 1.2% | 15% | 37% |
| 9 | Togher Cork | 5 | 1.5% | 0.5% | – |
| 10 | Limerick City Centre Limerick | 3.5 | 1% | 11% | – |
| 11 | Ballynanty Limerick | 2.5 | 5.7% | 12% | – |
| 12 | Rahoon Galway | 2.3 | 2.3% | 27% | 20% |
| 13 | Annacotty Limerick | 2 | 2% | 6.2% | – |
| 14 | Ballinacurra Limerick | 1.8 | 1.4% | 11% | – |
| 15 | Westbury Clare | 1.7 | 3.3% | 9.6% | – |
| 16 | Crosshaven Cork | 1.2 | 8.9% | 0.4% | 44% |
| 17 | Rathnew Wicklow | 1.2 | 1.3% | 3.9% | 17% |
| 18 | Cleaboy Waterford | 1.2 | 0% | 5.8% | – |
| 19 | Virginia Cavan | 1.1 | 18% | 0.2% | – |
| 20 | Enfield Meath | 1.1 | 3.9% | 0% | – |
| 21 | Grange Waterford | 1 | 0.8% | 5% | – |
| 22 | Cahir Tipperary | 1 | 7.5% | 3.4% | – |
| 23 | Castleblayney Monaghan | 1 | 3.8% | 0% | – |
| 24 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 25 | Riverstown Cork | 0.8 | 14% | 2.9% | – |
| 26 | Kilcullen Kildare | 0.8 | 5.3% | 0% | – |
| 27 | Kill Kildare | 0.8 | 2.1% | 0% | – |
| 28 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 29 | Tower Cork | 0.7 | 13% | 0% | – |
| 30 | Newtownmountkennedy Wicklow | 0.6 | 12% | 4.9% | 6.2% |
| 31 | Rathangan Kildare | 0.5 | 4.5% | 0% | – |
| 32 | Claremorris Mayo | 0.4 | 7.1% | 0% | – |
| 33 | Macroom Cork | 0.4 | 4.9% | 3.9% | – |
| 34 | Mitchelstown Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 0% | – |
| 35 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 36 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 37 | Stamullen Meath | 0.3 | 1.7% | 0.5% | 12% |
| 38 | Ballinrobe Mayo | 0.3 | 0.5% | 11% | – |
| 39 | Clara Offaly | 0.2 | 6.1% | 6.4% | – |
| 40 | Charleville Cork | 0 | 0.3% | 0.2% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Rahoon’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 Rahoon
The biggest is Westside Park, 7.2 ha (18 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
5 in 10 Rahoon 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 (53%)Further (47%)
Rahoon53%
Co. Galway towns80%
Typical Irish town92%
About 1,600 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
The 5 protected sites within 5 km of Rahoon
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 Rahoon11%
Within 5 km27%
Co. Galway towns14%
Typical Irish town1.8%
5 protected sites lie within 5 km of Rahoon. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 8.1% 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.
Lough Corrib SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 257 km² · reaches Rahoon
NPWS pageLough Corrib SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 176 km² · reaches Rahoon
NPWS pageMoycullen Bogs NHANatural Heritage Area · 36 km² · reaches Rahoon
NPWS pageGalway Bay Complex SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 147 km² · 1.4 km from the edge
NPWS pageInner Galway Bay SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 135 km² · 1.4 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
Burren National Park is 21 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
Burren National Park
21 km south21 km²
National Park
Connemara National Park
54 km north-west21 km²
National Park
Wild Nephin National Park
80 km north171 km²
3 of Ireland’s six National Parks are within 100 km of Rahoon.
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
43 km of footpaths cross Rahoon
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
43 km
over 18.6 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
2.3%
about 0.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
RahoonCo. Galway townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths2.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
RahoonCo. Galway townsTypical Irish town
Woodland2.3%
0%50%100%
Rahoon has more footpath per km² than 52% of Irish towns and less woodland than 57% 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 Rahoon
43 km of footpaths are mapped in Rahoon and the kilometre around it, 2.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
Local
Slí na Sláinte3.4 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 Rahoon: 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 | 15.8 | 17.0 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 130 | 107 | 98 | 75 | 79 | 86 | 99 | 115 | 106 | 127 | 142 | 149 |
April is the driest month (75 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.5 hours of daylight in December, and 149 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Rahoon →
The coast
Rahoon is near the sea
20% of the area within 5 km of Rahoon is sea. 4 bathing waters are within 5 km, each with its latest class.
Grattan Road BeachSufficient (2025) · 1.9 km from town
beaches.ieSalthill BeachExcellent (2025) · 2.2 km from town
beaches.ieSilverstrand BeachExcellent (2025) · 3.5 km from town
beaches.ieBallyloughane BeachGood (2025) · 4.2 km from town
beaches.ie2 of the 4 are rated excellent, Salthill Beach among them.
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
6 viewpoints and 25 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.
6Viewpoints47.1× the typical Irish town, per resident1Picnic sites25Playgrounds5.5× the typical Irish town, per resident5Slipways
Per resident, viewpoints stand out most: Rahoon has 47.1× as many as the typical Irish town.
Every named place, with directions
Viewpoints 6
Salmon Weir Bridge1.7 km from town
DirectionsPlus 5 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 25
Cul Gharrai Play Areain town
DirectionsMary Byrne Playground1.4 km from town
DirectionsClaude Toft Park Playground1.5 km from town
DirectionsMcGraths Field Playground1.8 km from town
DirectionsPlus 21 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 5
Plus 5 slipways 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 Rahoon
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
Circle of Life National Organ Donor Commemorative GardenGarden · 1.7 km from town
Its pageEyre SquareGarden · 2.1 km from town
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Rahoon
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
DanganNewcastleTaylor's HillSalthillKnocknacarraWoodquay and Nuns IslandRahoon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahoon | 53% | 5.5 | 2.3 | 27% |
| Dangan 0.8 km | 81% | 5.4 | 4.3 | 18% |
| Newcastle 1.1 km | 100% | 14.4 | 5.4 | 15% |
| Taylor's Hill 1.3 km | 100% | 9.1 | 5.1 | 15% |
| Salthill 2.2 km | 100% | 3.8 | 3.3 | 15% |
| Knocknacarra 2.3 km | 68% | 2.6 | 1.6 | 32% |
| Woodquay and Nuns Island 2.4 km | 100% | 9.6 | 4.5 | 14% |
In Newcastle, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here. Newcastle has at least twice Rahoon’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 Rahoon
What is the biggest park in Rahoon?
Westside Park, 7.2 ha (18 acres), just outside the built-up area. 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the neighbourhood or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Rahoon?
Yes: 27% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 5 sites. Lough Corrib SAC reaches Rahoon.
Where can you swim near Rahoon?
The nearest bathing water is Grattan Road Beach, 1.9 km from town: Sufficient (2025). Check beaches.ie before swimming: a notice can close a beach for the day.
How many people in Rahoon live near a park?
53% 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 Rahoon?
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 Rahoon near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Burren National Park, 21 km south of the town’s edge; it covers about 21 km². 2 more are within 100 km.
What is there to do outdoors around Rahoon?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 6 viewpoints and 1 picnic site; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Rahoon’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
- Bathing water. EPA: bathing water quality, 2025 season
- 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).