First pick
Killarney House
Park or garden
13 ha4.3 km of path
55 minto walk all 4.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Killarney
Mission RoadCherry Drive
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.064%near a park
Outdoors in Killarney · parks, paths & countryside
Killarney sits at the edge of Killarney National Park
Woods cover 14% of Killarney and the kilometre around it. 34% of the land within 5 km is protected for nature, the nearest site being Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC. 64% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field.
Near a park
64%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
2.5 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
43 km
1.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
34%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC
Woodland
14%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Killarney?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Countryside close byKillarney National Park starts at the edge west.Wooded country14% mapped woodland in and around town, more than 98% of Irish towns.Protected countryside34% of the land within 5 km is protected, including Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC.Parks can be a walk away36% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Killarney’s strongest suit is Killarney National Park close by, followed by its woods. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Against other towns
How Killarney 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 walk64%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
14out of 100
Public green space2.5 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
32out of 100
Footpaths1.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
39out of 100
Protected for nature34%of the land within 5 km
99out of 100
Woodland14%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
99out 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
Killarney has the 9th fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (12,310 to 16,733 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
Killarney1.3
Towns its size3.7
Co. Kerry towns0.6
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Killarney2.5
Towns its size4.6
Co. Kerry towns2.9
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Killarney64%
Towns its size96%
Co. Kerry towns77%
Typical Irish town92%
Killarney falls furthest behind on path per km², where 31 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 | Ballsbridge Dublin | 6.3 | 1.3% | 1.2% | 18% |
| 7 | Ashtown Dublin | 6.3 | 6.9% | 0% | – |
| 8 | Ballinteer Dublin | 6.2 | 7.1% | 2.8% | – |
| 9 | Dundrum Dublin | 6.2 | 4.7% | 1.3% | 6.7% |
| 10 | Clonskeagh Dublin | 6 | 2.7% | 0.1% | 16% |
| 11 | Knocklyon Dublin | 5.8 | 4.7% | 3.2% | – |
| 12 | Finglas South Dublin | 5.6 | 1.7% | 0% | – |
| 13 | Whitehall Dublin | 5.6 | 2.6% | 0.3% | – |
| 14 | Cabinteely Dublin | 5.1 | 7.6% | 1.1% | 29% |
| 15 | Sallynoggin Dublin | 5 | 2% | 0.3% | 47% |
| 16 | Blackrock Dublin | 4.7 | 1.4% | 0.2% | 30% |
| 17 | Kimmage Dublin | 4.3 | 0.1% | 0% | – |
| 18 | Ongar Dublin | 4.2 | 2.7% | 0.2% | – |
| 19 | East Wall Dublin | 4.1 | 1% | 3.5% | 27% |
| 20 | Belmayne Dublin | 3.8 | 1.9% | 5.2% | 25% |
| 21 | Mahon Cork | 3.6 | 6.1% | 5.3% | – |
| 22 | Leixlip Kildare | 3.6 | 7.7% | 0.5% | – |
| 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 Killarney’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 Killarney
The biggest is Killarney House, 13 ha (31 acres).
Maurice O'Donoghue Memorial Park
Park or garden
0.2 ha0.1 km of path
1.0 km southfrom 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
6 in 10 Killarney 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 (64%)Further (36%)
Killarney64%
Co. Kerry towns77%
Typical Irish town92%
About 5,100 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
34% of the land around Killarney is protected for nature
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 Killarney29%
Within 5 km34%
Co. Kerry towns12%
Typical Irish town1.8%
4 protected sites lie within 5 km of Killarney. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 22% 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.
Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 831 km² · reaches Killarney
NPWS pageKillarney National Park SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 103 km² · reaches Killarney
NPWS pageSheheree (Ardagh) Bog SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 0.2 km² · 0.2 km from the edge
NPWS pageCastlemaine Harbour SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 87 km² · 2.2 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
Ireland’s National Parks from Killarney
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
At the edge west104 km²0.9% of Killarney inside it
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 Killarney
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 32.3 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
14%
about 4.6 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
1
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
KillarneyCo. Kerry townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths1.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
KillarneyCo. Kerry townsTypical Irish town
Woodland14%
0%50%100%
Killarney has less footpath per km² than 61% of Irish towns and more woodland than 99% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
Killarney is on the Kerry Way
43 km of footpaths are mapped in Killarney and the kilometre around it, 1.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Long-distance way
Kerry Way232.1 km
The Kerry Way (232 km end to end) passes through Killarney.
6 more waymarked walks on OpenStreetMap
NationalRegionalOther waymarked
The Kerry Way6.0 km
European long distance path E8 - part Ireland4.6 km
Muckross Lake Walk4.0 km
River Walk2.9 km
Circular Walk2.7 km
Ross Castle Ringway2.3 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 Killarney: 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 | 14.6 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 |
| High (°C) | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 |
| Rain (mm) | 178 | 133 | 113 | 96 | 86 | 83 | 95 | 100 | 110 | 157 | 182 | 179 |
June is the driest month (83 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.8 hours of daylight in December, and 182 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. The climate in Killarney →
Things to do
2 viewpoints and 5 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
Viewpoints 2
Plus 2 viewpoints without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 5
Beech Road Playgroundin town
DirectionsDeer Park Play Areain town
DirectionsKillarney Playground0.1 km from town
DirectionsWoodland Play Area1.4 km from town
DirectionsPlus 1 playground without a name on the map.
Campsites 2
Flesk Campingin town
DirectionsFleming's White Bridge Caravan and Camping Park0.1 km from town
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Gardens & nature
3 gardens and nature sites to visit near Killarney
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
Knockreer House and GardensGarden · 0.3 km from town
Its pageKillarney National ParkNational park · 1.6 km from town
Its pageInnisfallen IslandIsland · 2.6 km from town
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Killarney
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
MilltownKillarney
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Killarney | 64% | 2.5 | 1.3 | 34% |
| Milltown 17 km | 100% | 2.1 | 0.1 | 5.1% |
In Milltown, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here.
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 Killarney
What is the biggest park in Killarney?
Killarney House, 13 ha (31 acres). Maurice O'Donoghue Memorial Park (0.2 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Killarney?
Yes: 34% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 4 sites. Killarney National Park, Macgillycuddy's Reeks and Caragh River Catchment SAC reaches Killarney.
What are the best walks near Killarney?
One waymarked trail starts within 5 km: the Kerry Way.
How many people in Killarney live near a park?
64% 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 Killarney?
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 Killarney near a National Park?
Yes: Killarney National Park reaches the edge of Killarney, and covers about 104 km² in all.
What is there to do outdoors around Killarney?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 2 viewpoints and 1 picnic site; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Killarney’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).