First pick
Tannery Park
Park or garden
1.4 ha0.8 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.8 km of path
Centralin the middle of Rathangan
Tannery Park
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Jonathan Billinger · CC BY-SA 2.085%near a park
Outdoors in Rathangan · parks, paths & countryside
The Barrow Way runs through Rathangan
2 waymarked trails start within 5 km of Rathangan, among them the Barrow Way and Ballydermot/Killyguise Loop. 9 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 0.5 for every square kilometre. 85% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field.
Near a park
85%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
3.6 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
9 km
0.5 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Woodland
4.5%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Rathangan?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
On a long-distance trailThe Barrow Way passes through.Few mapped footpaths0.5 km of path per km²; the typical Irish town has 2.1.
Rathangan’s strongest suit is the Barrow Way. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Against other towns
How Rathangan 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 walk85%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
38out of 100
Public green space3.6 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
47out of 100
Footpaths0.5 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
13out of 100
Protected for nature0%of the land within 5 km
11out of 100
Woodland4.5%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
71out 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
Rathangan has the 9th fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (2,846 to 3,720 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 Gort (0.2 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Rathangan0.5
Towns its size1.1
Co. Kildare towns1.0
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Rathangan3.6
Towns its size3.3
Co. Kildare towns2.2
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Rathangan85%
Towns its size85%
Co. Kildare towns79%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Rathangan stands out most for park space per resident: only 17 of the other 39 have more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 31 of the others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballybrack Dublin | 8.6 | 8% | 0.2% | 36% |
| 2 | Shandon Cork | 7.3 | 1.9% | 0.9% | – |
| 3 | Ballyfermot Dublin | 6.8 | 8.7% | 0% | – |
| 4 | Cork City Centre Cork | 6.7 | 1.5% | 1.8% | – |
| 5 | Blackpool Cork | 6.6 | 3% | 1.4% | – |
| 6 | Carna Dublin | 5.4 | 1.7% | 0% | – |
| 7 | Taylor's Hill Galway | 5.1 | 1.2% | 15% | 37% |
| 8 | Togher Cork | 5 | 1.5% | 0.5% | – |
| 9 | Mayfield Cork | 4.7 | 5.3% | 3.3% | – |
| 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 | Murrough Galway | 2.3 | 5.1% | 10% | 26% |
| 14 | Annacotty Limerick | 2 | 2% | 6.2% | – |
| 15 | Ballinacurra Limerick | 1.8 | 1.4% | 11% | – |
| 16 | Westbury Clare | 1.7 | 3.3% | 9.6% | – |
| 17 | Crosshaven Cork | 1.2 | 8.9% | 0.4% | 44% |
| 18 | Rathnew Wicklow | 1.2 | 1.3% | 3.9% | 17% |
| 19 | Cleaboy Waterford | 1.2 | 0% | 5.8% | – |
| 20 | Virginia Cavan | 1.1 | 18% | 0.2% | – |
| 21 | Enfield Meath | 1.1 | 3.9% | 0% | – |
| 22 | Bantry Cork | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | 18% |
| 23 | Cahir Tipperary | 1 | 7.5% | 3.4% | – |
| 24 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 25 | Riverstown Cork | 0.8 | 14% | 2.9% | – |
| 26 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 27 | Tower Cork | 0.7 | 13% | 0% | – |
| 28 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 29 | Newtownmountkennedy Wicklow | 0.6 | 12% | 4.9% | 6.2% |
| 30 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 31 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 32 | Rathangan Kildare | 0.5 | 4.5% | 0% | – |
| 33 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 34 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 35 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 36 | Stamullen Meath | 0.3 | 1.7% | 0.5% | 12% |
| 37 | Ballinrobe Mayo | 0.3 | 0.5% | 11% | – |
| 38 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 0.2 | 7.6% | 0% | – |
| 39 | Clara Offaly | 0.2 | 6.1% | 6.4% | – |
| 40 | Gort Galway | 0.2 | 4.3% | 24% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Rathangan’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 Rathangan
The biggest is Tannery Park, 1.4 ha (3 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 Rathangan 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 (85%)Further (15%)
Rathangan85%
Co. Kildare towns79%
Typical Irish town92%
About 500 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
No protected site lies within 5 km of Rathangan
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.
No site protected for nature lies within 5 km of Rathangan.
National Parks
Wicklow Mountains National Park is 32 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
32 km east223 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
9 km of footpaths cross Rathangan
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
8.5 km
over 18 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
4.5%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
2
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
RathanganCo. Kildare townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
RathanganCo. Kildare townsTypical Irish town
Woodland4.5%
0%50%100%
Rathangan has less footpath per km² than 87% of Irish towns and more woodland than 71% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
2 waymarked trails start near Rathangan
9 km of footpaths are mapped in Rathangan and the kilometre around it, 0.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Long-distance wayWalking trail
Barrow Way116.9 km
Ballydermot/Killyguise Loop3.8 km
The Barrow Way (117 km end to end) passes through Rathangan.
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
National
The Barrow Way7.2 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 Rathangan: 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 | 16.9 | 16.5 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 79 | 65 | 61 | 60 | 59 | 70 | 71 | 80 | 72 | 93 | 92 | 86 |
May is the driest month (59 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.5 hours of daylight in December, and 93 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. The climate in Rathangan →
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
Nature reserves 1
Community Orchard0.1 ha · in town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 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 Rathangan
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
KildareMonasterevinKilmeageAllenwoodNewbridgeDerrinturnRathangan
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rathangan | 85% | 3.6 | 0.5 | 0% |
| Kildare 9.2 km | 54% | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.8% |
| Monasterevin 10.0 km | 78% | 1.7 | 0.6 | 2% |
| Kilmeage 11 km | 0% | 0.9 | 0.1 | 5.6% |
| Allenwood 11 km | 41% | 2.5 | 0.3 | 2.8% |
| Newbridge 14 km | 66% | 1.1 | 0.6 | 4.9% |
| Derrinturn 14 km | 39% | 1.3 | 0.1 | 1.4% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Rathangan.
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 Rathangan
What is the biggest park in Rathangan?
Tannery Park, 1.4 ha (3 acres). Rathview Grove (0.1 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
What are the best walks near Rathangan?
2 waymarked trails start within 5 km, including the Barrow Way and Ballydermot/Killyguise Loop.
How many people in Rathangan live near a park?
85% 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 Rathangan?
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 Rathangan near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 32 km east of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Rathangan?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 1 nature reserve; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Rathangan’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).