First pick
Kells Recreational & Natural Play Area
Park or garden
0.6 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Kells
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Zairon · CC BY 4.0100%near a park
Outdoors in Kells · parks, paths & countryside
Kells borders River Barrow and River Nore SAC
Protected sites cover 2.4% of the land within 5 km; the nearest is River Barrow and River Nore SAC. Footpaths add up to 2 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 0.3 for every square kilometre. There are 2.0 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Kells, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town.
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
2.0 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
2 km
0.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
2.4%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: River Barrow and River Nore SAC
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Kells?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected land nearbyRiver Barrow and River Nore SAC reaches the edge of Kells.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Few mapped footpaths0.3 km of path per km²; the typical Irish town has 2.1.
Kells’ strongest suit is protected land close by, followed by parks close to every home. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Against other towns
How Kells 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 space2.0 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
23out of 100
Footpaths0.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
4out of 100
Protected for nature2.4%of the land within 5 km
55out of 100
Woodland0.5%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
9out 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
Kells has the 8th fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (291 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
Kells0.3
Towns its size0.7
Co. Kilkenny towns0.8
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Kells2.0
Towns its size3.8
Co. Kilkenny towns3.5
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Kells100%
Towns its size87%
Co. Kilkenny towns96%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Kells stands out most for homes near a park: none of the other 39 has more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 32 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 | 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 | Bantry Cork | 1 | 4.4% | 0% | 18% |
| 18 | Ballina Tipperary | 0.9 | 1.8% | 4.7% | – |
| 19 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 20 | Callan Kilkenny | 0.7 | 0.1% | 2.3% | – |
| 21 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 22 | Kenmare Kerry | 0.6 | 7.2% | 6.5% | 6.4% |
| 23 | Athboy Meath | 0.6 | 1.1% | 1.5% | – |
| 24 | Bundoran Donegal | 0.5 | 2% | 5.1% | 35% |
| 25 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 26 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 27 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 28 | Donegal Donegal | 0.3 | 4% | 4.1% | 12% |
| 29 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 30 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 31 | Castleisland Kerry | 0.3 | 1.7% | 12% | – |
| 32 | Kanturk Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 5.1% | – |
| 33 | Kells Kilkenny | 0.3 | 0.5% | 2.4% | – |
| 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 Kells’ 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 Kells
The biggest is Kells Recreational & Natural Play Area, 0.6 ha (1 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 Kells 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%)
Kells100%
Co. Kilkenny towns96%
Typical Irish town92%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
The 2 protected sites within 5 km of Kells
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 Kells2.2%
Within 5 km2.4%
Co. Kilkenny towns2.4%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Kells. 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
Wicklow Mountains National Park is 71 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
71 km north-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
2 km of footpaths cross Kells
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
1.7 km
over 6.7 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
0.5%
about 0 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
KellsCo. Kilkenny townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
KellsCo. Kilkenny townsTypical Irish town
Woodland0.5%
0%50%100%
Kells has less footpath per km² than 96% of Irish towns and less woodland than 91% 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 Kells
2 km of footpaths are mapped in Kells and the kilometre around it, 0.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
Local
Kells Loop Walk1.8 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 Kells: 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 | 13.9 | 15.7 | 16.8 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.7 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 86 | 64 | 64 | 61 | 60 | 66 | 66 | 74 | 70 | 98 | 95 | 92 |
May is the driest month (60 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.7 hours of daylight in December, and 98 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. The climate in Kells →
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
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
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 Kells
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
CallanThomastownKilkennyKells
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kells | 100% | 2.0 | 0.3 | 2.4% |
| Callan 7.6 km | 100% | 4.5 | 0.7 | 2.3% |
| Thomastown 9.1 km | 73% | 4.1 | 0.8 | 4.9% |
| Kilkenny 13 km | 96% | 3.3 | 3.1 | 2.4% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Kells. Callan and Thomastown have at least twice Kells’ 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 Kells
What is the biggest park in Kells?
Kells Recreational & Natural Play Area, 0.6 ha (1 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Kells?
Yes: 2.4% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 2 sites. River Barrow and River Nore SAC reaches Kells.
How many people in Kells 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 Kells?
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 Kells near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 71 km north-east of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Kells?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 1 picnic site; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Kells’ 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).