First pick
The Copse
Wood or forest
38 ha0.7 km of path
10 minto walk all 0.7 km of path
0.8 km eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0–Not graded
Outdoors in Emo · parks, paths & countryside
Woods cover more of Emo than of 10 in 10 Irish towns
Woods cover 29% of Emo and the kilometre around it. Parks and playing fields in Emo add up to 10.2 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1. Footpaths add up to 1 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 0.1 for every square kilometre.
Green space
10.2 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
1 km
0.1 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
0.2%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Mountmellick SAC
Woodland
29%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Emo?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Wooded country29% mapped woodland in and around town, more than 99% of Irish towns.Room to roam10.2 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 82% of Irish towns.Parks can be a walk away100% of residents live more than 400 m from a park or playing field.
Emo’s strongest suit is its woods, followed by plenty of park space. Where it falls short is how far some homes are from a park.
Against other towns
How Emo 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 walk0%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
0out of 100
Public green space10.2 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
82out of 100
Footpaths0.1 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
1out of 100
Protected for nature0.2%of the land within 5 km
29out of 100
Woodland29%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
100out 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
Emo has the 3rd fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (283 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
Emo0.1
Towns its size0.7
Co. Laois towns0.6
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Emo10.2
Towns its size4.1
Co. Laois towns1.4
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Emo0%
Towns its size83%
Co. Laois towns71%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Emo stands out most for park space per resident: only 8 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 | 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 | Baltinglass Wicklow | 0.2 | 4.9% | 0.5% | – |
| 34 | Ballyhaunis Mayo | 0.2 | 2.8% | 3.4% | – |
| 35 | Kilrush Clare | 0.2 | 9.8% | 37% | – |
| 36 | Ballyjamesduff Cavan | 0.2 | 7.6% | 0% | – |
| 37 | Gort Galway | 0.2 | 4.3% | 24% | – |
| 38 | Emo Laois | 0.1 | 29% | 0.2% | – |
| 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 Emo’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 Emo
The biggest is The Copse, 38 ha (95 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
Few Emo 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 (0%)Further (100%)
Emo0%
Co. Laois towns71%
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
Mountmellick SAC is the nearest protected area, 4.2 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 Emo0%
Within 5 km0.2%
Co. Laois towns1.6%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Emo. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 4.5% 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.
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 45 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
45 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
1 km of footpaths cross Emo
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
1.2 km
over 8.2 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
29%
about 2.4 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
2
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
EmoCo. Laois townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
EmoCo. Laois townsTypical Irish town
Woodland29%
0%50%100%
Emo has less footpath per km² than 99% of Irish towns and more woodland than 100% 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 Emo
1 km of footpaths are mapped in Emo and the kilometre around it, 0.1 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Walking trail
Garryhinch - Garryhinch loop3.7 km
Garryhinch - Barrow walk3.3 km
Trails: Sport Ireland National Trails Register (CC BY 4.0), registered trails within 5 km; footpaths: OpenStreetMap (ODbL). 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 Emo: 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) | 8.1 | 9.8 | 11.7 | 13.9 | 15.8 | 16.9 | 16.5 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.5 | 7.6 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 84 | 67 | 63 | 61 | 61 | 70 | 70 | 81 | 72 | 95 | 93 | 91 |
April is the driest month (61 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.6 hours of daylight in December, and 95 mm of rain falls in October, the wettest month. The climate in Emo →
Things to do
2 hills and peaks
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
Hills and peaks 2
Holme's Hill1.9 km from town
DirectionsCastle Hill2.0 km from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 1
Emo Court picnic area1.1 km from town
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Next door
Next to Emo
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
PortarlingtonMountmellickPortlaoiseStradballyMonasterevinEmo
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emo | 0% | 10.2 | 0.1 | 0.2% |
| Portarlington 7.3 km | 65% | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.6% |
| Mountmellick 7.8 km | 71% | 1.4 | 0.3 | 3.4% |
| Portlaoise 8.2 km | 86% | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.1% |
| Stradbally 10 km | 65% | 2.8 | 0.6 | 1.1% |
| Monasterevin 12 km | 78% | 1.7 | 0.6 | 2% |
In Portlaoise, 86% 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 Emo
Is there protected countryside near Emo?
2 protected sites lie within 5 km, though together they cover under 1% of the land. The nearest is Mountmellick SAC, 4.2 km from the edge of town.
What are the best walks near Emo?
2 waymarked trails start within 5 km, including the Garryhinch - Garryhinch loop and Garryhinch - Barrow walk.
How many people in Emo live near a park?
0% 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 Emo?
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 Emo near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 45 km east of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Emo?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 2 hills and peaks and 1 picnic site; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Emo’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).