First pick
Russell Park
Park or garden · 150 m outside town
14 ha1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
1.0 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Marathon · CC BY-SA 2.0100%near a park
Outdoors in Dock · parks, paths & countryside
Lower River Shannon SAC reaches the edge of Dock
Protected sites cover 12% of the land within 5 km; the nearest is Lower River Shannon SAC. Parks and playing fields in Dock add up to 5.9 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1. Footpaths add up to 23 km in the neighbourhood and the kilometre around it, 2.5 for every square kilometre.
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
5.9 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
23 km
2.5 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
12%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: Lower River Shannon SAC
Woodland
1.3%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors neighbourhood is Dock?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected land nearbyLower River Shannon SAC reaches the edge of Dock.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.
Dock’s strongest suit is protected land close by, followed by parks close to every home.
Against other towns
How Dock 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 space5.9 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
63out of 100
Footpaths2.5 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
54out of 100
Protected for nature12%of the land within 5 km
91out of 100
Woodland1.3%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
22out 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
Dock has the 15th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (5,478 to 6,971 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From O'Connell Street (8.1 km per km²) to Roscommon (0.2 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Dock2.5
Towns its size1.6
Co. Limerick towns2.5
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Dock5.9
Towns its size3.8
Co. Limerick towns4.7
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Dock100%
Towns its size93%
Co. Limerick towns91%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Dock stands out most for park space per resident: only 14 of the other 39 have more.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | O'Connell Street Dublin | 8.1 | 0.6% | 0.1% | 7% |
| 2 | Christchurch Dublin | 7.8 | 0.7% | 0.1% | – |
| 3 | Portobello Dublin | 7.2 | 1.2% | 0.1% | 8.8% |
| 4 | Gillabbey Cork | 7.1 | 2.6% | 0.5% | – |
| 5 | Glasheen Cork | 6.4 | 2.3% | 0.5% | – |
| 6 | Castleknock Dublin | 6.2 | 9.1% | 0% | – |
| 7 | The Glen Cork | 5.7 | 4% | 1.8% | – |
| 8 | Rathgar Dublin | 4.8 | 3.5% | 0.1% | – |
| 9 | Knocknaheeny Cork | 4.7 | 2.4% | 0.2% | – |
| 10 | Santry Dublin | 4.4 | 2.8% | 0% | – |
| 11 | Ayrfield Dublin | 3.8 | 1.8% | 5.3% | 19% |
| 12 | Eyre Square Galway | 3.4 | 1.2% | 14% | 36% |
| 13 | Marino Dublin | 3.3 | 2% | 2.8% | 10% |
| 14 | Harmonstown Dublin | 3.2 | 3.8% | 5.3% | 23% |
| 15 | Dock Limerick | 2.5 | 1.3% | 12% | – |
| 16 | Sutton Dublin | 2.5 | 0.7% | 12% | 48% |
| 17 | Lisduggan Waterford | 1.8 | 0% | 5.8% | – |
| 18 | Carrigtwohill Cork | 1.8 | 5.1% | 12% | – |
| 19 | Ballinfoile and Terryland Galway | 1.7 | 2.1% | 22% | 13% |
| 20 | Rathcoole Dublin | 1.6 | 2.4% | 0% | – |
| 21 | Sallins Kildare | 1.6 | 0.8% | 0% | – |
| 22 | Dunshaughlin Meath | 1.5 | 0.4% | 0% | – |
| 23 | Blessington Wicklow | 1.4 | 10% | 1.9% | – |
| 24 | Kells Meath | 1.3 | 6.3% | 1.1% | – |
| 25 | Westport Mayo | 1.2 | 7.1% | 3.3% | 10% |
| 26 | Passage West-Monkstown Cork | 1.2 | 3.5% | 10% | 12% |
| 27 | Inishkenny Cork | 1.1 | 4.2% | 0.2% | – |
| 28 | Ballytruckle Waterford | 1 | 1.2% | 5.1% | – |
| 29 | Ardee Louth | 0.9 | 0.7% | 0.8% | – |
| 30 | Kinsale Cork | 0.9 | 1.3% | 0% | 21% |
| 31 | Ferrybank Kilkenny | 0.8 | 4.1% | 6.6% | – |
| 32 | Fermoy Cork | 0.8 | 6.3% | 4.8% | – |
| 33 | Carrick-on-Suir Tipperary | 0.5 | 9.9% | 4% | – |
| 34 | Loughrea Galway | 0.4 | 1.7% | 4.7% | – |
| 35 | Carrickmacross Monaghan | 0.3 | 5.5% | 0% | – |
| 36 | Roscrea Tipperary | 0.3 | 3.4% | 7.9% | – |
| 37 | Oranmore Galway | 0.3 | 2% | 5.2% | 13% |
| 38 | Ballinasloe Galway | 0.3 | 3.7% | 9.6% | – |
| 39 | Buncrana Donegal | 0.3 | 3.3% | 12% | 23% |
| 40 | Roscommon Roscommon | 0.2 | 2.3% | 3.9% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Dock’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 Dock
The biggest is Russell Park, 14 ha (35 acres).
People's Park
Park or garden
3.7 ha1.9 km of path
25 minto walk all 1.9 km of path
Centralin the middle of Dock
Directionsto a point inside
Hyde Road Park
Park or garden
0.8 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Dock
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
Everyone in Dock 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%)
Dock100%
Co. Limerick towns91%
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 Dock
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 Dock9.2%
Within 5 km12%
Co. Limerick towns9.6%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Dock. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 7.6% 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
Burren National Park is 40 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
40 km north-west21 km²
National Park
Killarney National Park
88 km south-west104 km²
2 of Ireland’s six National Parks are within 100 km of Dock.
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
23 km of footpaths cross Dock
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
23 km
over 9.2 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
1.3%
about 0.1 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
1
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
DockCo. Limerick townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths2.5
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
DockCo. Limerick townsTypical Irish town
Woodland1.3%
0%50%100%
Dock has more footpath per km² than 54% of Irish towns and less woodland than 78% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
One waymarked trail starts near Dock
23 km of footpaths are mapped in Dock and the kilometre around it, 2.5 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Walking trail
Lough Derg Way68.9 km
For a shorter walk, the Lough Derg Way is 68.9 km, graded moderate. One cycling or paddling trail also starts within 5 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 Dock: 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 | 15.7 | 16.8 | 16.4 | 14.7 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 8.6 | 7.6 |
| High (°C) | 9 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 102 | 84 | 76 | 62 | 64 | 73 | 77 | 88 | 77 | 97 | 106 | 112 |
April is the driest month (62 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.6 hours of daylight in December, and 112 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Dock →
Things to do
1 waterfall and 6 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
Waterfalls 1
Curragower Falls0.9 km from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 6
Plus 6 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Curragower Boat Club0.9 km from town
DirectionsSource: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Gardens & nature
A garden or nature site to visit near Dock
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
Shannon Estuary WayNature site · 0.3 km from town
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Dock
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
Limerick City CentreProspect and Newtown PeryBallinacurraFarranshoneGalvoneRathbaneDock
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dock | 100% | 5.9 | 2.5 | 12% |
| Limerick City Centre 0.7 km | 100% | 10.3 | 3.5 | 11% |
| Prospect and Newtown Pery 0.8 km | 100% | 6.8 | 3.6 | 9.9% |
| Ballinacurra 1.2 km | 85% | 14.0 | 1.8 | 11% |
| Farranshone 1.4 km | 100% | 5.2 | 2.8 | 11% |
| Galvone 1.4 km | 100% | 4.4 | 2.9 | 8.3% |
| Rathbane 1.8 km | 74% | 14.1 | 1.8 | 6% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Dock. Ballinacurra and Rathbane have at least twice Dock’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 Dock
What is the biggest park in Dock?
Russell Park, 14 ha (35 acres), just outside the built-up area. People's Park (3.7 ha) is second. 3 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the neighbourhood or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Dock?
Yes: 12% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 2 sites. Lower River Shannon SAC reaches Dock.
What are the best walks near Dock?
One waymarked trail starts within 5 km: the Lough Derg Way.
How many people in Dock 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 Dock?
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 Dock near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Burren National Park, 40 km north-west of the town’s edge; it covers about 21 km². One more is within 100 km.
What is there to do outdoors around Dock?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 1 waterfall; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Dock’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).