First pick
Saint Dominicks Park
Park or garden
4.0 ha1.3 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.3 km of path
1.0 km westfrom the centre
Ramparts Walkway - Cycleway
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland · CC BY-SA 2.090%near a park
Outdoors in Drogheda · parks, paths & countryside
Drogheda borders River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC
Protected sites cover 3.8% of the land within 5 km; the nearest is River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC. There are 1.1 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Drogheda, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town. 45 km of footpaths run through the town and the kilometre around it, 1.0 for every square kilometre.
Near a park
90%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
1.1 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
45 km
1.0 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
3.8%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC
Woodland
1.8%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
The sea
5.5%
of the area within 5 km
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Drogheda?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected land nearbyRiver Boyne and River Blackwater SAC reaches the edge of Drogheda.Less park per person1.1 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1.
Drogheda’s strongest suit is protected land close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Against other towns
How Drogheda 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 walk90%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
46out of 100
Public green space1.1 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
8out of 100
Footpaths1.0 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
29out of 100
Protected for nature3.8%of the land within 5 km
65out of 100
Woodland1.8%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
33out of 100
The sea5.5%of the area within 5 km
69out 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
Drogheda has the 7th fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (18,626 to 44,135 residents), by km of footpath per km². Hover for each one’s protected land and woods; click for its page.
From Esker (10.5 km per km²) to Portlaoise (0.6 km per km²).
Footpath, km per km²
Drogheda1.0
Towns its size2.5
Co. Louth towns1.0
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Drogheda1.1
Towns its size4.0
Co. Louth towns1.1
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Drogheda90%
Towns its size95%
Co. Louth towns74%
Typical Irish town92%
Drogheda falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 37 of the 39 others do better.
Every town in the comparison
| Town | Paths (km/km²) | Woodland | Protected | The sea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Esker Dublin | 10.5 | 2.1% | 0.1% | – |
| 2 | Old Bawn Dublin | 8.5 | 3% | 1.8% | – |
| 3 | Dolphins Barn Dublin | 8.4 | 2.9% | 0% | – |
| 4 | Stoneybatter Dublin | 7.5 | 1.6% | 0% | – |
| 5 | Carpenterstown Dublin | 7.3 | 11% | 0% | – |
| 6 | Blanchardstown Dublin | 7 | 3.8% | 0% | – |
| 7 | Lucan Dublin | 6.8 | 7.3% | 0.2% | – |
| 8 | Mulhuddart Dublin | 6.6 | 4% | 0% | – |
| 9 | Ballymun Dublin | 6.5 | 2.6% | 0% | – |
| 10 | Clonsilla Dublin | 6.4 | 3% | 0.1% | – |
| 11 | Jobstown Dublin | 6.3 | 1.9% | 2.2% | – |
| 12 | Rathmines West Dublin | 6 | 1.7% | 0.1% | 5.8% |
| 13 | Crumlin Dublin | 5.4 | 0.8% | 0% | – |
| 14 | Clondalkin Dublin | 4.6 | 3.3% | 0% | – |
| 15 | Stepaside Dublin | 4.3 | 15% | 6.4% | 5.9% |
| 16 | Sandymount Dublin | 3.6 | 1.2% | 3.6% | 35% |
| 17 | Clontarf East Dublin | 3.1 | 3% | 6.1% | 38% |
| 18 | Kilkenny Kilkenny | 3.1 | 3.8% | 2.4% | – |
| 19 | Beaumont Dublin | 2.9 | 2% | 3.4% | 9.7% |
| 20 | Swords Dublin | 2.6 | 2.6% | 1.1% | – |
| 21 | Celbridge Kildare | 2.4 | 6.9% | 0.5% | – |
| 22 | Greystones-Delgany Wicklow | 2.2 | 11% | 5% | 35% |
| 23 | Bray Wicklow | 2.1 | 13% | 3.4% | 37% |
| 24 | Balbriggan Dublin | 2.1 | 1.6% | 0% | 37% |
| 25 | Naas Kildare | 1.9 | 1.4% | 0% | – |
| 26 | Navan Meath | 1.7 | 4.7% | 2.2% | – |
| 27 | Douglas Cork | 1.7 | 4.6% | 5% | – |
| 28 | Dundalk Louth | 1.4 | 1.7% | 3.6% | 23% |
| 29 | Ballincollig Cork | 1.3 | 8.4% | 0% | – |
| 30 | Athlone Westmeath | 1.3 | 6.1% | 14% | – |
| 31 | Sligo Sligo | 1.2 | 6.1% | 9.5% | 18% |
| 32 | Tralee Kerry | 1.1 | 2.4% | 21% | 6.4% |
| 33 | Wexford Wexford | 1.1 | 3.8% | 13% | 22% |
| 34 | Drogheda Louth | 1 | 1.8% | 3.8% | 5.5% |
| 35 | Carlow Carlow | 0.9 | 1.3% | 2% | – |
| 36 | Mullingar Westmeath | 0.8 | 8.9% | 3.3% | – |
| 37 | Ennis Clare | 0.7 | 9.6% | 7.8% | – |
| 38 | Letterkenny Donegal | 0.7 | 4.9% | 4.3% | 5.3% |
| 39 | Newbridge Kildare | 0.6 | 1.6% | 4.9% | – |
| 40 | Portlaoise Laois | 0.6 | 2.6% | 1.1% | – |
The map
Parks, woods, footpaths & countryside
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it. The dashed line is Drogheda’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 Drogheda
The biggest is Saint Dominicks Park, 4.0 ha (10 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
9 in 10 Drogheda 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 (90%)Further (9.6%)
Drogheda90%
Co. Louth towns74%
Typical Irish town92%
About 4,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
The 6 protected sites within 5 km of Drogheda
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 Drogheda5.7%
Within 5 km3.8%
Co. Louth towns3.6%
Typical Irish town1.8%
6 protected sites lie within 5 km of Drogheda. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 3.2% 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.
River Boyne and River Blackwater SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 23 km² · reaches Drogheda
NPWS pageBoyne Coast and Estuary SACSpecial Area of Conservation · 5.8 km² · reaches Drogheda
NPWS pageBoyne Estuary SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 4.1 km² · reaches Drogheda
NPWS pageRiver Boyne and River Blackwater SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 4.2 km² · 0.1 km from the edge
NPWS pageNorth-West Irish Sea cSPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 2,333 km² · 3.4 km from the edge
NPWS pageRiver Nanny Estuary and Shore SPASpecial Protection Area (birds) · 2.3 km² · 3.4 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
Wicklow Mountains National Park is 50 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
50 km south223 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
45 km of footpaths cross Drogheda
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
45 km
over 44.5 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
1.8%
about 0.8 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
1
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
DroghedaCo. Louth townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths1
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
DroghedaCo. Louth townsTypical Irish town
Woodland1.8%
0%50%100%
Drogheda has less footpath per km² than 71% of Irish towns and less woodland than 67% 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 Drogheda
45 km of footpaths are mapped in Drogheda and the kilometre around it, 1.0 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Walking trail
Boyne Valley Camino25.5 km
For a shorter walk, the Boyne Valley Camino is 25.5 km, graded moderate.
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 Drogheda: 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 | 15.9 | 17.0 | 16.6 | 14.8 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 7.5 |
| High (°C) | 8 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 71 | 58 | 57 | 57 | 59 | 66 | 65 | 73 | 64 | 84 | 86 | 78 |
March is the driest month (57 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.5 hours of daylight in December, and 86 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. The climate in Drogheda →
The coast
Drogheda is near the sea
5.5% of the area within 5 km of Drogheda is sea. One bathing water is within 5 km.
Laytown/BettystownExcellent (2025) · 4.1 km from town
beaches.ieOne of the 1 is rated excellent: Laytown/Bettystown.
Bathing water classes: EPA, latest season (CC BY 4.0). Sea: the area outside CSO and ONS land outlines. Check today’s water quality on beaches.ie
Things to do
1 viewpoint and 1 hill or peak
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 1
Plus 1 viewpoint without a name on the map.
Hills and peaks 1
Plus 1 peak without a name on the map.
Picnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 3
Plus 3 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Gardens & nature
3 gardens and nature sites to visit near Drogheda
Gardens, national parks, nature sites and islands within 15 km of the town’s edge, each with its own page.
Beaulieu House and GardensGarden · 0.8 km from town
Its pageTownley Hall WoodsGarden · 3.1 km from town
Its pageBrú na Bóinne national parkNational park · 4.2 km from town
Its pagePlaces to visit: Fáilte Ireland open data (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap and Wikidata.
Next door
Next to Drogheda
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
TullyallenLaytown-Bettystown-Mornington-DonacarneyTermonfeckinDuleekStamullenClogherheadDrogheda
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drogheda | 90% | 1.1 | 1.0 | 3.8% |
| Tullyallen 5.3 km | 73% | 2.2 | 0.6 | 2.6% |
| Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney 5.9 km | 51% | 0.8 | 1.2 | 4.4% |
| Termonfeckin 7.5 km | 64% | 0.4 | 0.4 | 5.4% |
| Duleek 7.9 km | 40% | 0.6 | 0.4 | 1.3% |
| Stamullen 11 km | 92% | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.5% |
| Clogherhead 11 km | 80% | 2.2 | 0.4 | 1.1% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Drogheda.
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 Drogheda
What is the biggest park in Drogheda?
Saint Dominicks Park, 4.0 ha (10 acres). Brookville Park (1.1 ha) is second. 4 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Drogheda?
Yes: 3.8% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 6 sites. River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC reaches Drogheda.
What are the best walks near Drogheda?
One waymarked trail starts within 5 km: the Boyne Valley Camino.
Where can you swim near Drogheda?
The nearest bathing water is Laytown/Bettystown, 4.1 km from town: Excellent (2025). Check beaches.ie before swimming: a notice can close a beach for the day.
How many people in Drogheda live near a park?
90% 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 Drogheda?
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 Drogheda near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 50 km south of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Drogheda?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 1 viewpoint, 1 hill or peak and 1 picnic site; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Drogheda’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
- Bathing water. EPA: bathing water quality, 2025 season
- 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).