First pick
Blackwater Park
Park or garden
16 ha2.9 km of path
40 minto walk all 2.9 km of path
1.6 km north-westfrom the centre
Blackwater Park
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.083%near a park
Outdoors in Navan · parks, paths & countryside
River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC reaches the edge of Navan
Protected sites cover 2.2% of the land within 5 km; the nearest is River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC. There are 1.6 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Navan, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town. 83% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field.
Near a park
83%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
1.6 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
65 km
1.7 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
2.2%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC
Woodland
4.7%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Navan?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Protected land nearbyRiver Boyne and River Blackwater SAC reaches the edge of Navan.Less park per person1.6 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1.
Navan’s strongest suit is protected land close by. Where it falls short is park space per person.
Against other towns
How Navan 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 walk83%of residents within 400 m (a 5-minute walk)
36out of 100
Public green space1.6 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
15out of 100
Footpaths1.7 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
45out of 100
Protected for nature2.2%of the land within 5 km
53out of 100
Woodland4.7%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
73out 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
Navan has the 15th 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
Navan1.7
Towns its size2.5
Co. Meath towns1.3
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Navan1.6
Towns its size4.0
Co. Meath towns2.3
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Navan83%
Towns its size95%
Co. Meath towns95%
Typical Irish town92%
Navan falls furthest behind on park space per resident, where 33 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 Navan’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 Navan
The biggest is Blackwater Park, 16 ha (39 acres).
All 4 named parks and woods by size: 25 ha (62 acres) and 4 km of path
Parks & gardens 16 haWoods 8.8 ha
The two biggest, Blackwater Park and Blackcastle Demesne, are 86% of the named green space and carry 3 km of path between them.
Blackcastle Demesne
Wood or forest · 250 m outside town
5.7 ha
2.3 km north-eastfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Rowley's Wood
Wood or forest · 180 m outside town
3.1 ha0.4 km of path
2.4 km north-eastfrom the centre
Boyne Way
Directionsto a point inside
Andy Brennan Park
Park or garden
0.4 ha0.3 km of path
Centralin the middle of Navan
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
8 in 10 Navan 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 (83%)Further (17%)
Navan83%
Co. Meath towns95%
Typical Irish town92%
About 6,000 people live further than that. Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
The 2 protected sites within 5 km of Navan
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 Navan3.3%
Within 5 km2.2%
Co. Meath towns0.8%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Navan. 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 48 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
48 km south-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
65 km of footpaths cross Navan
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
65 km
over 37.6 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
4.7%
about 1.8 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
NavanCo. Meath townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths1.7
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
NavanCo. Meath townsTypical Irish town
Woodland4.7%
0%50%100%
Navan has less footpath per km² than 55% of Irish towns and more woodland than 73% 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 Navan
65 km of footpaths are mapped in Navan and the kilometre around it, 1.7 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
One more waymarked walk on OpenStreetMap
Regional
Boyne Way5.2 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 Navan: 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 | 19 | 20 | 20 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 78 | 64 | 59 | 59 | 59 | 67 | 72 | 78 | 70 | 87 | 90 | 83 |
March 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 90 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. The climate in Navan →
Things to do
1 hill or peak and 9 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.
The highest named top on the map is Carn Hill, at 123 m, 1.7 km from town.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 1
Carn Hill123 m · 1.7 km from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 9
Blackwater Park playground0.1 km from town
DirectionsPlus 8 playgrounds without a name on the map.
Slipways 1
Plus 1 slipway without a name on the map.
Source: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Unnamed places are counted, not listed.
Next door
Next to Navan
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
KentstownSlaneTrimKellsAthboyDuleekNavan
Under 1%1–10%10–25%25–50%50%+
In Kentstown, 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park, more than here. Slane, Trim and Athboy have at least twice Navan’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 Navan
What is the biggest park in Navan?
Blackwater Park, 16 ha (39 acres). Andy Brennan Park (0.4 ha) is second. 2 named parks, gardens and playing fields are in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Navan?
Yes: 2.2% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 2 sites. River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC reaches Navan.
How many people in Navan live near a park?
83% 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 Navan?
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 Navan near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 48 km south-east of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Navan?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 1 hill or peak; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Navan’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).