First pick
Little Wood
Wood or forest
31 ha2.7 km of path
35 minto walk all 2.7 km of path
1.6 km north-eastfrom the centre
Little Wood
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Nigel Thompson · CC BY-SA 2.0100%near a park
Outdoors in Slane · parks, paths & countryside
Woods cover more of Slane than of 9 in 10 Irish towns
Mapped woodland takes up 11% of Slane and the kilometre around it. Parks and playing fields in Slane add up to 11.0 ha for every 1,000 residents; the typical Irish town has 4.1. 100% of residents live within a 5-minute walk of a park or playing field.
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
11.0 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
9 km
0.8 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Protected for nature
3.1%
of the land within 5 km
Nearest: River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC
Woodland
11%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Slane?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
Wooded country11% mapped woodland in and around town, more than 95% of Irish towns.A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Room to roam11.0 ha of parks and playing fields per 1,000 residents, more than 83% of Irish towns.Protected land nearbyRiver Boyne and River Blackwater SAC reaches the edge of Slane.
Slane’s strongest suit is its woods, followed by parks close to every home.
Against other towns
How Slane 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 space11.0 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
84out of 100
Footpaths0.8 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
24out of 100
Protected for nature3.1%of the land within 5 km
58out of 100
Woodland11%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
95out 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
Slane has the 19th most footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (1,445 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
Slane0.8
Towns its size0.7
Co. Meath towns1.3
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Slane11.0
Towns its size4.1
Co. Meath towns2.3
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Slane100%
Towns its size87%
Co. Meath towns95%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Slane stands out most for park space per resident: only 8 of the other 39 have more.
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 | Slane Meath | 0.8 | 11% | 3.1% | – |
| 20 | Moate Westmeath | 0.7 | 2.4% | 2.4% | – |
| 21 | Callan Kilkenny | 0.7 | 0.1% | 2.3% | – |
| 22 | Kingscourt Cavan | 0.7 | 12% | 0% | – |
| 23 | Kenmare Kerry | 0.6 | 7.2% | 6.5% | 6.4% |
| 24 | Athboy Meath | 0.6 | 1.1% | 1.5% | – |
| 25 | Bundoran Donegal | 0.5 | 2% | 5.1% | 35% |
| 26 | Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 0.5 | 3.9% | 2.9% | – |
| 27 | Skibbereen Cork | 0.5 | 1.7% | 1.6% | – |
| 28 | Kinnegad Westmeath | 0.3 | 4.5% | 4.5% | – |
| 29 | Donegal Donegal | 0.3 | 4% | 4.1% | 12% |
| 30 | Boyle Roscommon | 0.3 | 3.2% | 0% | – |
| 31 | Bailieborough Cavan | 0.3 | 10% | 0% | – |
| 32 | Castleisland Kerry | 0.3 | 1.7% | 12% | – |
| 33 | Kanturk Cork | 0.3 | 0% | 5.1% | – |
| 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 Slane’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 Slane
The biggest is Little Wood, 31 ha (77 acres).
All 10 named parks and woods by size: 104 ha (258 acres) and 3 km of path
Parks & gardens 11 haWoods 93 ha
The two biggest, Little Wood and Drive Wood, are 46% of the named green space and carry 3 km of path between them.
Plan Wood
Wood or forest · 350 m outside town
17 ha
2.0 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Hill of Slane Wood
Wood or forest · 280 m outside town
9.8 ha
1.0 km north-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Little Glen Wood
Wood or forest · 150 m outside town
5.4 ha
1.6 km westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
Dean's Wood
Wood or forest · 240 m outside town
5.2 ha
0.8 km south-westfrom the centre
Directionsto a point inside
All 10 named parks and green spaces
Little WoodWood or forest · 31 ha · 2.7 km of path
DirectionsSlane CastlePark or garden · 11 ha · 0.1 km of path
DirectionsDrive WoodWood or forest · 17 ha
DirectionsPlan WoodWood or forest · 17 ha · just outside town
DirectionsHill of Slane WoodWood or forest · 9.8 ha · just outside town
DirectionsLittle Glen WoodWood or forest · 5.4 ha · just outside town
DirectionsDean's WoodWood or forest · 5.2 ha · just outside town
DirectionsMountcharles ClumpWood or forest · 3.5 ha
DirectionsMill WoodWood or forest · 3.0 ha
DirectionsGlentis ClumpWood or forest · 2.2 ha · just outside town
DirectionsNamed 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 Slane 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%)
Slane100%
Co. Meath towns95%
Typical Irish town92%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
3.1% of the land around Slane is protected for nature
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 Slane18%
Within 5 km3.1%
Co. Meath towns0.8%
Typical Irish town1.8%
2 protected sites lie within 5 km of Slane. Proposed Natural Heritage Areas cover 1.9% 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 52 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
52 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
9 km of footpaths cross Slane
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
8.9 km
over 11 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
11%
about 1.2 km² of mapped woods
Registered trails
1
walking trails within 5 km
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
SlaneCo. Meath townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.8
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
SlaneCo. Meath townsTypical Irish town
Woodland11%
0%50%100%
Slane has less footpath per km² than 76% of Irish towns and more woodland than 95% 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 Slane
9 km of footpaths are mapped in Slane and the kilometre around it, 0.8 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
Walking trail
Littlewood - Forest Walk2.0 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.
History
2 historic parks, gardens and demesnes on the record in Slane
Parks, gardens, walled gardens and demesne walls in the town on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, each with its record.
Walled gardenWalled garden, Slanefrom 1750Regional rating (NIAH)
Demesne walls/gates/railingsSlane Castlefrom 1790Regional rating (NIAH)
The oldest dated is Walled garden, Slane, from 1750.
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (CC BY 4.0).
When to get out
The best walking months in Slane: 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 | 9 |
| Rain (mm) | 78 | 64 | 60 | 61 | 61 | 68 | 71 | 78 | 69 | 88 | 91 | 84 |
March is the driest month (60 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 20 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.5 hours of daylight in December, and 91 mm of rain falls in November, the wettest month. The climate in Slane →
Things to do
1 hill or peak and 2 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 Hill of Slane, at 158 m, 0.4 km from town.
Every named place, with directions
Hills and peaks 1
Hill of Slane158 m · 0.4 km from town
DirectionsPicnic sites 1
Plus 1 picnic site without a name on the map.
Playgrounds 2
Slane Public Childrens Playgroundin town
DirectionsPlus 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 Slane
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
TullyallenKentstownDuleekNavanDroghedaArdeeSlane
Under 1%1–10%10–25%25–50%50%+
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Slane.
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 Slane
What is the biggest park in Slane?
Slane Castle, 11 ha (27 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
Is there protected countryside near Slane?
Yes: 3.1% of the land within 5 km is protected, across 2 sites. River Boyne and River Blackwater SAC reaches Slane.
What are the best walks near Slane?
One waymarked trail starts within 5 km: the Littlewood - Forest Walk.
How many people in Slane 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 Slane?
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 Slane near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 52 km south of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Slane?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 1 hill or peak and 1 picnic site; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Which parks in Slane are historic?
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records 2 historic parks, gardens and demesnes in the town, among them Walled garden, Slane and Slane Castle.
Sources
Where Slane’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
- Historic parks and gardens. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (CC BY 4.0)
- 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).