First pick
Ballybay Town Park
Park or garden
2.8 ha1.2 km of path
15 minto walk all 1.2 km of path
Centralin the middle of Ballybay
Directionsto a point inside
Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0100%near a park
Outdoors in Ballybay · parks, paths & countryside
Almost everyone in Ballybay lives within a 5-minute walk of a park
Footpaths add up to 4 km in the town and the kilometre around it, 0.3 for every square kilometre. There are 2.8 ha of parks and playing fields for every 1,000 people in Ballybay, against 4.1 in the typical Irish town.
Near a park
100%
of residents within 400 m
Typical Irish town: 92%
Green space
2.8 ha
per 1,000 residents
Typical Irish town: 4.1 ha
Footpaths
4 km
0.3 km per km², town + 1 km
Typical Irish town: 2.1 km per km²
Woodland
3.3%
of the town and 1 km around it
Typical Irish town: 2.7%
Character
What kind of outdoors town is Ballybay?
Read from the data: what stands out first, good and bad.
A park on every doorstep100% of residents live within 400 m of a park or playing field.Few mapped footpaths0.3 km of path per km²; the typical Irish town has 2.1.
Ballybay’s strongest suit is parks close to every home. Where it falls short is footpaths.
Against other towns
How Ballybay 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 space2.8 haper 1,000 residents: parks, gardens, playing fields, play spaces
37out of 100
Footpaths0.3 kmper km², the town and 1 km around it
6out of 100
Protected for nature0%of the land within 5 km
11out of 100
Woodland3.3%of the town and 1 km around it, as mapped
57out 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
Ballybay has the 10th fewest footpaths per km² of 40 towns its size
The 40 Irish towns nearest in population (1,329 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
Ballybay0.3
Towns its size0.7
Co. Monaghan towns1.0
Typical Irish town2.1
Green space, ha per 1,000 residents
Ballybay2.8
Towns its size3.8
Co. Monaghan towns1.4
Typical Irish town4.1
Residents within 400 m of a park
Ballybay100%
Towns its size87%
Co. Monaghan towns67%
Typical Irish town92%
Against towns its size, Ballybay stands out most for homes near a park: none of the other 39 has more. It falls furthest behind on path per km², where 30 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 | Ballybay Monaghan | 0.3 | 3.3% | 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 Ballybay’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 Ballybay
The biggest is Ballybay Town Park, 2.8 ha (7 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
How close Ballybay’s homes are to 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%)
Ballybay100%
Co. Monaghan towns67%
Typical Irish town92%
Playing fields count, so a park within reach isn’t always one with paths or trees.
Protected areas
No protected site lies within 5 km of Ballybay
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.
No site protected for nature lies within 5 km of Ballybay.
National Parks
Wicklow Mountains National Park is 104 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
104 km south223 km²
None of Ireland’s six National Parks is within 100 km of Ballybay; the nearest is shown.
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
4 km of footpaths cross Ballybay
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
3.7 km
over 12.2 km² of town and the 1 km around it
Woodland
3.3%
about 0.4 km² of mapped woods
Km per km², town and 1 km around · mapped on OpenStreetMap
BallybayCo. Monaghan townsTypical Irish town
Footpaths0.3
01.53 km per km²
Share of the land · mapped woods and forest
BallybayCo. Monaghan townsTypical Irish town
Woodland3.3%
0%50%100%
Ballybay has less footpath per km² than 94% of Irish towns and more woodland than 57% of Irish towns.
Footpaths and woods: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Geofabrik extract, October 2026. Woods are mapped cover, private and Coillte forests included.
Footpaths & trails
Footpaths in and around Ballybay
4 km of footpaths are mapped in Ballybay and the kilometre around it, 0.3 km for every square kilometre (the typical Irish town has 2.1).
No waymarked trail starts within 5 km of Ballybay; its footpaths are counted above.
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 Ballybay: 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) | 7.9 | 9.7 | 11.7 | 14.0 | 16.0 | 17.1 | 16.6 | 14.9 | 12.6 | 10.4 | 8.4 | 7.4 |
| High (°C) | 7 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
| Rain (mm) | 95 | 79 | 75 | 68 | 67 | 70 | 80 | 91 | 75 | 100 | 100 | 103 |
May is the driest month (67 mm) and July the warmest (highs of 19 °C). Winter days are short, about 7.4 hours of daylight in December, and 103 mm of rain falls in December, the wettest month. The climate in Ballybay →
Things to do
3 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.
Per resident, playgrounds stand out most: Ballybay has 1.7× as many as the typical Irish town.
Every named place, with directions
Nature reserves 1
Ballybay Wetland Centre0.1 ha · 1.1 km from town
DirectionsPlaygrounds 3
Plus 3 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 Ballybay
The nearest towns of 1,000+ within 20 km, coloured by the share of the land within 5 km protected for nature.
CastleblayneyCootehillMonaghanBallybay
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballybay | 100% | 2.8 | 0.3 | 0% |
| Castleblayney 10 km | 67% | 1.9 | 1.0 | 0% |
| Cootehill 13 km | 100% | 3.4 | 0.4 | 0% |
| Monaghan 14 km | 86% | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0% |
None of the neighbours has many more of its people near a park than Ballybay.
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 Ballybay
What is the biggest park in Ballybay?
Ballybay Town Park, 2.8 ha (7 acres). 1 named park, garden or playing field is in the town or within 400 m of it.
How many people in Ballybay 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 Ballybay?
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 Ballybay near a National Park?
The nearest of Ireland’s six National Parks is Wicklow Mountains National Park, 104 km south of the town’s edge; it covers about 223 km².
What is there to do outdoors around Ballybay?
Within 2 km, OpenStreetMap maps 1 nature reserve; the named ones are listed under Things to do, with directions.
Sources
Where Ballybay’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).