The National Parks Of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland covers an area of 70,273 square kilometers and the island as a whole, along with it’s many offshore islands, has a 1,448 kilometer coastline located along the Atlantic Ocean to it's west, the Irish Sea to it's east and north, the Celtic Sea to it's south, the North Channel to it's north and the Saint George's Channel to it's east.

The republic shares a 499 kilometer long, open border with Northern Ireland, a region of the United Kingdom, to it's north.

The country is home to six national parks, all of which are described below. 

  

  

BALLYCROY NATIONAL PARK

The Ballycroy National Park is located in County Mayo, covers an area of  110 square kilometers and was designated with national park status in 1998. 

The park consists of 11,779 hectares of mountains, loughs and blanket bogs which between them are home to vast areas of heathland, alpine heath and grassland.

The park has been designated with Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Natura 2000 status owing to the very diverse flora and fauna located there.

The park is home to the Owenduff and Tarsaghaun rivers, the Scardaun Loughs, the Nephin Beg Mountain Range and the Owenduff Bog, western Europe's largest expanse of active peatland at 117.79 square kilometres.   

The park's highest point is located at the peak of Slieve Carr at 721 meters high.

The park is also served by the villages of Bangor, Ballycroy, Mallaranny and Newport,  the 29 kilometer Bangor Trail walking path and a newly opened visitor centre located in Ballycroy.

ADDRESS - Lagduff More, Ballycroy, Westport, County Mayo. 

TELEPHONE - 098 499 96.

WEBSITE - www.ballycroynationalpark.ie.

 

CONNEMARA NATIONAL PARK 

The Connemara National Park is located in County Galway, covers an area of  30 square kilometers and was designated with national park status in 1990. 

The park consists of  three thousand hectares of blanket bog, heathland and grassland all of which is home to great swathes of purple moorgrass and woodland which are bordered by several quartzite peaks of over 700 meters high to it’s south east and the grounds of the nineteenth century former Benedictine monastery, Kylemore Abbey, to it’s north.

The park has become a haven for wildlife where it is home to several species of raptor and large herds of the area’s indigenous pony, the Connemara Pony. 

The park’s highest elevation is located on the peak of Diamond Hill at 442 meters high.

The park is served by several ancient settlements, megalithic tombs, a Victorian graveyard, four walking trails and a visitor centre which provides visitors with a café, playground and free car parking. 

ADDRESS – Letterfrack, County Galway.

TELEPHONE – 095 41054.

WEBSITE - www.connemaranationalpark.ie.

KYLEMORE ABBEY - www.kylemoreabbeytourism.ie.

GLENVEAGH NATIONAL PARK

The Glenveagh National Park is located in County Donegal, covers an area of 170 square kilometers and was designated with national park status in 1984.

The park consists of 16,000 hectares of remote mountain wilderness located in the Derryveagh Mountains of north west Ireland.

The park also covers great swathes of low lying grassland which borders the 2.61 kilometer Lough Veagh, a large lake which is fed by the waters of the Owenbeagh and Owencarrow rivers.

The park’s varied wildlife  also consists of Ireland’s largest red deer herd and an ever increasing community of golden eagles. 

The Derryveagh Mountain’s highest point is Errigal, a 750 meter high quartzite peak. 

The park is also served by the nineteenth century Glenveagh Castle and gardens, six walking trails and a visitor centre. 

  

ADDRESS – Churchhill, Letterkenny, County Donegal

TELEPHONE – 076 1002536.

WEBSITE - www.glenveaghnationalpark.ie.

 

 

KILLARNEY NATIONAL PARK

The Killarney National Park is located in County Kerry, covers an area of 105 square kilometers and was designated with national park status in 1932, making it Ireland's oldest national park.

The park consists of several thousand hectares of native oak woods, yew woods, bogland, heathland, lakes and islands, all of which nestle along the foothills of the one thousand meter high, McGillycuddy Reeks, Ireland’s highest mountain range.

The park is served by the Bourn Vincent Memorial Park, the nineteenth century Muckross House and gardens, the seventeenth century Ross Castle, the fifteenth century Muckross Abbey, the seventeenth century Dinis Cottage, Knockreer House, a twentieth century manor house which now contains the park’s education centre and Killarney House, which is not open to the public. 

The park provides it’s visitors with forty kilometers of roadways, seventy kilometers of walking trails, boat rides, pony trekking, mountain climbing and orienteering.

For the less energetic of us the park also provides four tea rooms, a restaurant, a craft shop, a garden centre, twenty four acres of landscaped gardens and a library.

ADDRESS – Muckross, Killarney, County Kerry.

TELEPHONE – 064 6631440.

WEBSITE -  www.killarneynationalpark.ie.

THE BURREN NATIONAL PARK

The Burren National Park is located in County Clare, covers an area of 15 square kilometers, making it Ireland's smallest national park, and was designated with national park status in 1991. 

The Burren is a ten thousand year old, two hundred meter high, limestone ridge which covers an area of over two hundred and fifty square kilometers of carboniferous limestone situated along Ireland’s west coast.

The area is home to Europe’s largest glacio-karst environment and it’s national park is a 1,500 hectare karst landscape of calcerous grassland, hazel and ash woodlands, lakes, springs, limestone cliffs and limestone pavement, which between them have become home to over seven hundred rare species of Ireland’s plantlife, which has led to the whole area becoming designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).

The park is also home to the villages of Glenquin, Knockaunroe, Cooloorta, Creehaun, Corofin and Killinaboy and provides visitors with five walking trails and a visitor centre.

ADDRESS – Clare Heritage Centre, Church Street, Corofin, County Clare.

TELEPHONE – 065 6827693.

WEBSITE - www.burrennationalpark.ie.

 

THE WICKLOW MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK 

The Wicklow Mountains National Park is located in County Wicklow, covers an area of 205 square kilometers, making it Ireland's largest national park, and was designated with national park status in 1991. 

The park, which consists of  over fifty thousand acres of blanket bog, woodland, grassland, heathland and exposed rocks and scree, is located on the west coast of Ireland just a few miles south of it’s capital city, Dublin.

The Wicklow Mountains themselves are a mix of granite and quartzite peaks, the highest of which is Lugnaquilla at 925 meters above sea level, which form part of the British Isles’ largest continuous area of granite rock.

The park is also home to Ireland’s highest waterfall, Powerscourt Waterfall, with a drop of  121 meters and the Avoca, Dargle, Liffey and Slaney rivers.

The area’s uplands are covered in both deciduous and coniferous forests which between them have been designated a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a Special Protection Area (SPA) owing to the area’s biodiversity. 

The park is also home to Glendalough, a two kilometer long valley located between two lakes which was once the home of a sixth century monastic village. The valley is home to several ancient monuments and historical sites from this period and is also served by it’s own visitor centre and several walking trails.

The park is also served by several small towns and villages, nine walking trails, various nature trails and a visitor centre.

ADDRESS – Kilafin, Laragh, Via Bray, County Wicklow.

TELEPHONE – 0761 002667. 

WEBSITE - www.wicklowmountainsnationalpark.ie.

GLENDALOUGH - www.glendalough.ie.