Very little on this list is a park in the municipal sense. It runs heavily to the north-west, into Erris and the bog country of Wild Nephin National Park, 15,000 hectares of Atlantic blanket bog carrying Ireland’s first gold-tier Dark Sky designation. Owenduff Bog spreads across its western side with no trails crossing it at all, though the Claggan boardwalk gives an easy look and the Bangor Trail skirts the edge. Further out again, Broadhaven Bay and the Stags off Benwee Head are coast rather than parkland: the bay is a Special Area of Conservation where all five EU-protected marine mammals are regularly recorded, and the Stags can only be reached by water.
Closer to Clew Bay there are two small oakwoods. Brackloon, six kilometres south of Westport on the eastern slopes of Croagh Patrick, has a 2.8 km loop along the Owenwee River through trees up to 200 years old. Old Head Wood near Louisburgh is muddier and more informal, with no facilities, worth the walk mainly for its hundred-odd species of moss and liverwort.
For a flat, easy hour, McMahon Park at Claremorris is the one with a surfaced loop, a playground and fishing jetties round Clare Lake. The Foxford Way and the open bog walks are a different proposition: exposed, unshaded, and best kept for the drier months.
One of the last Atlantic oakwoods in the west, 74 hectares on the slopes of Croagh Patrick with an easy 2.8 km river loop.
A Special Area of Conservation in the far north-west where all five EU-protected marine mammals are regularly recorded, guarded by the 1855 Ballyglass lighthouse.
An 86 km waymarked trail whose 33 km day loop is a hard seven-to-nine-hour circuit of bog, mountain track and country lane.
The most straightforward visit on the list, a flat wheelchair-friendly loop round Clare Lake with a sculpture trail, playground and six fishing jetties.
Both an 806 m mountain west of Lough Conn and Ireland's first gold-tier Dark Sky Park, at its best on a clear moonless night.
15 of 15 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Westport, mayo
Brackloon is one of the last remnants of Atlantic oakwood in the west of Ireland – 74 hectares of native oak on the eastern slopes of Croagh Patrick, six kilometres south of Westport. An easy 2.8 km loop follows the Owenwee River through trees up to 200 years old, past the archaeology of much older settlement.
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Broadhaven Bay is a wide Atlantic inlet in the far north-west of County Mayo, and one of the few places in Ireland where all five EU-protected marine mammals – bottlenose dolphin, harbour porpoise, grey seal, common seal and otter – are regularly recorded. The bay is a Special Area of Conservation, guarded by the 1855 Ballyglass lighthouse and the seabird-covered Stags of Broadhaven off Benwee Head.
Foxford, mayo
The Foxford Way is an 86km waymarked trail looping around Foxford in County Mayo. Few walk the whole thing; most do the 33km day loop from the playground car park, a hard seven-to-nine-hour circuit of bog, mountain track and country lane past ring forts and early-Christian crosses. It is free, exposed, and best kept for the drier months.
Claremorris, mayo
McMahon Park, known locally as Clare Lake, is a nine-acre park on the southern edge of Claremorris, built by a local committee on land gifted by the Mahon family of Brookhill from 1989. A flat, wheelchair-friendly path loops the lake past a 'Land of the Giants' sculpture trail, a playground and six fishing jetties, with ducks, swans and geese on the water year-round.
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Nephin is two places under one name: an 806 m mountain west of Lough Conn, and Wild Nephin National Park, 15,000 hectares of blanket bog and the lonely Nephin Beg range. It was Ireland's first gold-tier Dark Sky Park, and on a clear moonless night the stars are the reason to come.
Off Benwee Head, mayo
The Stags of Broadhaven rise nearly 100 metres from the Atlantic, forming a remote archipelago accessible only by water. Kayakers and divers navigate the natural tunnels and sheltered coves, while the islands' SPA status protects Ireland's only breeding colony of Leach's storm petrels.
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Wild Nephin National Park spans 15,000 hectares of Atlantic blanket bog, remote mountains and wild coast in north-west Mayo. Most of it is serious hillwalking country, but two accessible boardwalks and a Gold-Tier dark-sky designation make it rewarding for casual visitors too. Entry is free.
Off the coast of Achill Island, mayo
Tourmakeady, mayo
Belmullet, mayo
Clew Bay, mayo
Wild Nephin National Park, mayo
North Mayo, mayo
Mulranny, mayo
Mayo, mayo
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