Overview
Killinthomas Wood won the Tidy Towns national award for wildlife conservation in 2001, which isn’t a line many forests can claim. It covers 70 hectares (200 acres) of mixed conifer and broadleaf woodland 2 km north of Rathangan in County Kildare, close enough to the Dublin commuter belt to be an easy escape from it. Coillte runs it: free entry, free parking at the trailhead and five easy loops adding up to about 10 km. If you come only once, make it a weekday in late April or early May, when the woodland floor turns blue.
A name worth arguing over
The Irish name, Coillín Tomáis, means ‘Thomas’s little wood’ – but which Thomas is a matter of local debate. The likeliest candidates are FitzThomas, the first of the FitzGerald Earls of Kildare, and Silken Thomas, the descendant later executed for treason. Either way the name stayed with the FitzGeralds, who held Rathangan for centuries.
Walking the trails
Five colour-coded loops radiate from the car park, roughly 10 km in total and all graded easy. Families and casual walkers will manage every one, and the flatter stretches take a pram.
- Camp Walk (yellow) – 1.3 km. A quick circuit for young children or a short break.
- Fr Doyle’s Walk (purple) – 1.7 km. A slightly longer loop through mixed planting.
- Hazel Loop (blue) – 2.3 km. Denser undergrowth and older broadleaf sections.
- Ballydermot / Killyguise Loop (red) – 4.1 km. The longest, and the one for a proper leg-stretch.
- Bluebell Walk (light blue) – a short linear trail on the most level ground, laid out through the spring flora.
Off one of the paths stand the decaying remains of a turf camp – an old dining hall, dormitories and a boiler room, slowly being taken back by the trees. Picnic tables and benches are dotted along the routes, which are well signposted and all return to the car park, so navigation looks after itself.
The bluebells, and the rest of the year
Late April and early May are why most people come: a dense carpet of bluebells across the woodland floor. The Bluebell Walk is laid out for exactly this. Come on a weekday morning if you can, because the car park is small and fills fast on spring weekends. Early May also brings the annual Bluebells & Buskers event, which pairs the flowers with live music through the trees.
The wood changes with the seasons – cool and shaded in summer, gold in autumn, bare and quiet under low winter light, which is the photographer’s season. Coillte asks visitors to keep an eye out for the wood’s varied flora and fauna along the way.
Practical information
- Getting there: the direct route is the L3001 from Rathangan, with the forest lay-by and trailhead on your right. From Dublin or the south, take the N7 or N80 to Rathangan. By public transport, take the train from Dublin Heuston to Kildare (about 50 minutes), change to a Bus Éireann service to Rathangan, then walk 15–20 minutes along the Woodlands road.
- Parking and entry: parking is free, at the trailhead entrance rather than in the middle of the wood. The car park is small, so arrive early on spring weekends. Entry is free.
- Facilities: there’s a car park and picnic site and little else, so don’t count on finding toilets – plan ahead.
- Accessibility: the loops are graded easy, but the woodland surface has roots and soft ground in places and isn’t guaranteed wheelchair-friendly. The short Bluebell Walk is the most level option.
- Nearby: for a fuller day, pair it with Donadea Forest Park, another Coillte wood a short drive away with a lake and castle ruins. Coillte’s Killinthomas page has a downloadable trail map.
Wear footwear with grip, especially after rain, when the clay turns slippery – and for the bluebells, a weekday morning gives you the best light and the fewest people.