Park · Barna

Barna Woods

Three miles from Eyre Square the houses stop and a broadleaf wood begins. Barna Woods runs from Cappagh Park in Knocknacarra down to the coast road, and across the road the South Wood leads through marsh to the Silver Strand, Trá na gCeann, on the bay. The city council owns it and it is managed as part of the Galway Bay Complex, a Special Area of Conservation.

Checked against the source on 2026-09-19.

Barna Woods At the end of the woodland path you enter playing fields.
Trish Steel, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Cappagh Park, Cappagh Playground, Silver Strand, Aunteen Woods, Uncleen Woods on the 3D model; tap a pin for its page and directions.

Ways in

You can enter from Cappagh Park, which connects straight into the wood, or from the small car park on the Barna Road, the R336 coast road. The wood is open to the public and the paths link the park, the trees and the beach.

After Éowyn

In January nearly a hundred trees came down in Storm Éowyn and the wood stayed closed for more than four months while it was made safe. The city council had some of the fallen trunks carved with chainsaws into sculptures, an owl, an otter chasing a fish and a fairy house among them. The model on this page pins the woods, the park, the playground and the strand.

Questions people ask

Where do you park for Barna Woods?

At the small car park on the Barna Road, the R336, or at Cappagh Park in Knocknacarra, which connects into the wood.

Can you walk from Barna Woods to the beach?

Yes; the South Wood across the coast road leads through marshland to the Silver Strand.

Written from Wikipedia, "Barna Woods" (CC BY-SA 4.0), read on 2026-09-19, and from the OpenStreetMap places on the model. Nothing has been added from memory; follow the source for its footnotes.