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Phoenix Park: the monument, the cross and the deer

Europe's great enclosed park — the obelisk, the Papal Cross, a herd of wild fallow deer.

Photo: Marathon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Drafted by Claude — the editor hasn’t walked this one yet. We’ll update this notice once it’s been verified on the ground.

Distance

6.5 km

Time

~ 130 min

Difficulty

Strenuous

Start

Heuston (Luas Red Line) + Parkgate Street entrance

End

Phoenix Park / Castleknock Gate (Dublin Bus 37)

Best at

morning

Right now

20°C· Clear

Open in Maps for turn-by-turn, or take it offline as GPX.

Phoenix Park is the largest enclosed urban park in any European capital, and it wears its size lightly: seven hundred-odd hectares of grassland and old oaks where a working president, a zoo, an ancient deer herd and a steel cross the height of a building all share the same wide sky. Do it in the morning, on legs that don't mind a long flat walk.

Start at the Parkgate Street end, under the Wellington Monument — the tallest obelisk in Europe, its base cast from captured cannon. Walk west past the People's Flower Gardens and the zoo's edge, then out along the main avenue, where the Áras (the President's house) sits white behind its railings. Push on to the open grass of the Fifteen Acres for the Papal Cross, stark on the green, and the fallow deer that have grazed here since the 1660s — keep your distance and let them ignore you.

The turn comes at the Magazine Fort, the star-shaped powder store on the bluff above the Liffey. Climb up for the river view, then drop to the Castleknock or Chapelizod gate and the bus back into town.

The route

On the map.

A soft dashed line, numbered stops. It’s a suggestion, not a turn-by-turn.

Elevation

↑ 65 m·↓ 53 m·15–49 m ASL

Stops along the way

Things to notice.

01
1
Wellington Monument
Start at the great obelisk just inside the Parkgate Street end — at over sixty metres, the tallest of its kind in Europe, built for the Dublin-born duke. The bronze panels around the base were cast from captured French cannon. Sit on the steps a minute; the whole park opens west from here.
01
Wellington Monument
Start at the great obelisk just inside the Parkgate Street end — at over sixty metres, the tallest of its kind in Europe, built for the Dublin-born duke. The bronze panels around the base were cast from captured French cannon. Sit on the steps a minute; the whole park opens west from here.
02
2
Dublin Zoo edge and the People's Flower Gardens
The zoo's boundary and the formal Victorian flower gardens sit on the park's eastern shoulder. You don't have to pay in; the gardens with their lake and bandstand are free and quiet on a weekday morning. A gentle warm-up before the long straight.
02
Dublin Zoo edge and the People's Flower Gardens
The zoo's boundary and the formal Victorian flower gardens sit on the park's eastern shoulder. You don't have to pay in; the gardens with their lake and bandstand are free and quiet on a weekday morning. A gentle warm-up before the long straight.
03
3
Áras an Uachtaráin
The President's house — the Áras (pronounced 'AW-rass') — sits behind railings on the north side of the main road, a white Georgian lodge that was once the Viceregal Lodge. Free Saturday tours run from the visitor centre if you book; otherwise the view through the gates is the thing.
03
Áras an Uachtaráin
The President's house — the Áras (pronounced 'AW-rass') — sits behind railings on the north side of the main road, a white Georgian lodge that was once the Viceregal Lodge. Free Saturday tours run from the visitor centre if you book; otherwise the view through the gates is the thing.
04
4
Papal Cross
A plain steel cross thirty-five metres high, raised on the Fifteen Acres for the 1979 papal Mass that drew over a million people — more than a quarter of the country. It looks stark and a little lonely on the open grass now, which is exactly why it's worth the walk out.
04
Papal Cross
A plain steel cross thirty-five metres high, raised on the Fifteen Acres for the 1979 papal Mass that drew over a million people — more than a quarter of the country. It looks stark and a little lonely on the open grass now, which is exactly why it's worth the walk out.
05
5
The fallow deer of the Fifteen Acres
A herd of wild fallow deer has grazed these open grasslands since the 1660s. They cluster on the Fifteen Acres and the Furze; keep your distance, especially in the autumn rut and the spring when fawns are hidden in the bracken. Don't feed them — it's the one rule the rangers actually enforce.
05
The fallow deer of the Fifteen Acres
A herd of wild fallow deer has grazed these open grasslands since the 1660s. They cluster on the Fifteen Acres and the Furze; keep your distance, especially in the autumn rut and the spring when fawns are hidden in the bracken. Don't feed them — it's the one rule the rangers actually enforce.
06
6
Magazine Fort, Thomas's Hill
The star-shaped powder fort on the bluff above the Liffey, built in the 1730s and raided for its arms in 1916 and again in 1939. Long derelict, slowly being conserved. Climb to it for the southward view over the river valley, then drop to the Chapelizod or Castleknock gate for the bus back.
06
Magazine Fort, Thomas's Hill
The star-shaped powder fort on the bluff above the Liffey, built in the 1730s and raided for its arms in 1916 and again in 1939. Long derelict, slowly being conserved. Climb to it for the southward view over the river valley, then drop to the Chapelizod or Castleknock gate for the bus back.

Phoenix Park: the monument, the cross and the deer

On the map.

Things to notice.

Wellington Monument

Wellington Monument

Dublin Zoo edge and the People's Flower Gardens

Dublin Zoo edge and the People's Flower Gardens

Áras an Uachtaráin

Áras an Uachtaráin

Papal Cross

Papal Cross

The fallow deer of the Fifteen Acres

The fallow deer of the Fifteen Acres

Magazine Fort, Thomas's Hill

Magazine Fort, Thomas's Hill

Two more, on similar days.

Kilmainham and the IMMA

Christ Church and medieval Dublin