Donadea Forest Park — Attraction in The Municipal District of Clane — Maynooth

The park itself is lovely. Nice walks and you can find quiet areas as you move further away from the lake. You pay €5 to park, card only. No coins accepted. Terrible potholes that need attending too so drive with care or risk damaging your car. The coffee shop sells very basic refreshments but could do with updating and only accepts cash. There are no bins anywhere in the park even beside the cafe or in the carpark. This is ridiculous, between take out coffee cups and people like myself with a dog this park really needs bins. The toilets are beyond a disgrace. Yet again on our visit yesterday Friday NYs eve, the main ladies toilets beside the cafe were padlocked shut. The park was very busy with lots of children and plenty of elderly around where exactly are they and the rest of us supposed to relieve ourselves? If a park has a cafe open selling beverages etc there should be an obligation to have the toilets open. There are two new toilets in the car park quite a walk from the main areas however these were filthy, the actual toilets themselves were very dirty and with rubbish left inside them including an overflowing bag full of litter in one, coffee cups dumped on the floor and other rubbish. The absolute stink that was coming from one of them in particular was just awful. The sheer foulness and lack of facilities would put me off returning...

The forest is beautiful any month of the year. Paths explore the entire woodlands. Entry fee €5 per car is good value. Cafe is fantastic. Opposite the Cafe is a giant american redwood, so you can punch away at its bark without concern fir your fist. The lake has many benches to rest a while. Try not to feed the wildlife stupidly and buy the appropriate wildlife food at the Cafe.

The monument to the Twin Towers and American donated Ash Tree plantation is a must visit. But be quiet as people like to sit in silence there. On a rare occasion, an RC Priest will appear with a group of followers and take over the spot. They don't ask for your permission. So visit the lake then or the house and walled garden. Mine you, the house was burned way back and is n a derelict condition. Finally, Coillte who are a Government owned management company, erected two toilets at the car park. They never worked, and I have never experienced them having a supply of toilet paper or soap, nor are they ever clean. So it's always a wonder to me how they can smell so bad. Use the cafe toilets instead or the cafe across the road from the main entrance...

Donadea is an example of the many forested parks across Ireland. Donadea is the site of a park run, if you're into that. The main route is nearly exactly 5k. We went on a Saturday, but later than the 5k itself. There is a castle ruins on the grounds that is fenced off in part. There are public restrooms at the parking (€5, card reader at the entrance), a small cafe/coffee stand which also has restrooms for services. There is an interesting and somber 9/11 memorial on the trail dedicated to first responders who lost their lives on the worst terrorist attack on the continental United States and a grove of Irish oaks for a hometown emmigrrant who lost his life on that day. I did not but take photos of these, I'm sure you can find them on other reviews. As an American (yes, that's what I consider myself) I felt it far more respectful to observe and feel the moment and the solidarity of the...