Lose yourself in the landscape.

Sandymount Strand is just a short walk from the DART station via Sandymount Village. This strand is the location of ‘Cockle Lake’ in Ulysses, making it one of the most famous beaches in Irish fiction.

The strand stretches from Irishtown through Sandymount and Merrion and on to Booterstown. It’s great for walking but the water is too shallow to swim in near the shoreline.

You can also stroll along Sandymount Promenade, a 2.5 kilometre walkway along the coast from Gilford Avenue to Saint Alban’s Park. There is a Martello tower about halfway along the strand.

The Irishtown Nature Reserve and Sandymount Strand were formed after the building of the Great South Wall (also known as the South Bull Wall).

When it was finished in 1795, it was the longest sea wall in the world. If you walk from Sandymount Strand towards Poolbeg Power Station, you will come across this wall near the ESB station.

You can walk along it towards the sea and at the end is Poolbeg Lighthouse. A stroll in the opposite direction leads to Ringsend.

You can also park at the end of Pigeon House Road near the start of the wall and walk along it, which takes an estimated 40 minutes.

There is also the Poolbeg Lighthouse Slí na Sláinte, a 10.2 kilometre loop route beginning on Beach Road beside Sean Moore Park.

The route runs alongside Sandymount Strand, through Shelly Banks, the Irishtown Nature Reserve, out to Poolbeg Lighthouse and follows the same path back.

For information on this and other Slí na Sláinte (‘path to health’) routes, see irishheart.ie.

Apart from being a valued amenity for Dubliners, the strand attracts thousands of migrant birds and so makes a great location for bird watching.

The area is part of the Special Protection Area (SPA) of Dublin Bay and is home to a large number of winter wading birds and Brent Geese.

The adjoining Irishtown Nature Reserve was designed with a focus on habitat creation and nature conservation but is also a well-used amenity area.

Sandymount Green is a small triangular park in the village and dates to the early 1800s. Sit and read next to the bronze bust of poet WB Yeats or have a picnic on the green with tasty food from the local cafes.

The houses along the south side of the green are part of what was once Sandymount Castle.

To explore more in Sandymount click here.