The Malahide to Portmarnock Coastal Walk

This is the walk people in Malahide do on a Sunday when the castle is too busy and the village is full of day-trippers. It runs south from the village along the coast to Portmarnock and the Velvet Strand, and it is about as gentle as a coastal walk gets: flat, mostly paved, with the estuary on one side and open water ahead.

Where it starts and how far it goes

Start at the Malahide seafront below the village, near the marina end of the Coast Road. From there you follow the coast south towards Portmarnock. Reckon on roughly 4 to 5km one way to reach the Velvet Strand proper, though you can stretch it well past that if you keep going along the beach. Fingal County Council lists the longer Portmarnock to Malahide coastal route at around 9 to 10km if you walk the full length and loop back via the station, so the distance depends entirely on how far down the strand you carry on.

The terrain is easy. For a good stretch you are on a paved pedestrian path beside the road; later you can drop down onto hard-packed sand. There is no real climbing involved. It suits buggies and most levels of walker, with the caveat that the beach sections are exposed and the wind off the Irish Sea can be sharp even in summer. Bring a layer.

The estuary and the seafront

The first part of the walk hugs the Broadmeadow estuary, the wide tidal inlet that separates Malahide from Donabate across the water. At low tide it drains to mudflats and sandbanks that pull in wading birds; at high tide it fills and the whole thing reads as open water. The railway viaduct crosses the estuary mouth to the north, and on a clear day you get the long view out towards Lambay Island and the bulk of Howth Head to the south.

This is a working stretch of coast rather than a wilderness one. You pass houses, the odd bench, dog walkers, and joggers. That is part of its character: it is a walk locals fold into an ordinary day, not a destination hike.

The Velvet Strand

The payoff is the Velvet Strand at Portmarnock, a long, flat beach of fine, firm sand that runs for a couple of miles. The name comes from the texture of the sand, which is unusually smooth and tightly packed. It is wide enough that even on a busy bank holiday it rarely feels crowded, and firm enough underfoot to walk a long way without sinking.

The strand has a place in aviation history too: it was the take-off point for the first east-to-west transatlantic flight from Europe to North America in 1928. There is a small commemorative marker. Mostly, though, people come to walk, swim in summer, or just sit and look at the water.

The Martello towers

Along the route you pass the squat, round Martello towers built in the early 1800s to watch for a Napoleonic invasion that never came. There is one near Robswall, on the high ground between Malahide and Portmarnock, and another down by the strand. They are not generally open to the public, but they are good landmarks and a reminder that this quiet bit of coast was once considered a likely landing spot for the French.

Getting back without doubling back

The neat trick with this walk is that you do not have to retrace your steps. Portmarnock has its own DART station, one stop south of Malahide on the Northern Line. Walk out to the Velvet Strand, then cut inland to Portmarnock station and take the DART one stop back to Malahide, or onward into the city. It turns a there-and-back slog into a clean one-way route.

Check the DART times before you set off, as off-peak gaps can run to 20 or 30 minutes. A Leap Card fare for the single stop is cheap; confirm the current price as fares change.

Practical notes

There are no facilities for long stretches of the walk, so use the toilets and cafes in Malahide village before you start. Bring water in summer. The beach sections have no shade. Dogs are fine on the path and most of the strand, though seasonal restrictions can apply on parts of Portmarnock beach in high summer, so check local signage. Allow an hour and a half to two hours at an easy pace for the one-way version, more if you stop at the strand.