County Dublin

Forty Foot Bathing Place

Forty Foot Bathing Place is one of the waters the EPA tests and grades in County Dublin, 1.3 km north of Dalkey. The Environmental Protection Agency classified it excellent for water quality for the 2025 season. The register records toilets, parking, bins, a lifebuoy and first aid.

Excellent

water quality, 2025

Blue Flag

lifeguard

1.3 km

from Dalkey

Water quality: Excellent, 2025
Seasons before: 2024 Excellent, 2023 Excellent, 2022 Excellent
Water testing: Tested by the EPA sampled through the season and given a water quality grade
Season restriction: None in place
Pollution after rain: Prone to short term pollution, closed 4 days last season
Awards: None
County: County Dublin
Managed by: Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
Nearest town: Dalkey, 1.3 km north of it, in a straight line
From that town: 1.6 km by road, about 3 min drivingor 1.6 km on foot, about 20 minutes at 4.8 km/h
Lifeguard: No
Toilets: Public Toilet within 100 metres.
Parking: Limited on street pay and display parking.
Access: No
Dogs: No
Cars on the beach: No
Public transport: Sandycove and Glasthule Dart Station Nearby
First aid: Defibrillator at adjacent Sandycove Beach Lifeguard Hut
Protected area: Recorded as a natural sensitive area
Position: 53.2895° N, 6.1140° W
Record changed: 2026-03-31

No openly licensed photograph of Forty Foot Bathing Place was found on Wikimedia Commons. Rather than show a picture of somewhere else, this page shows none.

What the EPA says about it

The Forty Foot, a historic bathing pool on a promontory on the southern tip of Dublin Bay, is a short walk from the James Joyce Tower, Sandycove. It used to be a male only swimming spot but today both men and women enjoy a swim here. The character of Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's Ulysses takes a dip in the Forty Foot. People have been swimming here for the past 250 years.

Forty Foot Bathing Place is classified as achieving Excellent Water Quality in 2025 based on the assessment of bacteriological results for the period 2022 to 2025. Forty Foot Bathing Place has achieved an Excellent Water Quality rating for the four consecutive years 2022 to 2025. Annual water quality ratings are generally calculated using monitoring results over a four-year period and are assessed against stringent bacterial limits to protect bather health.

The EPA’s own beach profile

Where it is

Forty Foot Bathing Place, and the other places to swim in County Dublin. Share your position and the map will show how far each one is from you.

Getting to Forty Foot Bathing Place

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About these directions

Public transport times come from National Transport Authority. Timetables cover 2026-09-18 to 2027-09-19. These are scheduled services; check with the operator for cancellations and changes before travelling.

Walking and driving times are estimates. A town search starts at its centre; choose your location or a point on the map for a more precise starting point. Eircode search is not available.

How journey planning works

Destination, access and nearby stops

Forty Foot Bathing Place is in Dalkey, County Dublin. Routes here end at the point the map records for this place. The entrance has not been verified, so the last few metres are for you to judge.

The nearest settlement is Dalkey, 1.3 km north of the beach. The register records parking here. Getting to the town is not getting to the beach, so the journey below is worked out to the beach itself and the last stretch on foot is measured rather than left out.

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Stops near it

The nearest scheduled stop is Elton Park (3052), 410 m away in a straight line. Use the planner to check walking connections for your journey.

Elton Park 410 m
buses 59, 111, 7n and 7D
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Sandycove Road 430 m
buses 59, 111 and 7D
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Breffni Road 470 m
buses 59, 111 and 7D
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Brudett Avenue 530 m
buses 59, 111 and 7D
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day
Glasthule 620 m
buses 59, 111, 7n and 7D
Scheduled departures from this stop
Day

Getting to Dalkey covers the journeys into the town itself.

Other places to swim in County Dublin

Questions people ask

Is the water clean at Forty Foot Bathing Place?

The EPA classified it Excellent for the 2025 season, which is worked out from four years of samples. Forty Foot Bathing Place is classified as achieving Excellent Water Quality in 2025 based on the assessment of bacteriological results for the period 2022 to 2025. Forty Foot Bathing Place has achieved an Excellent Water Quality rating for the four consecutive years 2022 to 2025. Annual water quality ratings are generally calculated using monitoring results over a four-year period and are assessed against stringent bacterial limits to protect bather health. A classification is a record of seasons that have finished; it is not a reading of the water today.

Is swimming restricted at Forty Foot Bathing Place?

The register records no season-long restriction. That is about the season, not about today: a short notice after heavy rain would not appear here, and this water is recorded as prone to short term pollution. Check with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council before swimming.

Does Forty Foot Bathing Place have a Blue Flag?

No. A beach without one can still have excellent water: the Blue Flag also asks for facilities, lifeguards and information boards, which a quiet strand may not have.

Is there a lifeguard at Forty Foot Bathing Place?

No. The register records no lifeguard here, so nobody is watching the water.

How do you get to Forty Foot Bathing Place without a car?

The nearest stop in the national timetable is Elton Park, 410 metres from the beach in a straight line, and buses 59, 111, 7n and 7D call there, run by Go-Ahead Ireland and Nitelink, Dublin Bus. The planner on this page works out the walk from that stop over real footways, and the whole journey from wherever you are starting, for the day and time you pick. Where no footway joins the stop to the beach it says so rather than making a number up.

Where does this come from?

The Environmental Protection Agency's list of places people swim, which it calls the bathing water register, read on 2026-09-20, where this record was last changed on 2026-03-31. Water quality, awards, lifeguards and facilities are the EPA's own fields, and a field it leaves blank is shown as not recorded rather than as a no. The distance to the nearest town is this site's own measurement, in a straight line.

Water quality, awards, lifeguards, toilets, parking and access are the Environmental Protection Agency’s own fields, from its bathing water register, read 2026-09-20. The classification covers four years of sampling and is not a reading for today: after heavy rain the water can be worse than the classification suggests, and the EPA and the local authority post notices when it is. Positions are the EPA’s grid references, projected to latitude and longitude. Journeys are the National Transport Authority’s published timetable.

Beaches and bathing waters in Ireland·Beaches in County Dublin