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County Galway

Lough Rea

Loch Riach

Lough Rea covers 3.0 km² with 9.1 km of shore in County Galway, 780 m east of Loughrea.

Getting to the water

A public road or path on the map comes within 2 m of the shore, along about 1.3 km of it, and there are 3 more stretches like it elsewhere on the shore. That is what the map contains. It is not a statement that the public may walk there, because OpenStreetMap does not record permission, and nobody has checked this lake against its owner.

3.0 km²
of water
9.1 km
of shore
4
stretches of shore a way reaches
Area
3.0 km² measured from the mapped outline
Shore
9.1 km around the outline
County
County Galway
In Irish
Loch Riach
Public access
A public way reaches the shoreMeasured from the map, not from a statement of permission
On the map
OpenStreetMap record
Aerial view over Loughrea town toward lake
Aerial view over Loughrea town toward lake·Anthony2285, public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Aerial view over Loughrea town toward lake·Anthony2285, public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Where it is

The pin sits from the main access point on the shore, and every distance on this page is measured from that same point. The other pins are the nearest lakes in County Galway.

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Parking, viewpoints and stops

Everything here is measured from the main access point on the shore. A viewpoint is a place that looks at the lake, which is not the same as a place on it.

Parking

Playground Car Park is 20 m away, and the walk from it to the shore is 70 m along mapped paths. The map records it as free.

Viewpoints

None mapped within 2.5 km.

Nearest stops
  • Loughrea830 m
  • Loughrea930 m

Getting to Lough Rea

Your journey, your way

Let’s get you to Lough Rea.

Choose where you are starting. We’ll work out the rest.

Going toLough ReaDestination: the shore access point
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Nearby starting points
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3 When are you going?

All times are local to Ireland. Scheduled services, without live delay updates.

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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

Lough Rea is in Loughrea, County Galway. Routes here end at the stretch of shore a public way reaches, which this site measured on the ground. A car park is recorded 70 m from the water, about 1 minutes on foot.

Loughrea is the nearest settlement, 780 m east of the lake. Arriving in Loughrea is not arriving at the water, so the journeys below are worked out to the water and say so when they cannot reach it.
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Stops near it

The nearest scheduled stop is Ashlawn (13690), 460 m away in a straight line. Use the planner to check walking connections for your journey.

  • Ashlawn 460 m
    bus 920
    Scheduled departures from this stop
  • Athenry Road 480 m
    bus 439
    Scheduled departures from this stop
  • Loughrea SC 500 m
    bus 920
    Scheduled departures from this stop
  • Barrack Street 740 m
    bus 934
    Scheduled departures from this stop
  • Loughrea 820 m
    buses 920, 763 and 844
    Scheduled departures from this stop

Getting to Loughrea covers the journeys into the town itself.

The nearest other lakes

Ordered by distance from the main access point on the shore, in a straight line, which is the same point and the same measure as the figures beside them.

Questions people ask

Can you walk to Lough Rea?
A public road or path comes within 2 m of the shore, along about 1.3 km of it. That is what the map shows; it is not a statement of permission, which the map does not record.
How big is Lough Rea?
3.0 km², with 9.1 km of shore, measured from the outline OpenStreetMap holds.
Where can you park for Lough Rea?
Playground Car Park is 20 m away, and the walk from it to the shore is 70 m along mapped paths.
How do you get to Lough Rea without a car?
The nearest stop in the national timetable is Ashlawn, 460 m from the main access point on the shore in a straight line, and bus 920 call there, run by Healy Bus. The planner on this page works out the walk from that stop, and where no footway joins it to the water it says so rather than making a number up.

Where this comes from

The lake itself
The outline, the name and the identifiers are OpenStreetMap records. Correct it there Figures marked Wikidata come from Q24196547.
What this site measured
The area and the shore are worked out from that outline. The stretches of shore a way reaches, the walk in from a car park and every distance on this page are worked out here, on this site’s own graph of the OpenStreetMap ways, last built on 2026-09-20. These are this site’s calculations, not the map’s, and a mistake in them is a mistake here.