Seven hundred hectares, twice the size of Central Park, with a herd of fallow deer that has been there since the 1660s and the President's house in the middle.
The scale
707 hectares inside an 11-kilometre wall, which makes it one of the largest enclosed urban parks in Europe — roughly twice Central Park and about five times Hyde Park. It was enclosed as a royal deer park in 1662 and opened to the public in 1747.
The name has nothing to do with a phoenix. It is an anglicisation of fionn uisce, clear water, after a spring.
The deer
Around four to six hundred fallow deer, descended from the herd introduced in the 1660s, roaming free across the open grassland. They are genuinely wild and they are genuinely used to people, which is a bad combination that visitors keep testing.
Do not feed them and do not approach them. Feeding by visitors has caused documented harm — deer congregating at roadsides get hit by cars, and human food damages their digestion. In the autumn rut the bucks are dangerous and in June the does with fawns are worse. Fifty metres is the guidance and it is not excessive.
Early morning and dusk are when they are most visible, usually on the Fifteen Acres, the large open grassland in the middle.
What is in the park
Dublin Zoo, one of the oldest in the world, opened 1831. Substantially rebuilt over the last two decades into habitat-based enclosures, and its African Savanna and Asian Forests sections are genuinely good. It is ticketed and it is the busiest thing in the park.
Áras an Uachtaráin, the President’s residence, built 1751. Free guided tours run on Saturdays, first come first served, from the Phoenix Park Visitor Centre. Tickets go early.
The Papal Cross, a 35-metre steel cross erected for the 1979 papal Mass, at which 1.25 million people attended — over a quarter of the population of the island at the time.
Ashtown Castle, a fifteenth-century tower house found inside the walls of a later building when it was demolished in the 1980s.
The Wellington Testimonial, a 62-metre obelisk, the tallest in Europe. Wellington was born in Dublin and preferred not to dwell on it.
Farmleigh, a Guinness house at the north-west corner, now a state guesthouse with free access to the grounds and the gallery.
The US Ambassador’s residence is also in the park, which is why parts of it are fenced.
Practical
Free and always open, though the vehicle gates close at night.
Cycling is the sensible way to cover it. Bike hire operates at the Parkgate Street entrance in season, and Dublinbikes stations are nearby.
The main road through it carries real traffic and has a 50km/h limit that is enforced by camera because of the deer.
The Phoenix Park Visitor Centre has the Áras tickets, a café and the tower house.
