If you ever have the chance to go to Newfoundland, please go to Newfoundland. I could have spent weeks in every place we visited on this beautiful island. We had some great sunny weather, which I gather was somewhat unusual for the time of year, and some rainy weather that was also great. We met quite a few lovely people, though I wish we had time to meet and talk with more folks, and that is something I would prioritize if we come back. There is so much to see here, and we barely got an overview in our 10 days on island.

My overall observation is that Newfoundland is incredibly beautiful. Everywhere you turn, there is a different dramatic landscape to ooh and ahh over. Also, it is incredibly difficult to take pictures of. Because much of the scenery is relatively flat, or spread over such wide vistas, it all just looks like lots of hills and trees in pictures. Or hills and grass. So I’ll show you the pictures, but you have to take my word for it that they do it no justice whatsoever.

I love ferry rides, and going to and from Newfoundland provided a couple great, lengthy ferry rides. The ride to Port Aux Basques is only about 6 hours, but the ride back from Argentia is 16 hours, so we got a lovely night’s sleep in a cabin on a gently rocking boat (which is absolutely the best kind of sleep). Beautiful both ways. Also, fun fact, Newfoundland has its own time zone that is 30 minutes ahead of the rest of Atlantic Canada.

Our first adventure, the day after arriving, was a visit to Blow Me Down Provincial Park. We detoured here mostly because of the name, and climbed a bunch of stairs to a spectacular lookout then stuck our toes into a new-to-us side of the Gulf of St Lawrence. The Provincial Park employee who showed us the map filled us in on all our hiking options, and we ended up taking a hike to Cedar Cove where we could view the operation to dismantle and remove a large ship that wrecked there in February 2025. It was quite something! This was also the first of many really wonderful interactions with Provincial Park employees in Newfoundland. They make sure you slow down and take in the moment. I thought I was operating at a relaxed pace, but this fellow was absolutely going to tell me all the things about all the trails and he would do it when he was ready. I might sound sarcastic here, but I’m not– it really was one of my favorite things. Every interaction a reminder to slow down and really listen to what someone else is telling me.

From there, we traveled north to Gros Morne National Park. First, we visited the southern part of the park, where we were staying in Trout River Campground. This park is one of the most important geological sites anywhere. In the Tablelands, near Trout River, you can walk on the upper mantle of the earth. This is where plate tectonics was shown to be a viable theory. There are 5 distinct geological areas in the park and each one of them plays an important role in proving the theory of plate tectonics. There are glacier carved fjords in billion year old mountains (we’ll get to that!), Tablelands, limestone fossil beds, and so much more. This is such a varied and spectacular place. The wildest thing about hiking in the Tablelands is that it feels and looks like a desert — but then there’s water gushing through, and humidity in the air, and you drive just a couple minutes and are in a landscape that feels more like the Pacific Northwest. The rock (the mantle of the EARTH!) is red and bare because the minerals and metals in it are poisonous to most plants. It’s so cool.

These pictures were taken less than a 10 minute drive apart from one another…

From there, we headed to the northern part of the park, which is totally different again! Here, the Long Range Mountains are over a billion years old, and have worn down gradually and been carved by glaciers into deep fjords. Some of these fjords were later cut off from the ocean when the glaciers melted and the land rebounded enough to separate the fjords from the sea. We took a boat tour on Western Brook Pond, which was windy and beautiful and provided an incredible viewpoint from which to view this fjord. Highly recommend this experience. Then we camped that night at Shallow Bay Beach, where I jumped in the water to better enjoy the sunset.

Sadly, we had to leave Gros Morne the next day and had a long rainy drive toward Twillingate Island. This drive was probably the least interesting part of our time in Newfoundland, but Twillingate Island is very scenic. There’s a cool lighthouse that we were able to climb up in. It still has the original staircase, built of oak from England, and ladders, and a lovely view from the top. While we were there, the foghorn started sounding as the fog and rain thickened, but it was still lovely. We spent the rainy day enjoying treats from a couple of cafes, including “Twilly sodas” with house made partridgeberry and rhubarb syrups, and visiting the Great Auk Winery. This winery, like a couple others in Newfoundland, makes whines from local berries and fruits — specifically, partridgeberry (like a cranberry), crowberry (kind of like a blackberry that looks like a blueberry), bakeapple berry (like nothing else… its own unique thing), rhubarb, blueberry, dandelion, and more. We did a wine tasting and were surprised by the variety of flavor in these wines! Many of them tasted just like red or white wines made from grapes, while others tasted more like a sweet fruit wine.

That night, we made our way to Gander. Which I was mostly really excited about because I love Come From Away. We visited the North Atlantic Aviation Museum and slept in their parking lot, then visited the airport and its famous International Lounge, where there is another museum display about the history of this fascinating place. When we left town, we took a detour to visit the Dover Fault, where Nick and Diane fall in love in the musical (and real life! It’s a true story!). It was a really lovely view and as we looked at it and read a plaque about the Come From Away connection, someone came up after us and hesitatingly asked if we’d mind whether he played the song on his phone. It turns out he was the pianist for a production of Come From Away in Wisconsin this spring and had just flown into Gander to visit the real-life locations.

Heading south from Gander, we reached the Burin Peninsula in quite a lot of rain and fog. For most of the drive, we couldn’t see more than a few meters in any direction. We traveled slowly for fear of moose, but could just tell we were traveling through some lovely scenery. Luckily, we would be back this way in a few days’ time. But first… FRANCE!

Little did we know (until we started planning this part of the trip), that there is an island, St. Pierre, off the south coast of Newfoundland that is actually a part of France. Like, stamp your passport, check what you’re carrying, your cell phone thinks you’re in France, Euros only…. FRANCE. Also, like boulangeries full of croissants and bread and pastries… FRANCE.

So of course we went to France for a day. It was delicious.

From France, we traveled back up the Burin Peninsula– this time in a beautiful spot of sun– and saw how cool the scenery actually was. Then we headed up to the Bonavista Peninsula. We went right to the northern tip of the peninsula in hopes of seeing some puffins. We were a little late for most of them, but we saw a few of them hopping in and out of little holes in the greenery! Yet another set of beautiful and different scenery here as the rocky cliffs and coastline were quite dramatic in the evening sun. We made it to our campground in time for another sunset swim.

Before leaving the Bonavista Peninsula, we hiked the spectacular Skerwink Trail. This popular hiking trail is near the towns of Port Rexton and Trinity, and it has beautiful views at every turn. We lucked into another incredible day weather-wise, so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves (but remember, they’re nowhere near as beautiful as the real thing!).

From Bonavista, we headed to St John’s. Along the way, we passed some different scenery (again!) as we moved into more barren hilltops studded with rocks and ponds (as all lakes are called in Newfoundland). We got ourselves checked into our hostel in St John’s — in one of the iconic “jellybean houses” that make up much of the center of town — then went out to George Street where we caught some delightful music and ate cod bites. We spent most of the next day at The Rooms, a museum/gallery/cultural space/cafe that sits on the hill above St John’s. It has remarkable views and so much art and information! At night, we attended a parody karaoke show put on by a local improve group. The bar felt like a place we would definitely hang out if we lived here, and the event was a fun and local treat. We’re pretty sure we were the only ones there who weren’t local (and who didn’t know a performer). We laughed a lot and had a great time. Overall, St John’s was a small city, but very much still a city. It had it’s highlights and also quite a few bits that seemed like people here aren’t having the easiest time. Like any city, a bit of everything.

Our final days in Newfoundland were spent along the Irish Loop, south of St John’s, and making our way toward our ferry back to Nova Scotia. We visited Cape Speare, the easternmost point in North America, then headed south to the small towns and coastline of the Irish Loop. Many of the folks here still have strong Irish accents as this whole area was settled by folks who came across from Ireland generations ago then ended up staying. We met some people in our campground and got to talking and I asked where they were from (because they had such strong Irish accents), but it turned out they live right there and have for their whole lives. This was another area I’d really like to revisit– I’d like to spend time in each town and hike all the trails and watch the weather change.

So that’s Newfoundland! I miss it already. We are almost to the end of our Canada journey, so I’ll catch up on the last few days soon. Thanks for following along!