There are a lot of awesome places to visit in Newfoundland and Labrador – and they run the gamut. The easternmost province in Canada has a quaint city, charming small towns, and enough nature to knock your socks off.
I’m a Canadian who loves Newfoundland. In this article, I dish the best places in the province you shouldn’t miss.
And while you’re here – bookmark my guide to where to stay in St. John’s for later!
Best Places to Visit in Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John’s
The province’s capital city and one of the oldest cities on the continent.
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best St. John’s City Tour | 🛏️ Favorite St. John’s Hotel The Jag Hotel
St. John’s is the province’s capital city and hub of Newfoundland. It’s one of the oldest cities on the continent and is the definition of quaint. It’s said the city was founded as fishing grounds as early as 1497 but wasn’t an official settlement until later in the 1600s.
There are a ton of great things to do in St. John’s – I recommend getting Screeched In at Christian’s Pub, checking out the pubs on Water Street and George Street, climbing to Signal Hill and Cabot Tower, visiting the Battery, and eating your bodyweight in seafood.
👉 Fancy a tour? I love taking guided walking tours to really get my bearings and learn the history of a place. This 2.5-hour St. John’s walking tour is highly rated and great for a city overview.
Gros Morne National Park
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Nearby Hotel: Wildflowers Country Inn
Did you know Canada has fjords? It does, and you can find them at Gros Morne National Park.
Gros Morne is located on the west coast of Newfoundland and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Here, you’ll find towering mountains, behemoth fjords, forests, cliffs, beaches, and more.
While here, I recommend hiking Gros Morne Mountain, hiking the Tablelands, taking the fjord tour, and checking out the Discovery Center.
🚗 Need a car? Renting a car is the best way to get around Newfoundland and Labrador. I recommend starting your search on Discover Cars – they stack up the competition so you can get the best vehicle for your needs.
Terra Nova National Park
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps
You can find Terra Nova National Park on the northeastern coast of Newfoundland in Bonavista Bay. The park may not be as dramatic as Gros Morne, but it’s special in that it’s a designated Dark Sky Preserve.
A cozy night of stargazing? Sign me up!
Another fun thing to do in Terra Nova National Park is hiking – the Malady Head Trail, Mill Cove Lookout Trail, and the Goowiddy Path are especially worth the treks.
Elliston Puffin Site
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Nearby Hotel: Russelltown Inn
Elliston Puffin Site is located on the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula. This site offers one of the best places to view puffins in Newfoundland.
In fact, it’s here that you’ll find the closest view of puffins in North America – you can actually get right up to them (within reason, of course). Don’t forget your camera when you visit!
Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Cape Spear Tour: Historic St. John’s Newfoundland and Cape Spear Tour
Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site is located just 12 km from St. John’s and is great for a quick trip or a whole day. The historic site includes the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador plus an old fortress.
Famously, Cape Spear is the easternmost point in Canada. There is a stone where you can take a photo and celebrate being among the first to see the sunrise in North America every morning.
There are also lots of hiking trails at Cape Spear, including the Cape Spear Path (8.7km).
Gander
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Hotel in Gander: Comfort Inn – Gander
Located in northeast Newfoundland, the town of Gander is famous for hosting nearly 7000 visitors on the day of September 11, 2001. After the 9/11 attacks, US airspace was closed and 38 commercial planes as well as military aircraft were diverted to Gander International Airport.
The Broadway musical “Come From Away” depicts these events.
Attractions in Gander include the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, the Silent Witnesses Memorial, the Gander Golf Club, and more.
Dildo
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Dildo Hotel: Dildo Boathouse Inn
Did you know that Jimmy Kimmel is the honorary mayor of Dildo, Newfoundland? It’s true. There’s also a giant Hollywood-esque sign depicting the town’s unique moniker.
Safe to say, there’s a lot going on in Dildo despite only having 1200 residents.
While here, visit Dildo Brewing Co. & Museum, walk around the harbor, and grab a bite to eat. Oh, and take a selfie with the giant Dildo sign.
Witless Bay Ecological Reserve
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Witless Bay Puffin Tour: Newfoundland Puffin and Whale Watch Cruise
Witless Bay Ecological Reserve is about 30 minutes from St. John’s and makes for a great day trip. There is a lot of wildlife in Witless Bay (including whales!), but famously, the reserve plays host to puffins from roughly May through September.
The reserve comprises four islands, Gull Island, Green Island, Great Island, and Pee Pee Island. You can’t actually get to these islands yourself, so I recommend taking a guided tour to the islands to see the puffins and other wildlife.
👉 Fancy a tour? Taking a guided tour is the best way to see puffins in Witless Bay. This Newfoundland Puffin and Whale Watch Cruise is the most highly-rated option!
Bell Island
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps
Located off the Avalon Peninsula in Conception Bay, Bell Island is the largest island in the area and is home to roughly 3000 people.
But it’s not the landscapes or the people that generally draw tourists to Bell Island – it’s something called the Bell Island Boom.
According to the Newfoundland Herald, it was a Sunday morning in 1978 when Bell Island heard a loud, earth-shattering boom. It sounded like lightning – but also not lightning. The sound was sharp and quick and residents of the island were immediately dumbfounded as to what the noise could have been.
All, that is, except 12-year-old Darrin Bickford.
Darren was out riding his bike when he saw a flash of light and then the boom.
He said, “I was outside riding my pedal bike, and I knew one of my favorite shows came on television at 11, so I was pedaling back home.
“As I approached the end of our driveway, all the birds stopped chirping, all the dogs stopped barking. It just went so still. And then it was both. It’s like a shotgun blast, followed by a ball of light, and then followed immediately after, the second ball. The ground shook underneath me. It was the biggest noise I have ever heard in my life.”
“It was hovering off the ground when it appeared out of thin air and beautiful colors of blue made up most of the center of the ball. And outside of the blue, there was orange and yellow. Mixing together and then just like that! The ball of light just disappeared into thin air.
“I was terrified of what it was, but I was transfixed by it. This ball of light and the colors and the way it swirled around, it was as if you couldn’t help but stare at it, even though I was scared. It was all over in four or five seconds. But those four or five seconds are burned into my brain, just like a roll of film.”
So there you have it, the Bell Island Boom. To get to Bell Island and investigate this strange occurrence for yourself, you can take a 20-minute ferry ride from Portugal Cove.
Twillingate
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Twillingate Hotel: PoppyJoe’s | Book a Twillingate Boat Tour
Twillingate is a town of 2121 people located on Newfoundland’s northeastern shore.
It’s incredibly scenic and is dotted with picturesque and historic fishing villages. It’s a popular place to take iceberg cruises, go whale watching, or hike, but trying the freshly caught seafood is especially recommended.
Famously, Twillingate is known as the Iceberg Captial of the World and is on Iceberg Alley (more about that below).
Battle Harbour
✨ Labrador | 📍 Google Maps
Battle Island is, ahem, located on Battle Island along the Labrador shoreline. It’s a restored fishing village from the 19th century (it was even once the saltfish capital of the world) and is largely regarded as the unofficial capital of Labrador.
Some of the best things to do here are hike the Husky Hill or White Water Falls hiking trails, visit friendship park, stroll Dr. Moret’s Walking Trail, and take a historical tour.
Iceberg Alley
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Book an iceberg viewing tour in Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the best places in the world to view icebergs. To see them, you have to head to the aptly-named Iceberg Alley.
During the spring and summer, these 10 000-year-old glaciers are visible from many places on the coast, but taking a boat tour is really the best way to experience them. Iceberg Alley goes from Labrador to Newfoundland’s southeast coast. Places along this route are Battle Harbour, Twillingate, Bonavista, St. John’s & Cape Spear, Bay of Bulls and Witless Bay, and many more.
The best times of year to see Icebergs in Newfoundland are late May and early June. At this time, the icebergs are plentiful but aren’t locked up in sea ice.
Want another way to experience the icebergs? Drink them! You can drink Berg Water, which is basically just iceberg water, or try spirits like Rum, Gin, and Vodka. There’s also the popular Iceberg Beer from Quidi Vidi Brewery.
🧊 The best way to see icebergs in Newfoundland is to take a tour. This iceberg viewing tour from St. John’s is one of the highest-rated options and it includes puffin viewing as well.
Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Best Nearby Hotel: Castle Landing
Love watching birds? Then head on out to Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve.
Here you’ll find thousands of razorbills, gulls, common murres, northern gannets, black-legged kittiwakes, and double-crested and great cormorants nesting. During the winter, you’ll also find scoters, long-tailed ducks, dovekikes, thick-billed burres, and harlequin.
Cape St. Mary’s is largely known as North America’s most accessible seabird rookery. You can visit year-round, but the interpretation centre is only open from May through October.
If you visit during the summer, make a point to visit the Cape St. Mary’s Performance Series – an annual concert series with trad music, dancing, and food.
Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps
Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Newfoundland’s southern shore. This site is home to over 100 bedding places with fossils dating back to 580-541 million years ago.
Mistaken Point is where you can view a 565-million-year-old sea floor with over 10,000 fossils from a prehistoric sea floor. This is one of the world’s most famed fossil sites as these are some of the oldest and most complex life-form fossils found anywhere.
East Coast Trail
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps
The East Coast Trail is 270 km of coastal hikes and 66km of community walks stretching from Topsail Beach to Cappahayden along the Avalon Peninsula. The trail includes 25 paths that take you along towering cliffs, seastacks, fjords, a natural geyser, abandoned settlements, lighthouses, nature reserves, whales, icebergs, a suspension bridge, and so much more.
Not just a trail for hiking enthusiasts, the trail will delight history and nature-buffs alike.
Skerwink Trail, Trinity
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps
The Skerwink Trail is a 5.3-km coastal loop trail with seastacks, whales, eagles, and icebergs. It also offers awesome views of Port Rexton and Trinity. In fact, this trail is so pretty it was once named one of the Top 35 walks in North America and Europe by Travel and Leisure.
But make no mistake, this isn’t a walk in the park so to speak, the trail is designated as moderate-difficult. I walked this trail and recommend basic hiking gear like proper footwear and hiking poles if you want a bit more traction.
L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site
✨ Newfoundland | 📍 Google Maps
First excavated in the 1960s, L’Anse aux Meadows is an archaeological site of a Norse Settlement from approximately 1000 years ago.
The site is on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland near St. Anthony, and is evidence of the first European presence in North America. You’ll find excavated remails of wood-framed buildings.
Torngat Mountains National Park
✨ Labrador | 📍 Google Maps | 👉 Browse Torngat Mountains guided tours
Want to head off the beaten trail? Then Torngat Mountains National Park is for you.
Torngat Mountains got its moniker from the Inuktitut word Tongait meaning “place of spirits”. It’s 9700 km sq of wilderness going from the Saglek Fjord to the tippy top of Labrador, and over to the Quebec border. Here, you’ll find polar bears, mountains, glaciers, Inuit culture, and so much more.
Because this National Park is so off the grid, you do have to plan a bit before visiting. There are no roads or campgrounds and you’ll need a guide to safely lead you through the terrain.
You can book Inuit-lead packages that range from 7-day adventures to 3-4 day excursions. These trips include listening to ancient Inuit stories, hiking, camping, and eating food prepared over an open fire. There are also more bougie tours you can take that include helicopter rides and boat tours.
Red Bay
✨ Labrador | 📍 Google Maps
Red Bay is a Labaradorian fishing village, World Heritage Site, and underwater archaeological site. It was a major Basque whaling area between 1530 and the early 1600s. Whalers from France and Spain would make the regular cross-Atlantic journey to hunt whales and produce the oil that people used to light lamps in Europe.
At the site, you’ll find Basque remains, artifacts, and restored chalupa.
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Thanks for reading my list of the best places to visit in Newfoundland and Labrador! Up next, check out my guide to where to stay in St. John’s.
What places would you add to this list? Let me know in the comments!
