desertchick

Planning a trip to Newfoundland in July. Looking for thoughts on good place to stay in St. John's. Am I wrong to think that we could easily just stay there for a week and stay plenty busy with day trips? We are 2 families of 4 with kids ages 8, 10, 14 and 16 and a pair of grandparents. We are interested in history/culture, but want to enjoy fishing, light hikes, whale watching, sea kayaking....I think that we will find plenty to do with day trips in and around the area and not trying to drive everywhere for a quick peak in a week. For a rock, it certainly looks like lots of driving to me! Should we plan to stay somewhere else for a few days? Any help appreciated!

Morningglory47

Have you looked at www.newfoundlandlabrador.com?

Digbydog

St. John's was my least favorite place we visited in Newfoundland, although there are some interesting places nearby to visit. Cape St. Mary's, which I loved, is near there. It has a gannet colony that you can get very close to, and walking out to the colony, we saw humpback whales just offshore. We also enjoyed whale watching and seeing puffins at Witless Bay near St. John's.

My favorite areas were Trinity and Gros Morne. However, getting to Gros Morne from St. John's does require a lot of driving. We arrived by ferry in Argentia (near St. John's) and then returned to Nova Scotia by ferry from Port-aux-Basques (closer to Gros Morne) so that we didn't have to backtrack.

katrinasl

I think it makes sense if you are only going to be there for a week to pick a central spot and take day trips from there. You are correct about the driving. You can find enough to do branching out from St. John's. There is plenty to do within an hour of the city - you can pick hikes of any length along the East Coast Trail, walking up to Signal Hill through the Narrows with your crew could fill the better part of a day - and we have seen whales from up on Signal Hill in the past. As someone mentioned Cape Spear is good; there are other lighthouses to explore too. there is kayaking & boat trips out to see whales and puffins from nearby. The Geo Center is really neat and the Rooms has a lot of history and culture. There are ghost tours at night, plus music to be heard. There is an archealogical dig and a museum with artifacts down in Ferryland (about 45 mins; there are fossil beds down near Trepassey (about 2 hours). Cape St. Mary's as someone mentioned in this thread is a must. For us that is always a day trip because there are intersting places to stop along the coast. There are lots of fun beaches for exploring and finding stuff just about everywhere. The other place that I think would be a good base for a one week trip would be Gros Morne out on the west coast. The one thing St. John's has that is good if you are ther a short period of time is stuff to do indoors if the weather is a problem. The suggestion above to get the travel guide is a good one.

desertchick

Thank you, thank you! We have decided to stay in St. John's for our stay, and I am now feeling good about that. I think that we will find plenty to do including day trips out of the city, and I am now in touch with companies regarding seakayaking, whale watching, etc. Thanks for the info, I will start researching all that you all gave me!

katrinasl

I suggest you secure your rental car right away; you will need it for your day trips and cars can be hard to come by as the season gets closer. In addition to the usuals at the air port, there is an Enterprise Rental cars which I hear is cheaper but it is not at the airport. As of a few years ago they did deliver the car to your hotel/b&b, etc. Also there may be a Rent-a-Wreck, but can't say I have heard anything about them one way or another. We have used Hertz. I heard they were expensive but we always got the best deal from them since they did not have a per km charge. Again this info is a few years old, so it may be changed - but I am positive the shortage of cars have not.

desertchick

Katrinasl--thank you for the advice on the car rental. I had just heard about the summer car rental shortage, and I am on it! Thanks for the leads on companies!

scottvan

You've had some good advice here. For some more details, you could check out some trip reports that have been posted here; one that describes some day trips from St. John's is http://www.fodors.com/community/cana...-bonavista.cfm (it's mine, so I had it handy, but I'm sure there are other good ones).

Enjoy your trip; it's a beautiful place!

LindaFasteson

Good advice on the rental car so you can get out to places like Cape Spear. Here's our report from a quick trip:
http://www.notabletravels.com/destin...foundland.html