chiara_jk

Hello,

I and my boyfriend are planning a trip to NL.
We will land on Jul 6 in Toronto, visiting the city the day after. We booked an internal flight to St. John on Jul 8, landing at 10.45. We will fly back to Toronto on Jul 19 (5pm)
Car is already booked, so I would like to ask some help to plan the whole itinerary and best stops.
We are especially interested in icebergs and puffing views (hoping we will still be ontime) and some hikes.

This is what I put together so far:

06-Jul 1 Ita - Toronto
07-Jul 2 Toronto
08-Jul 3 Toronto - St. John's (10.45am)
09-Jul 4 St. John's - Cape Spear - Skerwink Trail - Trinity
10-Jul 5 Trinity - Bonavista - Cape Bonavista Lighthouse - Elliston Puffing View site - Elliston's root cellars - Trinity
11-Jul 6 Trinity - Deadman's Bay Provincial Park (icebergs view) - Long Point Lighthouse - Twillingate
12-Jul 7 Twillingate - Rd to the Isles - scenic route 431 - Rocky Harbour
13-Jul 8 Gros Morne NP (Shallow Bay Beach, trail ?) - Rocky Harbour
14-Jul 9 Rocky Harbour -Lobster Cove Lighthouse - Viking Trail - L'anse aux Meadows - St. Anthony
15-Jul 10 St. Anthony (Iceberg Alley trail+whale watches trail) - Arches Provincial Park - Deer Lake
16-Jul 11 Deer Lake - Bear head Lookout - Fogo Island
17-Jul 12 Fogo Island
18-Jul 13 Fogo Island - St. John
19-Jul 14 St. John's - Toronto
20-Jul 15 Toronto - Ita

I'm not fully convinced about day 12/13 (Fogo Island); it seems to bean amazing place but I would like to receive some feedbacks from you guys. makes sense to stop there or should I replace these 2 days with a visit to the south area below St. John?

many thanks in advance

wanderingcanadian

We did an 18 day trip from Toronto in 2016, mid June to early July, my first suggestion if you can do it, is fly into St John's and fly out of Deer lake, it will give you 4 more days to explore, dropping a rental car at Deer Lake will cost you about $200 cdn, but you don't have to drive back across the island, on a road you have already been on.
Are you intending to make this a series of one night stays? That means you won't have time to explore the communities where you are staying. we found 2 or in some places 3 nights allowed us to drive to where we were going, perhaps stopping along the way, explore the next day or two and then move on. Places to stay can be few and far between, and booked up early especially outside St John's. You need to look carefully at distances and drive times, Its a big island with lots of empty space.
St john's-needs more than 1 day, you should definitely spend some time walking around through the Jelly Bean houses, go to Signal Hill, Quidi Vidi, a very quaint fishing village with a brewery and an artisans market, the battery, Cape Spear.
The Irish loop-the area south of St John's takes a whole day to drive around, we did it but there isn't much to see except scenery, and the Colony of Avalon-an archaeological dig of a colony founded in 1621. On a shorter trip I would leave it out.
Trinity is a lovely little place, we spent about 2 hours there on the way up to Bonavista. We really enjoyed Bonavista, there were icebergs in the harbour during our 3 night stay there June 19-21, Elliston puffin viewing site is really close, you need to be there when the birds are either leaving to go fishing or coming back, otherwise you won't see puffins, do not park in front of the neighbours house, they get very annoyed.
We didn't go to Twillingate, from what i have heard it's very pretty and very busy, especially as you will be visiting after school is finished for the summer.
Driving from Twillingate to Rocky harbour is a very long trip for one day, if you break the journey in Gander you could visit the Aviation Museum, it has a 9-11 section which is well worth seeing.
Rocky harbour is a very good base for exploring Gros Morne, do not miss the Western Brook Pond tour, a boat trip with spectacular scenery. We spent 1 night in Rocky harbour over night on the way north to St Anthony and 3 nights in Rocky Harbour on our return, before flying out of Deer lake.
St Anthony is quite fascinating, things to see and do include whale watching cruises, lots of hiking, walking trails, historic Grenfell buildings, a trip to L'anse Au Meadows and the nearby Norstead Viking Village will take a day, There are a number of small bays around St Anthony that were filled with icebergs June 24-26, 2016

nfldbeothuk

Avoiding the drive back would have been a good idea, but your flights may be concrete by now.
I agree that more time for St. John's would be good. One of the towns on the Irish Loop south of St. John's (Bay Bulls) has several whale-watching tour boats. And I think Fogo is wonderful (I've been there 4 times, but I LIVE in Newfoundland) but check the ferry crossing schedule and be aware you have to allow time for lining up to get on--no reservations. Maybe reallocate time to St. John's. You're already covering a lot of territory.
Definitely check weather forecasts and if possible book the Western Brook Pond boat tour on the 8th--note that you must allow time for the hike into and out from the pond.
I would not drive out to Leading Tickles just to see the lookout at Bear Head. Add some time to another stop which requires less driving.
Be aware that icebergs are VERY fickle--there may be none, they may be around St. John's or around St. Anthony (actually a more likely spot in July). There's a site called icebergfinder which is good for showing where they are clustered.
In Bonavista, I think the Dungeons Park and the Ryan Premises are worth visiting.
And it's puffins, not puffings.

NGNewfoundland

You'll be in the car more than you will be on the ground... you'll need three nights on the Bonavista Peninsula, three in Central and three at Gros Morne... To get the most out of Newfoundland I recommend lots of unplanned time to allow for spontaneous things to happen... Be sure to get your National Geographic Travel Map of Newfoundland before you go- you'll need a good paper map (not a roadmap) as cellular reception is spotty in many remote areas....

prinret

I would really recommend you contact McCarthy's Party in St. John's, Newfoundland. I toured the province with them last August and recommend them highly. Their tour company is staffed with native Newfoundlanders and they are true educators. They give incredible insight to the history and culture of the area. Our guide, Mike, was a retired school principal and provided an outstanding experience. All arrangements were efficient and accommodating. We went to almost all the places you mentioned in your post.

You will find that music is everywhere in Newfoundland. We sang and laughed the entire trip. The best part of the entire experience was the people. They are friendly, hospitable and provided good laughs throughout the trip.

McCarthy's Party can be reached at McCarthy's Party - Newfoundland & Labrador Tours - 12 Day I am an experienced traveler and have no connection to this tour company other than being a very satisfied customer.. It was the best tour I have ever taken.

Southam

Why go through Toronto? Where is your home city? If "ITA" stands for Italy, you can fly to St. John's without going so far out of the way through Toronto, especially since you are allowing very little time to visit Toronto itself. For instance, Vueling and WestJet will provide a two-stop route that takes a long time but can be really cheap. I found some one-stops at www.skyscanner.com and expect other flight-search websites can help, even if you use their information to book directly with the airlines. Or you could try a multi-destination search function to fly into Toronto and home from St. John's.