Do you need a car in St. John's?
 

Hi, I'm going to St. John's for 3 days in a few weeks. I'm not planning on renting a car, I was going to get by on taxi, public transportation, mostly walking, and perhaps a day tour. Am I missing out on too much by not renting a car? This will be my first time to Newfoundland and obviously a very short trip.

Also, I have not yet secured a hotel/B&B - if anyone has any recommendations, please share. I'm looking to spend under $200usd, preferably around 150. I've been looking at tripadvisor and they all look so great, I just haven't been able to pinpoint one yet. If I don't rent a car especially, a great central location would be ideal.

thanks for any help!!

I think you need a car. It totally depends on the location of where you are staying, but it will definitely be easier to access the most beautiful beaches by car.

You can manage in St. John's without a car. You will be limiting yourself and not getting a good feel of Newfoundland, but then again you only have three days. I recommend you find yourself a b&b in the vicinity of Gower Street (don't confuse with New Gower) or one of the other streets in that vicinity. We stayed at a b&b called something like Bonne Esperence. It was very nice but may now be over your $$ as it was back in 2002. There is another called something Wit which I understand is very good, plus I met people who liked the Roses. If you stay in the vicinity of Gower Street you can easily walk to downtown or out to the Battery and up to Signal Hill and to the Geo Centre or over to Quidi Vidi. If you go out of town you may want to find a way to get to Cape Spear. I'm not sure what kind of transportation you can find there. You can also try renting a car for just a day - away from the airport - Enterprise or Rent a Wreck. Enterprise will give you a ride from your b&b. Hope this helps.

Thank you both for your suggestions.

I really like the idea of renting a car for just a day - thanks katrinasl - and thanks for suggesting to stay close to Gower Street, it does look like great location!

I have stayed at The Roses B&B a couple of times and love it there. It is withing walking distance of the downtown area, and also if you'd like to do a hike up to Signal Hill through the Battery, the Roses is very close to the Battery. You could easily fill 3 days without renting a car.

You could wander the downtown area for 1 day, hike up to Signal Hill another day, and then perhaps rent a car for 1 day and go out to Cape Spear , stopping at Petty Harbour along the way.

Rental cars are scarcer than cod in St. John's in hig season. Don't count on being able to make up your mind later: decide what you want to do and rent ASAP for that day.

BTW, you might also try Maunder Manor for that B&B...they may be booked up but if they aren't Don and Yvonne are the best hosts in NL and this won't break your budget and is in a great part of town.