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Newfoundland - 13 days Sept 2020
Looking for some feedback on a 13 day trip to Newfoundland in September 2020. We will be flying into St. Johns on 9/1 and out on 9/13. Some have suggested flying out of Deer Lake but the deal we got in/out of St. Johns was too good to pass up. Based on what I have read on these forums, here is what I have pieced together as a rough outline:
St. Johns- 3 nights Trinity - 2 nights Twillingate - 2 nights Gros Morne - 4 nights Somewhere 1-2 hrs out of St. johns - 1 night We love the outdoors, hiking and general exploring. We don't mind driving a bit either as that trip to Gros Morne is definitely a long ride. Does this look reasonable and make sense for September or are some of these places better suited for the early summer? Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated!! |
We are seniors so we did not do hardcore hiking . We spent 3 weeks in Newfoundland August 2018 it is beautiful place with the East and West coast being so different. It was amazing the number of gravel roads we had to drive on I am not talking about little side roads but roads with route numbers on them. We drove to Newfoundland with our suv so it was not a problem just surprised us. I had no problem on the gravel roads, just make sure your auto insurance carrier will cover your car in Canada and you have windshield coverage!!! Also locals drive the gravel roads like they are paved ie they do not slow down. I just pulled to the side and let them by.
A lot of one way roads meaning down the same road to get to a place, not many looping roads. So drive 2 hours down a road spend a few hours checking out the place and drive 2 hours back the same road you came back down. That got old after a while, BUT the views were amazing the entire time, folks very friendly so yea worth a visit. COD you can only have so much cod it is the first 4 items on every menu which is great, but you can not have cod everyday well we did not. What cod we had was amazing.... but got old real fast. St. John’s had no problem finding OK food but venture out of St. John’s and it goes down hill fast. The food on the west coast say Port aux Basques, Deer Lake, Lobster Cove was not good. Bonavista (not on the west coast) has some nice places to dine. Beware of moose while driving they are definitely around as well as bears. Once you get out of an area the next place not much around so if you are low on gas fill up! The weather was in the 60’s in August and it rained very often so bring layers and rain gear. Once you get out of St. John’s it get very rural very fast, lots of trees and more trees....lol They LOVE coffee especially Tim Horton’s no matter what time of day we passed a Tim Horton’s they had a line both inside and the drive through!!!....lol Also the locals accent is sometimes hard to figure out particularly the older folks, I just kinda smiled and said yes.....Then again they probably had a hard time understanding my Jersey accent. Many locals we spoke to worked in the oil fields in Alberta and came back a few months at a time. The cod industry really never came back so many folks do what they have to get by. ATV’s are everywhere in the rural area ie most of the island kinda like the 3 car in the family. Interesting we saw a group of about 25 stopped in a beautiful lookout, I asked a guy what they were doing...25 all in a group. They said they were traveling the island as a group and staying in B&B at night for 10 days ALL on ATV, wow long time riding an ATV....lol Apparently this is a common thing with locals as tour guide the entire time. The guy said when exploring the options you could have camped out instead of B&B. Have fun it is a beautiful place. Stuff we Liked
Dungeon Provincial Park The town and fishing village The puffins in Elliston and the root cellars Cape Bonavista Lighthouse ( some puffins here but more in Elliston) The Matthew Museum
Iron ore mine tour ( go below into the mine very interesting)
Tablelands Trail where the earth mantle is exposed West Brook Boat Tour would NOT recommend, they replaced the walkway through the forest with a 30’ wide gravel road 1 mile plus long to the lake. Boring boat tour of cliffs which you will see many along your travel through NB. Green Point beautiful beach.
Signal Hill Cape Spear Lighthouse Petty Harbor ( great fish and chips at Chafe’s Landing when 2 times that good) Pippy Park & Memorial University Botanical Garden Downtown area including Waterfront Railway Coastal Museum Anglican Cathedral The Rooms (history museum) Fort Amherst (Lighthouse and Fort) Johnson Geo Center (great Titanic Exhibit)
Where we stayed... Inn Express Deer Lake 38 Bennett Avenue Deer Lake, NL A8A 1A Russelltown Inn 134 Coster St. W A0C 1B0 Bonavista Canada St. Christopher's Hotel 146 Caribou Rd, Channel-Port aux Basques, NL, A0M 1C0 Canada Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton St. John's Airport 411 Stavanger Drive, St. John's, NL A1A0A1 CA Comfort Inn 112 Trans Canada Hwy., Gander, NL, CA, A1V 1P |
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