Hello,

My spouse and I are going to be going on a Newfoundland roadtrip in July and early August of this year aboard our old VW Westfalia Van. Don't worry, although my van is old it is very well maintained and I have done many long wonderful roadtrips with it (Mexico and Guatemala, California,Utah etc.) We will be arriving in Port-aux-Basques on the morning of July 8 and returning to the Canadian mainland on the ferry which departs Argentia on August 3 (27 days in NF in total). So far I have reserved 3 nights of camping in Gros Morne NP (July 9 to 12), 2 nights of camping at Terra Nova NP (July 21-23). We also reserved one night in a St-Pierre B&B (July 29 to 30) and 4 nights in a hotel in St-John's (July 30 to August 3). I have reserved nothing else so far but we have a good deal of autonomy with our van and will probably use a combination of unreserved private campgrounds, Harvest Host spots and boondocking for the rest of our stays.
I had planned to head to Anse-aux-Meadows after leaving Gros Morne on July 12 and returning to Deer Lake on July 16. We would then stay in Deer Lake for one day and then visit central Newfoundland from July 18 until our stay at Terra Nova which begins on July 21. Seeing as the roundtrip drive to Anse-aux_meadows is around 1000km there and back I am wondering if we should skip the Anse-aux-Meadows section and take more time to visit central Newfoundland instead. Is Anse-aux-Meadows an absolute must or is the north coast of central Newfoundland a better option? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

We spent 3 weeks in Newfoundland August 2018 it is beautiful place with the East and West coast being so different.

We drove from Philadelphia, Pa to Sydney, NS and took the 7 hour ferry to Port aux Basques. If you drive you have the option of either a 7 hour or 21 hour ferry. On the ferry we saw whales, seals and many birds which broke up the trip over. We found a warm place to sit and nap and ventured outside to checkout the wildlife. The ferry was the worst part of the trip, wife got seasick.

Our NF Experience

A lot of one way roads meaning down the same road to get to a place, not many looping roads. So drive 1 hour down a road spend a few hours checking out the place and drive 1 hour 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 Great food but venture out of St. John’s and it goes down hill fast. The food on the west coast ie Port aux Basques (we ate at Tim Horton for dinner because we could not find a decent place to eat) Deer Lake, Lobster Cove was lacking. Perhaps we just did not find the good places. Even some of the restaurants we did research reviews were not good. We have traveled a lot having visited all 50 states and most of the the Canadian Provinces. So we know good food when we find it…lol.

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!!!

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 New 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 third 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 to explore.

Stuff we Liked
Bonavista 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

Bonavista has some nice places to dine.

1. Bell Island near St. John’s

(need to take a ferry to the island)

Iron ore mine tour ( go below into the mine very interesting)

1. Gross Morne National Park

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.

1. Rose Blanch

Pretty town with a granite lighthouse

1. Arches Provincial Park
2. Blow me Down Provincial Park
3. Trinity Village historic village, beautiful church and craft shops
5. St John’s

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)

1. Castle Hill National Historic Site ( near ferry to St John’s )

1. Salmonier Nature Park

Thanks. Lots of great info in your post!

I hope you enjoy your trip, have you ever been to Prince Edward Island, if not I have posted a lot of information below. If you have any questions about PEI let me know.

Halifax and PEI
Tom

Yes, I was there in 2019. Beautiful island and great people.