Newfoundland region
Eastern Newfoundland
Bonavista, Trinity, and coastlines cut into long fingers of rock
St. John’s (YYT) or Gander (YQX)
2 to 4 nights
Reliable in Clarenville, Trinity, and Bonavista
Exposed trails get very windy; check forecasts before cliff walks
About 3 to 4 hours from St. John’s to Bonavista
What this region is really like
Eastern Newfoundland is where the island starts to feel properly spread out. The Bonavista Peninsula alone can absorb three days without repeating a view.
Trinity is a small, carefully preserved community of white clapboard buildings, a working theatre season, and short walks that end at the water. Bonavista, an hour further along, is larger and rougher edged, with the Dungeon Provincial Park, a replica of the Matthew, and the red-and-white Cape Bonavista Lighthouse on the headland.
The Skerwink Trail near Port Rexton is one of the best short hikes in the province, roughly 5 km of sea stacks and cliff edge. Elliston, just past Bonavista, holds root cellars and a puffin viewing site where the birds nest on an island close enough to see clearly from shore.
Terra Nova National Park sits inland along the Trans-Canada Highway, protecting boreal forest and sheltered inlets rather than open cliff. It makes a natural stop when you are driving between the Avalon and central Newfoundland.
Other regions
Avalon Peninsula
Cities, sea stacks, and the most easterly light in North America
Central Newfoundland
Twillingate, Fogo Island, and the ice that drifts down the Labrador Current
Western Newfoundland
Gros Morne, the Tablelands, and a fjord cut through a billion years of rock
Great Northern Peninsula
A long road north to the only confirmed Norse site in North America
