St. John's: Signal Hill, the Jellybean Houses & George Street
Signal Hill National Historic Site above St. John's harbour is where Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901, and where the last battle on North American soil was fought in 1762. The view from Cabot Tower across the Narrows and out to the open Atlantic is the defining image of Newfoundland. The coloured row houses of the downtown — jellybean houses in yellow, red, violet, green, and orange — are the result of a 1970s community initiative that has become one of the most photographed streetscapes in Canada. George Street, one block off Water Street, is the highest concentration of bars and pubs per capita in North America.
Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve & the Avalon Wilderness
Cape St. Mary's, 2.5 hours southwest of St. John's, is the most accessible seabird colony in North America — a 150-metre sea stack covered with 60,000 northern gannets, murres, and kittiwakes, reachable by a 1.5 km walk across coastal barrens. The noise, smell, and proximity — gannets nest within metres of the viewing point — is an overwhelming sensory experience. The Avalon Peninsula has the highest density of woodland caribou in the world (over 30,000 animals in a 2.5-hour drive area) and are routinely seen from the highway in the Avalon Wilderness Reserve. The road back to St. John's through Placentia Bay in late afternoon light is exceptional.
The Rooms, Quidi Vidi Village & Iceberg Alley
The Rooms on Bonaventure Avenue is Newfoundland's provincial museum, art gallery, and archives in a single dramatic building designed to resemble the traditional outport fish premises ("rooms") of the island's culture. The permanent galleries on Newfoundland and Labrador's natural and human history, including Indigenous cultures and the fishery, are among the best provincial museum presentations in Canada. Quidi Vidi, a tiny fishing village swallowed by the expanding city, still has working fishing stages, a microbrewery, and an artist's studio district beside its lake. The cliffs north of St. John's along Marine Drive are prime viewing ground for icebergs drifting down from Greenland (May–June peak).
Witless Bay Ecological Reserve & Ferryland
The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, 30 minutes south of St. John's, is home to the largest Atlantic puffin colony in North America — over 600,000 puffins nesting on four protected islands. O'Brien's boat tours run from Bay Bulls directly into the colony, and humpback whales are reliably sighted in the surrounding waters throughout summer. Ferryland, a further 20 minutes south, is the site of one of the earliest successful English colonies in North America (1621) and an active archaeological excavation that has produced thousands of 17th-century artifacts. The Colony of Avalon Interpretation Centre presents the finds. The Ferryland Lighthouse Picnics — guests pick up a basket of fresh local food and eat on the headland — is one of the finest outdoor dining experiences in Canada.
Cape Spear & the East End Before Departure
Cape Spear National Historic Site, 11 km south of downtown St. John's, is the easternmost point of North America. The original 1836 lighthouse — the oldest surviving in Newfoundland — stands beside its 1955 replacement on a windswept headland above the open Atlantic. The trail along the headland south from the lighthouse gives the clearest sense of this island's relationship with the sea. Return to St. John's for a final cod au gratin or a bowl of fish chowder at one of the establishments on Water Street that do Newfoundland traditional food seriously — Mallard Cottage in Quidi Vidi and The Merchant Tavern downtown are the strongest. St. John's Airport is 10 minutes from downtown.