I recently had the good fortune to visit Newfoundland in Canada and wow, what a place.

I spent five days in St John’s on the Avalon Peninsula – the capital – and the surrounding area, enjoying a taste of what the region has to offer. And that’s a lot, including wild coastline, pine forests, historical sites, amazing hiking trails, museums and at certain times of the year, even whales and icebergs.

 

Newfoundland and Labrador became a province of Canada only in 1949, before that the island was variously self-governing and a British colony. It is situated on the eastern coast, on the Atlantic Ocean – Cape Spear, near St John’s, is the most easterly point of North America – so over the years has been visited by various nationalities, usually for its abundant fish stocks. The British settled here, as did the Irish, the Spanish and the French. Some towns in Newfoundland have French names and a strong gallic connection, while the people I met in St John’s all had more than a hint of the Irish accent, passed down through the generations.

Cod, the king of fish

In St John’s, cod is king. It’s what brought the ships from Europe, it’s what created a massive fishing industry and although that industry is no more, it is what the city is known for.

Restaurants specialise in it and it’s a regular on pub menus. Portions are huge and prices are not bad: you can order cod and chips at St John’s Fish Exchange – a large and very good restaurant – for $17, which is less than a tenner, or in brewpub Gahan House for around the same price.

 

It plays the central role in the Screech-in ceremony by which visitors (Come-From-Aways) can become honorary Newfoundlanders – you drink a shot of local Screech rum, answer a few questions from the person performing the ceremony then to seal the deal, you kiss the cod. A real one.

This rite of passage has become a tourist attraction in itself but is said to date back hundreds of years to the days of smugglers and moonshine rum. Whether or not the name comes from the roughness of the rum burning your throat, well that’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself.

For those more partial to wine or beer then as with eating out, a drink in one of St John’s many pubs is pleasantly within budget, with a pint of beer costing around $8 (£4.50) and a glass of wine around $11 (£6.20).

If you’re in town over the weekend then head to George Street this is the centre of St John’s nightlife and a street composed solely of pubs and eateries – rather like The Bigg Market in Newcastle was back in the ‘80s. Unlike in the ‘80s though I don’t have the energy to drink until the small hours and my clubbing days are well behind me, so I satisfied myself with a walk along there in the early evening, before any of the bars opened and the party music was still a background hum.

Much more my cup of tea was a trip to the Quidi Vidi Brewery where they make their own beer using iceberg water – yes really, it’s harvested during the iceberg season, when the giant bergs migrate through Newfoundland’s Iceberg Alley.

 

 

The brewery is a 10-minute taxi ride from St John’s or there is a bus that runs through there during the summer.

 

Sun, what sun?

You don’t go to Newfoundland for sunshine and sunbathing, this is a much more active place and a holiday destination for those who want to hike, explore rocky bays, take boat trips out to see icebergs and whales, or discover the region’s wildlife.

Distances are huge so if you’re visiting for more than a few days it makes sense to hire a car and get out there to explore. Watch out for moose though – their size makes them dangerous on the roads and they make a frequent appearance in traffic reports.

There are thousands of them, as they have no natural predators to keep down their numbers. Some people find them ugly but I think they’re beautiful, like overgrown deer with big noses. I didn’t see one while I was there but they live within the vast pine forests and quite rightly, try to stay away from man.

 

Summer in St John’s is the same time of year as the UK but doesn’t really warm up until July. Temperatures while I was there hovered around 0°C and it rained most days – I was sooo thankful I had taken my thick winter coat with me.

What to see in St John’s

Like I said though, you don’t go for the sunshine. I still managed to squeeze in masses for the five days I was there, including meeting an amazing forager who gathers and hunts everything she eats, and a tour of the Johnson Geo Centre on Signal Hill, the shape of which is based on an iceberg, with part of it above ground and the majority of the building and displays below. I recommend a visit here, it was fascinating.

 

Also definitely worth a visit are The Rooms, a museum and cultural destination with exhibitions and interactive displays that take you through the island’s history, including that of the indigenous Beothuk, the European settlers, its contribution to the allied forces during the First World War and of course, the wildlife.

Just wandering through the city is a joy in itself, from the colourful houses of Jelly Bean Row, to the industry of the harbour, framed by the promontories of Signal Hill and Fort Amherst creating The Narrows, a protective hug around the bay, sheltering it from the ravages of the Atlantic.

See the countryside

Head out of town to Cape Spear, not only home to the oldest lighthouse in the province  and the remains of a miliary fort, but the most easterly edge of Canada and a particularly good place to view whales and even icebergs at the right time of year.

Hike through amazing countryside and rocky coastal paths on the East Coast Trail. Altogether the trail stretches more than 200 miles and would make for a spectacular long holiday, however it’s easy enough to walk just small sections of it, with waymarkers signposting the route. I walked just a tiny fraction of it and though in places it was easy, I found it difficult in others so if you’re not a seasoned hiker perhaps better to join a guided walk.

 

For me, the most spectacular reasons to visit St John’s was the whales, icebergs and puffins. Humpback whales travel down from the Arctic and spend months off the coast – Witless Bay Ecological Reserve and Bay Bulls are excellent places to see them breach and there are frequent boat trips from St John’s and Bay Bulls.

As the weather warms, ice breaks off from Arctic glaciers and drifts southwards as bergs; some of these are huge, dwarfing houses on the shore and again Witless Bay is a great vantage point, but you can also see them from Cape Spear, next to St John’s. Eventually they melt but for a few short months from late May until July these behemoths sit off the coast, an unbelievable sight.

 

Thousands of puffins visit for the breeding season and huge numbers of gulls make the islands off the coast home year-round.

Sadly, the beginning of May is the wrong time of year to see them. I saw two seals – one of which was sunning itself on the jetty by the Quidi Vidi Brewery – possibly one puffin, two eagles and zero whales. I was there a little early as the icebergs tend to start floating by in late May, with the whales and puffins arriving shortly after.

 

That said, I still had an amazing time and fell in love with the landscape . I flew on WestJet’s inaugural flight from Gatwick to St John’s and it took less than six hours to get there – so around the same time it takes to get to Tenerife. It’s the most easterly point in North America and the closest to the UK so it’s feasible for a short break or long weekend, but I think you’ll want to spend more time there than that to truly appreciate the place.

It was my first time in Canada but it won’t be my last for sure.

Flights cost from around $350 CAD one way and operate from Gatwick to St John’s until late October, resuming late April 2025 for the summer