Wild
Puffins three metres away
The Elliston puffin colony, just south of Bonavista, lets you walk along a sea-stack sheep meadow opposite cliffs blanketed in nesting Atlantic puffins. Sometimes only sea air separates you.
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Bonavista Peninsula · Newfoundland & Labrador
Bonavista
Where John Cabot saw land in 1497 — fishing-stage village turned design destination.
- Best time
- June – early September; whales and icebergs peak in June.
- Getting there
- 3.5 hr drive northwest from St. John's.
- Suggested stay
- 2 – 4 nights
- Known for
- Cape Bonavista Lighthouse · Puffin colony · Ryan Premises
A portrait of Bonavista
An essential stop.
On the wind-blasted tip of the Bonavista Peninsula, the saltbox-coloured town of Bonavista has reinvented itself — UNESCO-protected heritage, restored fishing rooms, design hotels, and the ledges where puffins nest within touching distance.
Field notes
Three ways to feel the place.
On the map
The six places
to anchor your trip.
A tour through the icons and the under-the-radar corners — laid out the way a local would walk you through.
- 1
Cape Bonavista Lighthouse
Restored 1843 light at the cape Cabot reportedly named 'O buon vista!'.
- 2
Dungeon Provincial Park
Sea caves collapsed into a 90-foot hole on the cape — eerie and dramatic.
- 3
Ryan Premises
National historic site preserving a 19th-century mercantile fishing complex.
- 4
Trinity
Postcard village 45 min south with summer theatre and gorgeous harbour.
Cape Bonavista Lighthouse
Dungeon Provincial Park
Ryan Premises
Trinity
N
Year-round
Bonavista through the seasons.
Spring
Icebergs drift south through May and June past the cape.
Summer
Whales feed on capelin in the bay; the Roots, Rants & Roars food festival in September.
Autumn
Berry-picking time across the barrens; quiet harbours golden at sunset.
Winter
Most operators close, but the Bonavista Social Club is open weekends.
Insider tips
From people who live there.
- 01
Stay at The Bonavista Living restored saltboxes or Fishers' Loft in Trinity.
- 02
Eat at the Boreal Diner — Newfoundland produce, fine-dining technique.
- 03
Hike the Skerwink Trail near Trinity East — one of the world's great coast walks.
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