Newfoundland 2026 – a summary

Posted On July 15 , 2026

The trip began on Friday, May 29th, and we arrived home on Day 42, Thursday, July 9th. I wrote 46 posts for the blog, with a total of 1,329 photos – I had hoped to be able to tell you about the trip with about 30 posts and half that many photos, but some days were so incredible it took 2 posts to tell the story. We put 4,677 km on the 26-foot motorhome we rented from Fraserway in Halifax because it was far cheaper than renting in Newfoundland, but it was still $9,923.

We took 6 flights, with no cash outlay because of points and flight credits:

  • Whitehorse to Calgary with Air North
  • Calgary to Ottawa with Porter
  • Ottawa to Halifax with Porter
  • Halifax to Montreal with Porter
  • Montreal to Calgary with Porter
  • Calgary to Whitehorse with Air North

To perhaps help with your planning, the cash value of those flights, with the upgraded Porter Reserve seats we got, would be $3,440, though watching for sales can lower that substantially. This was my first experience with Porter, and I give them top marks in every category – we will definitely fly with them beyond Air North’s range whenever possible.

The itinerary (what we actually did, not what we planned), with basic mileages and overnight stays:

  • May 29: fly to Calgary (Calgary Airport Marriott)
  • May 30: in Calgary with family (Calgary Airport Marriott)
  • May 31: fly to Halifax (Courtyard by Marriot)
  • June 1: in Halifax (Courtyard by Marriot)
  • June 2: in Halifax (Courtyard by Marriot)
  • June 3: pick up RV, drive to Pictou – 152 km (Harbour Light Campground)
  • June 4: drive to North Sydney via Cape George (327 km), board overnight (7 hours) ferry to Port aux Basque
  • June 5: drive to Robinson via Cape Blanche Lighthouse – 195 km (Pirate’s Haven RV Park)
  • June 6: drive to Shoal Brook, Gros Morne NP – 230 km (Water’s Edge RV Park)
  • June 7: drive to Rocky Harbour, Gros Morne NP – 68 km (Harbour View RV Park)
  • June 8: at Gros Morne NP (Harbour View RV Park)
  • June 9: drive to Green Point Campground, Gros Morne NP – 12 km
  • June 10: drive to L’anse aux Meadows – 348 km (Viking RV Park)
  • June 11: at L’anse aux Meadows (Viking RV Park)
  • June 12: drive to St. Anthony – 35 km (boondock at sports centre)
  • June 13: drive to Port au Choix – 210 km (Oceanside RV Park)
  • June 14: at Port au Choix (Oceanside RV Park)
  • June 15: drive to Tablelands, Gros Morne NP – 240 km (Water’s Edge RV Park)
  • June 16: drive to Twillingate – 420 km (Peyton’s Woods RV Park)
  • June 17: at Twillingate (Peyton’s Woods RV Park)
  • June 18: at Twillingate (Peyton’s Woods RV Park)
  • June 19: drive to Musgrave Harbour – 64 km (Banting Memorial Municipal Park)
  • June 20: drive to Terra Nova NP – 175 km (Newman Sound Campground)
  • June 21: at Terra Nova NP (Newman Sound Campground)
  • June 22: drive to Elliston – 160 km (Elliston Municipal Park)
  • June 23: drive to Bonavista – 13 km (Landfall Municipal Park)
  • June 24: at Bonavista (Landfall Municipal Park)
  • June 25: at Bonavista (Landfall Municipal Park)
  • June 26: drive to Charleston – 78 km (Cabot Hiway Cabins)
  • June 27: drive to Chance Cove – 112 km (boondock at Coastal Trail parking lot)
  • June 28: drive to St. John’s – 122 km (Pippy Park)
  • June 29: at St. John’s (Pippy Park)
  • June 30: drive to Ferryland – 80 km (boondock at the Colony parking lot)
  • July 1: drive to Saint Vincent’s – 106 km (boondock at beach parking lot )
  • July 2: drive to Argentia, board overnight (15 hours) ferry to North Sydney)
  • July 3: drive to Cheticamp – 137 km (Waves End RV Park)
  • July 4: drive into Cape Breton Highlands NP (Waves End RV Park)
  • July 5: drive Cabot Trail to Broad Cove Campground – 110 km
  • July 6: drive to Havre Boucher – 208 km (Hyclass Ocean Campground)
  • July 7: drive to Halifax area – 247 km (Woodhaven RV Park)
  • July 8: drive to Halifax to return RV (13 km), shuttle to airport, fly to Calgary (Hyatt Place)
  • July 9: fly to Whitehorse

This trip began as a desire by both Cathy and I to see L’Anse aux Meadows, the 1,000-year-old Viking settlement. That was followed by Gros Morne National Park, and then the Cabot Trail while we were there. Everything else was added to those three basics.

Once we were sure we wanted to go, the first question was how to travel. Renting an RV seemed to be the most practical, even at a basic cost of $285 per day. To that, add ferry charges, fuel, and an average of $40 per night for RV parks. We ended up going to RV parks far more often than expected, as we didn’t find the stories about Newfoundland being boondocker-friendly to be true. The exceptions were Landfall Municipal Park at Bonavista, the Coastal Trail parking lot at Chance Cove, and the beach at Saint Vincent’s, which were all excellent. This is the motorhome we rented – an Adventurer 24DS, which defies the logical code (“24 feet long, Driver-side Slide”) by being 26 feet long. We strongly recommend not renting or taking anything larger to Newfoundland, and if we do it again we’ll go for a 22-24-foot one. Our fuel bill for the 4,677 kilometers was $2,156 – a bit less than we budgeted for. Costs per liter ranged from $1.731 to $1.933 – the cheapest in Newfoundland was St. John’s at $1.829. While Cathy thinks we should rent a car if we go back or do a similar trip, the RV was a great comfort when Cathy was waiting while I was on a hike, and when I needed a safe place when my brain issue caused problems.

The next big decision to start the planning was how long to go for. Start with the realization that there is never enough time. The island of Newfoundland is larger than many people think. It’s 108,860 square kilometers (42,031 square miles), which is more than three times the size of Vancouver Island (31,285 square kilometers / 12,079 square miles. We finally settled on 4 weeks for Newfoundland, 1 week for Cape Breton, and 1 week to and from – 42 days in total. We’re happy with the way that played out – we had a quick look at a whole lot of country, though we only averaged 137 km per day of driving. Seeing the Labrador part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador was never a possibility – that’s a trip of its own.

We rented a Starlink Mini for both blogging and the requirements of the clinical trial I’m enrolled in, and it was gold, for $270. Powering it when not at a serviced RV park was a problem as the power pack we ordered with it wasn’t sent. When we parked we put the Mini in the skylight, and only had connection issues twice because of trees at campsites.

We love to have a pot of good coffee in the morning, so stopped at Canadian Tire and bought a $30 coffee maker that we left with the RV. That was another reason for having electricity – we really hate the noise of running the generator when boondocking.

We got medical travel insurance to eliminate that worry. Cathy’s wasn’t bad at $116 but mine was an ouch at $496 – once you turn 70 the insurance companies really cover their asses. While your provincial/territorial insurance in Canada covers most things when you travel in Canada, ambulance and air medevacs aren’t, and that could get hugely expensive in Newfoundland.

With that all taken care of, air, hotel and campground reservations and deciding on the “must” activities was next. Ferries were a substantial expense, at $1282 total. The breakdown was $257 for the voyage to Newfoundland (7 hours from North Sydney to Port aux Basques) for the RV, driver and passenger plus $144 for a cabin, which we highly recommend. The voyage back to Nova Scotia (15 hours from Argentia to North Sydney) cost $598 for the RV, driver and passenger plus $283 for a Deluxe cabin – I didn’t find the Deluxe cabin to be good value, though that’s what the next photo shows. Book ferries first – a year ahead is recommended.

We didn’t reserve campgrounds in places we expected to be able to boondock, but got RV parks at some of those with no problem. Most of our campgrounds got 5-star reviews – the notable exception was Pirates Haven RV Park on our first day in Newfoundland (a last-minute choice when we couldn’t find a boondocking spot) – it got a thumbs-down.

We took 4 tours – the Harbour Hopper in Halifax ($169), the Western Brook Pond boat tour at Gros Morne National Park ($234), the Iceberg Quest boat tour at Twillingate (276), and a 3-hour tour of St. John’s with Jellybean Tours ($190). All were exceptionally good and well worth the cost. Beyond that we visited all manner of museums and historic sights throughout both Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and a marine station at Bonne Bay. Every one was a quality experience, but we both agree that The Rooms in St. John’s is a must-see.

Newfoundland and Cape Breton are a hiker’s dream country, with an endless list of spectacular mountain and seashore trails available, and right from the start Cathy tried to set the trip up to get me on as many as possible. She had been extremely alert for things that might affect us, and luckily saw that reservations are now required for parking at the Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and got a spot so I could do that hike. I went for 25 consecutive days with a walk or hike long enough to turn on my Strava tracker, and my total for the trip was 173 km. The 28-page brochure “Western Newfoundland Trails” describes the 23 main ones in that region. The best trails I hiked (with links to the blog post about it) were:

We ate well, but having the RV helped keep food costs down. We spent $1,379 on groceries to make our own meals, and $1,734 at restaurants. Beyond the food, restaurants provided many of our best chats with locals.

So, the final summary: it was an incredible trip. We both fell in love with Newfoundland – the west and north in particular. Though totally different lanscapes, it has a similar feel to the Yukon, with the rugged, extreme country creating people we really enjoy being with. The final bill was $20,326.88 with “free” flights.

I regret that I wasn’t well enough to do a summary like this for last year’s Adventure to northern Europe – the side-by-side comparison would be interesting.

I’ve covered the major points in this post, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask in a comment or by email or text/message, and we’ll be happy to meet up with the folks in Whitehorse who would like to get together to discuss it in person.

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Murray Lundberg

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