Backpack and Snorkel Travel Guide for the northern Bonavista Peninsula in Newfoundland - Newfoundland Purple Travel Guide
In the Bonavista area you find a bit of everything: human history, another lighthouse, beautiful scenery, a natural wonder, puffins and Newfoundland’s hospitality! We provide detailed information and a self-guided tour with the best things to see and we show lots of photos so you know what you can expect.
Table of contents
Ryan Premises National Historic Site
Ryan Premises National Historic Site is a museum that spreads over different buildings. It explains different techniques how cod was caught over the years, the saltfish preparation, how fisherman lived and how merchants ensured that fishermen became and stayed totally dependent on them. It showcases items that were used by local fishermen and their families and it explains how James Ryan succeeded in this cut-throat industry.
We found this museum very informative.
It is only open from early June through early October and admission is charged. At the time of writing, it was only CAD4.25 per adult.
Matthew Legacy
The museum displays a replica of the Matthew, the 92 ft (28 m) wooden caravel on which John Cabot and 19 crew members sailed from Bristol (UK) to Newfoundland in 1497. Since no drawings of the ship exist, the replica is a best guess.
The museum explains life aboard such ships and how Bonavista was founded. And, yes, you can walk on the ship and explore it.
The museum is open daily from June through September and admission is charged. The rest of the year, admission hours are reduced or by appointment only.
Bonavista
Once you get out of the Matthew Legacy building, spend a few minutes exploring the town and harbor. There is no set walking tour.
A few places you may want to explore are:
- Loyal Orange Lodge
- William Alexander House (Bridge House), the oldest documented residential property in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador
- Memorial in front of the Bonavista Memorial Public Library
Mifflin's Tea Room
It will likely now be around lunch time. There are only a few restaurants and cafes that are open for lunch in Bonavista. One of the few is Mifflin's Tea Room – it is only a short walk from the Matthew Legacy museum. Unless you have a reservation, it pays to get there early as the restaurant only has 5 tables and it can get busy and wait times can easily be 20 min or longer.
Mifflin's Tea Room is a traditionally decorated small restaurant which serves your food on old-fashioned china. You should plan for at least an hour, as everything here is slow and relaxed.
Cape Bonavista Lighthouse
Built in 1843, the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse sits at the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula.
The lighthouse is open to the public from the second half of May until early October with paid admission. You can climb all the way up to the light.
The grounds are spectacular too. Just a few feet from the lighthouse are steep cliffs that provide beautiful views.
If you are lucky, then you can see whales in the water. There is a puffin colony on the big rock that you can see from the lighthouse, unless the weather is foggy.
John Cabot Municipal Park
John Cabot Municipal Park lies directly south of the Cape Bonavista Lighthouse parking lot.
While this park is primarily a camping site, it has great views from a trail near the cliffs and it has a monument of John Cabot, the Italian navigator who sailed from Bristol (UK) on the Matthew and landed (most likely) at Cape Bonavista in 1497.
Dungeon Provincial Park
The drive from Cape Bonavista Lighthouse or John Cabot Municipal Park to Dungeon Provincial Park goes via a 1.2 mile (2 km) compacted dirt road with lots of potholes. The road can be driven even with cars that have a low clearance, just watch out for the deeper potholes.
The distinctive double arch started out as a cave with two entrances. Over time, erosion led to the hollowing out and enlargement of the cave. Eventually, the cave ceiling collapsed under its own weight. The debris was washed away over time, leaving the Dungeon that you see today.
Behind the double arch, when you walk closer to the ocean, you will see beautiful partially collapsed cliffs and rocky debris fields in the water.
Root Cellars
The town of Elliston, NL calls itself the Root Cellar Capital of the World.
This is not just because there are many root cellars here (more than 100), but also because people in Elliston started utilizing root cellars to store vegetables and other foods during the long, harsh winters about 130 years ago, which makes it the earliest community to do so.
Most of the root cellars are on private land and you cannot access them. You can see several when driving along Maberly Road to your next destination, the Puffin Viewing Site.
But today is your lucky day. When you pull into the parking lot at the Puffin Viewing Site, you can see and enter (!) some root cellars and you will pass by some on the trail to the Puffin Viewing Site.
Puffin Viewing Site
This is one of the best puffin viewing spots in Newfoundland. Admission is free and there is a parking lot with some root cellars that you can access.
From the parking lot, you will have to walk about 1,400 ft (430 m) to the Puffin Viewing Site. The hike is mostly easy, but not wheelchair accessible and the trail passes by more root cellars. Make sure to walk the trail all the way to the end, as there is only one rocky island where the puffins are and that is at the very end.
Make sure to bring a camera with a good zoom and binoculars and enjoy the show.
This concludes your tour for today.
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