Two Days in St. John's: Signal Hill, Quidi Vidi and the Edge of the Continent

St. John's is closer to Dublin than to Vancouver, sits on a harbour reached through a gap in the cliffs barely 200 metres wide, and has been continuously used by Europeans for around five centuries. It is the least Canadian-feeling city in Canada, and that is the entire appeal.

Two days covers it properly if you plan for weather. Fog rolls in and out on its own schedule, and the sensible approach is to keep the outdoor plans flexible rather than fixed to a morning.

Day one: the harbour, the hill and the village

Morning: downtown and Water Street

Start on Water Street, which claims to be among the oldest commercial streets in North America and looks it in the good way. Walk uphill through the painted row houses that everyone photographs, then out along Gower Street and Prescott Street where the colour is denser and the grade is steeper than the pictures suggest.

The Rooms, the provincial museum and gallery on the hill, is the best indoor hour in the city and the place to go when the fog wins. Its café has the best free view in town from behind glass.

Afternoon: Signal Hill

Signal Hill sits above the harbour narrows, and Cabot Tower on top marks where Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901. The drive up takes ten minutes and the view runs from the open Atlantic to the whole city.

The North Head Trail drops from the tower down the cliff face to the Battery, the cluster of houses jammed against the rock at the harbour entrance. It is a steep, exposed, chain-assisted kilometre and a half, and one of the best short walks in Canada. Skip it in ice or high wind, especially if heights make you uneasy.

Evening: Quidi Vidi and George Street

Quidi Vidi is a fishing village inside the city, tucked into its own tiny harbour, with a brewery in the old fish plant and a gut so narrow the boats barely fit through it. Walk it before dinner.

George Street, downtown, has more bars per metre than anywhere else in the country and stays busy late. Give it an hour for the traditional music sessions, even if you prefer quieter evenings.

Day two: the eastern edge and the seabirds

Morning: Cape Spear

Twenty five minutes south of the city, Cape Spear is the easternmost point of North America. There is a lighthouse from 1836, restored to its 1839 appearance, a set of Second World War gun batteries built to defend the harbour approach, and a headland with a boardwalk out to the point.

Whales pass close to shore here in summer, and the sunrise reaches this spot before anywhere else on the continent, which is worth one early morning. Stay behind the barriers. People have been swept off these rocks.

Afternoon: Witless Bay

Half an hour further south, boats leave from Bay Bulls into the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, home to one of the largest Atlantic puffin colonies in North America along with murres and kittiwakes. Humpbacks feed on capelin in the same water, and in late spring icebergs drift down the coast.

The timing matters: puffins are on the islands from roughly late May to early August, humpbacks peak in July, and icebergs are a May to June proposition. Getting all three in one trip means going in the first half of June and getting lucky.

What to eat, and the one ritual to know about

The food here has changed fast. Cod remains the centre of it, in fish and chips, in fish cakes, and in the older forms that visitors sometimes find confronting, but the city now has a set of restaurants working with root vegetables, salt beef, moose, partridgeberries and whatever came off a boat that morning. Quidi Vidi and the streets around Duckworth are where most of them sit.

The screech-in is the tourist ritual: a shot of rum, a line repeated back to a master of ceremonies, and a kiss placed on a cod. It is unashamedly staged and Newfoundlanders enjoy it more than the participants do. Take it in the spirit it is offered, which is not a solemn one.

Getting around, and how long you actually need

Downtown is walkable and steep. Everything else, including Signal Hill and Cape Spear, is a short drive or a taxi. Renting a car for one of the two days is the efficient answer if you are not continuing on to the rest of the island.

If you have a third day, the East Coast Trail runs for hundreds of kilometres along this coast with several sections reachable from the city, including Spout Path and the Sugarloaf Path. Petty Harbour, 20 minutes south, is the fishing village version of a half day.

For the rest of the province, our Canada travel bucket list and the UNESCO World Heritage sites guide both cover Gros Morne and L'Anse aux Meadows, which are a long drive west and worth a separate trip. The Experience Finder sorts Atlantic Canada guides by length.

Signal Hill and Cape Spear are both Parks Canada sites with entry fees, and a Discovery Pass covers them. The Pass and Parking Checker explains how the pass compares with paying per site.

Common questions

Is two days enough for St. John's?

Yes for the city itself, including Signal Hill, Cape Spear and a boat trip. Add days for the East Coast Trail or the rest of the island.

When can you see puffins near St. John's?

Roughly late May to early August at the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, reached by boat from Bay Bulls about 40 minutes south of the city.

Do you need a car in St. John's?

Not downtown, which is walkable. You do for Cape Spear, Witless Bay and the East Coast Trail unless you use taxis or a tour.

What is the North Head Trail like?

Steep, exposed and spectacular, with chains and stairs on the descent from Signal Hill to the Battery. Avoid it in ice, high wind or poor footwear.

Sources

• Parks Canada: Signal Hill National Historic Site
• Parks Canada: Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site
• Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador: Witless Bay Ecological Reserve