Highways · Newfoundland · St. John's
Written by Dan
St. John's harbor and downtown, seen from Signal Hill.
After the storm in Bonavista, it was a 190-mile drive to St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Airstream stayed at the Pippy Park Campground while the days were spent exploring Signal Hill, the coast north of the city, Cape Spear and the downtown harbor, plus a boat tour among the seabirds south of town.
There was no specific plan for this visit. Here's how it worked out.
The numbers on the map match the list. Tap a pin to jump to that part of the post. The map opens on the city and the harbor, and the buttons show everything else.
It's about 190 miles from Bonavista to St. John's, around four and a half hours of driving. The Airstream was set up at Pippy Park on May 13.
A little history first. St. John's is the capital and largest city of Newfoundland and Labrador, with about 110,500 people in the 2021 census and roughly 212,600 in the metro area. It sits on a sheltered harbor reached through a narrow channel called the Narrows, and fishing crews were using it for most of the 1500s, long before it became a permanent town.
The name is tied to a story that John Cabot sailed in on the feast day of St. John the Baptist in 1497, but that's most likely a legend that came along later with the British settlers. What is documented is August 5, 1583, when Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed the harbor for Queen Elizabeth I as England's first overseas colony. Gilbert never made it home. He was lost at sea on the voyage back.
The harbor has been fought over and burned more than once. The last battle of the Seven Years' War in North America was fought on Signal Hill in 1762, when the French surrendered St. John's to the British. And on July 8, 1892, a fire that started on Carter's Hill spread through the east end and destroyed much of the main commercial area.
Downtown St. John's, rebuilt after the fire of 1892.
The Pippy Park Campground in St. John's was the first full-service campground since leaving Indiana, and it had opened for the season the day before arrival. For urban camping, it was great. There was some noise from the traffic, but it was quiet at night, and it couldn't be heard from inside the trailer. I liked the location because it was close to everything and very convenient. The staff was very friendly and accommodating, and they gave us many useful suggestions on where to go and what to see. It's about 12 miles from Cape Spear.
Our Airstream at Pippy Park on May 13, with the Starlink antenna on its pole.
Our rating for the Pippy Park Campground
Signal Hill guards the entrance to the harbor, and Cabot Tower sits on top, up a paved path from the parking area. It was built between 1897 and 1900 to mark the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's voyage and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and it's built of stone in the Gothic Revival style.
Towing to Signal Hill isn't recommended. The road up is steep, the parking lot can get crowded, and there might not be room for your rig. Leave the Airstream at the campground and drive up in the truck.
The tower is also where Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal on December 12, 1901. It was the Morse code letter S, three short dots, sent from Cornwall, England, about 3,400 kilometers (2,100 miles) away. Marconi had to fly a kite to hold up his antenna in the wind to catch it.
Signal Hill got its name from its job. It was first called the Lookout, and the military used it for signaling from 1704 to 1870. In 1796 a blockhouse built just for flag signals became the first permanent building on the hill, and flags raised on a mast at the summit warned the garrison of ships approaching the harbor. Cabot Tower itself served as a flag signaling tower from 1900, and the last official signaling mast came down in 1958.
Looking out through the Narrows to the open Atlantic.
From Signal Hill, Fort Amherst sits straight across the Narrows on South Head. After the British won St. John's back in 1762, a stronger fort was built there to guard the harbor entrance, and it wasn't finished until 1777. A light has stood there since the early 1810s, and it's counted as the first lighthouse on Newfoundland's coast. The one you see now was built in 1951 and is the third on that spot, with the keeper's house beside it.
The Fort Amherst lighthouse and keeper's house on the far side of the Narrows.
Marine Drive runs north of the city right along the coast to Outer Cove, Middle Cove and Torbay, and there are more coastal areas to explore around Torbay and Birchy Nap. The East Coast Trail runs through here. The waves were coming in hard.
The coast at Outer Cove, with the surf breaking at the foot of the cliffs.
Middle Cove Beach is a pebble beach, and it's best known for the capelin roll. In June and July, schools of these small fish come in to spawn on the beach, and people drive out in the evening to watch. In May, the waves were the show instead.
Cape Spear was definitely a highlight and worth the drive. It's about 12 miles from the campground, and Parks Canada calls it Canada's most easterly point of land.
The old Cape Spear lighthouse, with the Atlantic behind it.
The older of the two lighthouses was built in 1835 and 1836 and was lit through 1955. It's the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador, and only the second light on the island's coast, after the one at Fort Amherst. Parks Canada restored it in 1975 to look the way it did around 1835 to 1840, and in season you can go inside. The tall white concrete tower beside it took over in 1955 and still shows the light.
Heather and I climbed up the hill and explored the old lighthouse. It's a square, two-story building with the light tower right in the middle of it, and it's been restored and furnished the way a keeper's family would have lived in it in 1839. The Cantwell family kept the light here from 1846 until 1955.
The two of us sat on the rocks for a while, just looking east across the Atlantic Ocean, with nothing but open water between us and Europe.
There are dangerous cliffs all around the point, with little to no signage warning people and no fences to keep anyone from falling. The cliffs are hundreds of feet high and go straight down to the ocean below. The cape itself sits about 245 feet above the water, so stay well back from the edge.
The point was also a fort during the Second World War. Two 10-inch guns went in here in 1941 to protect the entrance to St. John's harbor, because the cape sat on the convoy route between Europe and North America, and the concrete gun emplacements are still there.
A walk around downtown and the harbor area ended with a great dinner at the St. John's Fish Exchange, which was recommended to us. The food was excellent, and the table overlooked the harbor. I definitely recommend it to anyone.
I ordered a glass of Iceberg beer, a lager from the Quidi Vidi Brewery. Quidi Vidi (pronounced "kiddy viddy") is a little village on the edge of St. John's, and the brewery started up there in 1996 in an old fish plant.
What makes the beer different is the water. It's brewed with water from icebergs that are harvested off the Newfoundland coast, and the ice is described as being around 20,000 years old. Because that ice started out as compacted snow, it has no minerals and lots of tiny trapped air bubbles, which is said to give the beer a very light taste. The brewery's story is that it started using iceberg water the year a giant iceberg jammed across the harbor and drew hundreds of onlookers.
The Harbour Walk sign beside the wharf. It welcomes visitors to the port of St. John's "for over 500 years."
On May 15 came the Gatherall's Puffin & Whale Watch tour out of Bay Bulls. Mike couldn't make it out to the puffin viewing area in Bonavista, so this was the tour that let him see them.
The boats run out to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, which covers four islands: Gull, Green, Great and Pee Pee. The province calls it North America's largest Atlantic puffin colony, with more than 260,000 pairs nesting there in the summer. Boats are regulated in the reserve from April 1 to September 1, and landing on the islands takes a permit, so the water is where you see it. It was early in the season, and there were still plenty of puffins on the grassy slopes.
Puffins on a grassy slope above the water.
A single slope packed with seabirds.
On May 16, the Manuels River Hibernia Interpretation Centre in Conception Bay South made a stop on the way out, with the Airstream in tow. The river is famous for the trilobite fossils in its shale beds, which date from the Middle Cambrian, about 500 million years ago, and the centre displays fossils from the river. Trails run along the river from the building.
Preflight note. A frozen fresh water line is a Preflight item. If you're traveling in the shoulder season, add a heated wrap or a nightly disconnect to your own list. Our Preflight checklists are free.
There wasn't time for everything. These are the places on the list for a return visit, from the sources used for this post.
How far is St. John's from Bonavista?
About 190 miles, around four and a half hours of driving.
How much does the Pippy Park Campground cost?
A full-hookup site was C$45 to C$50 per night in May 2025, plus a C$2 reservation fee. That was about US$32 to US$35 plus about US$1.40, at roughly 0.70 US dollars per Canadian dollar in early October 2026. Exchange rates and campground rates change, so check before you go.
Can you tow an RV up Signal Hill?
It isn't recommended. The road up is steep, the parking lot can get crowded, and there might not be room for your rig.
Is Ferryland a day trip from St. John's?
Yes. Ferryland was a day trip on May 13, 2025, during the stay at the Pippy Park Campground, even though it's numbered as its own stop on our Newfoundland map. It has its own page, with the lighthouse hike and the icebergs.
Where did you stay in St. John's?
The Pippy Park Campground, a full-service campground inside the city. It was the first full-service campground since leaving Indiana, and it had opened for the season the day before arrival. It has RV and tent sites, with 30A and 50A hookups, water and sewer at the full-hookup sites.
Is Cape Spear really the easternmost point?
Parks Canada describes Cape Spear as Canada's most easterly point of land. Its 1836 lighthouse is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador, and it sits about 12 miles from Pippy Park in St. John's.
What happened at Signal Hill in 1901?
On December 12, 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal on Signal Hill. It was the Morse code letter S, sent from Cornwall, England.
Where can you see puffins near St. John's?
Boat tours from Bay Bulls, about 22 miles south of the city, run out to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, which the province calls North America's largest Atlantic puffin colony. Gatherall's Puffin & Whale Watch, on May 15, showed plenty of puffins.
How long is the Gatherall's puffin tour?
Gatherall's lists its tours at 90 minutes or more, with up to five tours a day from May 14 to September 20.
Does your water line freeze when camping in St. John's in May?
It can. It was still cold at night in mid-May, and our fresh water line from the spigot to the trailer froze one night at the Pippy Park Campground. Disconnect it overnight or use a heated wrap.
What is Iceberg beer?
Iceberg beer is a lager brewed by the Quidi Vidi Brewery in St. John's, Newfoundland, since 1996. It's made with water from icebergs harvested off the Newfoundland coast, which is described as being around 20,000 years old.
When is the capelin roll at Middle Cove Beach?
The capelin usually roll onto the beach from mid-June into July, but the timing changes from year to year. In May there were waves, not capelin.
Overall, it was a good stay. For urban camping, the campground was great. It was close to everything and very convenient, there was some traffic noise but it was quiet at night, and the staff was very friendly and accommodating. It earned 4.5 flamingos.
What we'd change. Be ready for the cold and the foot traffic. The nights were cold enough to freeze our fresh water line, so next time it gets disconnected overnight or wrapped with heat, and with a university nearby, a lot of people walk through the campground every day. The Airstream should stay at the campground for Signal Hill, too.
History from Wikipedia's St. John's article. Signal Hill and Cabot Tower from Parks Canada and Wikipedia. Fort Amherst from Wikipedia and Parks Canada's heritage lighthouse listing. Cape Spear from Parks Canada, its historic lighthouse and Fort Cape Spear pages, The Canadian Encyclopedia and Canada's Historic Places. Signal Hill's signaling history from Parks Canada, and Fort Amherst's construction from Lighthousefriends. Pippy Park Campground details from Pippy Park, with the exchange rate (about 0.70 US dollars per Canadian dollar on October 2, 2026) from exchange-rates.org. The More Time list from Wikipedia's articles on Quidi Vidi, George Street, The Rooms and Petty Harbour. The capelin roll from Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism. The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve from Destination St. John's. Manuels River from Destination St. John's and Wikipedia.
Ferryland is numbered as the next stop on our Newfoundland map, but it was a day trip from St. John's. Read about the snowy lighthouse hike and the icebergs of Ferryland.
