7 Best Sights in Western Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador

L'Anse aux Meadows is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Norwegian team of Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad discovered the remains of Viking settlements here in 1960. In 2021, researchers determined that the settlement had been active in 1021 AD. Parks Canada has a visitor center and has reconstructed four of the huts to give you a sense of the era and how the Vikings lived. An interpretation program introduces you to the food, clothing, and way of life of that time. The site has also turned one reconstructed hut into a very fun, interactive escape room called the Test of Tykir. 

A visit here is a must, especially for kids, who often find themselves enthralled by the touch tank, the centerpiece of the 45-minute guided aquarium tours. In addition to experiencing sea stars, crabs, algae, and other marine life firsthand, participants learn about the station's past and current research projects. Tours begin every 30 minutes.

On the outskirts of Woody Point, a charming community of old houses and imported Lombardy poplars, this is the main center for interpreting the geology of Gros Morne National Park. Educational programs about natural history are conducted, and there's a craft shop. Learn about indigenous culture of the Mi'Kmaq in Newfoundland in an exhibition called Miawpukek: The Middle River. At the back of the center's parking lot is the fine Lookout Hills trail, a 5-km (3-mile) trek with outstanding views of Bonne Bay, Gros Morne Mountain, and the Tablelands.

A museum and a nearby interpretation center document the life and inspirational work of the English-born doctor Wilfred Grenfell (later Sir Wilfred), who in the early 20th century provided much-needed medical services and transformed the lives of the people of this remote land.

If you are using the Port aux Basques ferry, this park is 10 km (6 miles) from the port and makes a good first or last stop, particularly if you're on a camping trip. Rich in natural flora, this is a nesting site for the piping plover. One of the hiking trails leads to waterfalls on Little Barachois River; another, with views of Table Mountain, includes fitness stations. The long, sandy Cape Ray Beach is good for swimming and sunbathing—its day-use area has picnic tables and fireplaces, and there are about a hundred campsites.

An intriguing collection of live and preserved insects, spiders, and scorpions from six temperate zones is housed here, and there's a glass beehive with 10,000 honeybees. The verdant greenhouse is home to hundreds of live tropical butterflies. A walking trail leads through woodland to the Humber River and Rocky Brook—you have a good chance of spotting beavers and muskrats from the viewing deck. Check out the gift shop, which sometimes stocks lollipops with edible dried scorpions inside. Picnic tables provide a nice spot to stretch and rest. The insectarium is a one-minute drive off the Trans-Canada Highway at Deer Lake; turn north onto Route 430, also signed here as Bonne Bay Road.

Two kilometers (1 mile) east of L'Anse aux Meadows is Norstead, a reconstruction of an 11th-century Viking port, with a chieftain's hall, church, and ax-throwing area. Interpreters in period dress answer questions as they go about their Viking business (albeit in sneakers). A highlight is the Snorri, a reconstructed viking knarr that sailed from Greenland to L'anse Aux Meadows in 1997, re-creating Leif Eriksson's voyage.