3 Best Sights in Western Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador

As depicted beautifully in the movie Hold Fast (2013), this spectacular 9-km (5½-mile) round-trip hike starts at Long Pond, on Route 431, 5 km (3 miles) east of Trout River, passes through the Tablelands barrens, and descends sharply to a coastline of eroded cliffs and green meadows. Be prepared to do a bit of climbing on your return journey. A longer version of the trail includes a loop around Wallace Brook. Some parts of the cliff edges are undercut, so stick to the trail.

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.

Stretching all the way from the southwest coast to the Northern Peninsula, a distance of about 400 km (250 miles), the Long Range Mountains form the northernmost extent of the Appalachian Mountains. Their highest point, southwest of Corner Brook, is 2,670 feet, and the range encompasses the Gros Morne National Park and several provincial parks. Jacques Cartier, who saw them in 1534 as he was exploring the area on behalf of France, noted that their shape reminded him of the long, rectangular-shaped farm buildings of his home village in France. Among the mountains, small villages are interspersed with rivers teeming with salmon and trout.