4 Best Sights in Western Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador

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.

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.

A slender isthmus tethers this peninsula to the west coast. About 20 tiny communities retain a French and First Nations heritage, but other than that it's largely undeveloped, with a wilderness interior and a rocky coastline. There are superb ocean views from Cape St. George, and some rewarding hiking trails.