Why Visit St John’s?
This is as east as you can get. Explore all corners of St John’s unique harbour, inlcuding Signal Hill. Visit Water Street and its many bars an restaurants. There are lots of attraction close by: Quidi Vidi is a cute fishing village just north of town, Cape Spear to the south has the easternmost point of the continent, and take the ferry to explore Bell Island.
St. John’s with a population over 100,000 is the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John’s is the most easterly port and oldest City in North America. The city is progressive and has world-class facilities in marine science and technology and in offshore oil development. St. John’s is the headquarters those companies that are exploiting the underwater offshore resources in the Hibernia and Terra Nova oil fields.
Cape Spear Lighthouse
The city is surrounded by a mosaic of fishing villages, and hosts several cultural festivals, sports clubs and recreation facilities, to provide big city amenities with “small town” quality of life. Shoppers can stroll the aisles of national retailers or visit charming boutiques along Water Street, the oldest commercial street in North America, with most shops open seven days a week.
The city’s music scene is vibrant and eclectic with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, renowned choral groups and a variety of traditional Irish, jazz, and rock performers. St John’s nightlife scene is one of the most vibrant in Canada, and a history of lively pubs and taverns since the 1600s. Featuring 1920s light fixtures and cobblestones, George Street is said to have more pubs per square foot than anywhere else in North America.
Bowring Park Bridge
Whether it’s a visit to a park to commune with nature, an art gallery to absorb some culture, a museum or historical site to the reflect on the area’s 500 years of history, or just an opportunity to wander around on the colourful and storied streets, St John’s offers its visitors and residents lots to do every day of the
week.
Highway Notes
There are two points in St John’s that can be considered the eastern terminuses of the Trans-Canada Highway:
St John’s harbour, which is best accessed via Highway 2 which loops around the south end of town and past Mount Pearl. You can either access it form the downtown docksides, or take Southside Road which winds along the opposite shore to the mouth of the harbour.
From here there is a view to our other end point: Signal Hill , the place from which Marconi sent his first famous trans-Atlantic radio transmission, marked with a small bastion. This location has a great view of the ocean on one side and St John’s harbour and downtown on the other, but you are a few hundred feed above the water (no dipping your toes in the Atlantic from here). If you follow Highway 1 through St John’s scenic Pippy Park and past the airport to its endpoint, we’ve marked the map with a route via Quidi Vidi Lake to Signal Hill.
