Itinerary

Arrive in St John’s and transfer to your hotel for a two-night stay.

Discover St. John’s culinary specialities on a three hour walking tour through Newfoundland’s capital. Explore the city’s stories, people and flavours – from iconic pastries and an historic haunted pub to a former fruit stand rebuilt after the Great Fire. Sample traditional Newfoundland dishes such as moose meat, fries with gravy, toutons and molasses, fish cakes, local berries and regional desserts.

Board the Ocean Albatros in St John’s harbour. Jellybean Row’s famed bright wooden houses rise up the hillsides as the ship prepares to cast off. After the safety briefing and drill, settle into your cabin and watch the harbour lights dwindle while the ship heads north toward Notre Dame Bay.

Anchor in Notre Dame Bay for a visit to Twillingate, a classic Newfoundland fishing community perched on rocky outcrops above the water. Join a guided coastal walk with local residents or take time to browse small artisan shops and galleries.

Step ashore at L’Anse aux Meadows, the only confirmed Norse settlement in North America. For centuries the Viking sagas were dismissed as little more than a fanciful tale – until excavations in 1961 uncovered clear evidence that Europeans reached these shores almost 500 years before Columbus’ more documented arrival.

Expert guides lead a walk through this UNESCO World Heritage Site, where reconstructed longhouses sit on the same windswept ground the Vikings once knew. The surrounding landscape – shaped by centuries of Atlantic weather and still strikingly raw – offers a vivid sense of how this remote outpost must have felt to its original settlers.

Across the Strait of Belle Isle lies the mainland region of Labrador, home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Red Bay – a vast, sparsely populated region where life has always been shaped by the ocean. It was here that Basque whalers established one of the most important 16th century whaling stations in the world, leaving traces of a remarkable maritime past.

Head ashore in this small, quietly compelling community and set out on foot to explore the Labrador wilderness, where raw coastal scenery and deep history sit side by side.

Bonne Bay’s forested hills and deep fjord lead into Woody Point, gateway to Gros Morne National Park. With local guides, walk through the extraordinary Tablelands – a stark, ochre coloured landscape formed when a slab of Earth’s oceanic crust was pushed to the surface around 470 million years ago. Its bare rock and unusual geology create an almost otherworldly setting.

Continue into one of Newfoundland’s wilder corners at Garia Bay, where rugged coastline and dense boreal forest dominate the landscape. Take time exploring this quiet stretch of shoreline where moose are commonly seen, seabirds fill the air overhead, and Newfoundland black bears often roam the forest edge.

A short crossing brings you to St Pierre, part of France’s last remaining North American territory. The landscape looks Canadian, but everything else feels undeniably French – language, architecture, cafés and cuisine. Spend the day with local guides discovering how this distinctive outpost came to be, and how daily life here blends a European identity with a North American setting.

Arrive back in St John’s in the morning and, after a final breakfast on board, say farewell to the crew and step ashore. Transfer to your hotel for another overnight stay.

Transfer from your hotel to the airport for your onward flight home or extend your trip with extra nights on the island or on the mainland. Contact us to discuss your options.