News

Travelers seeking unspoiled places and culturally authentic experiences now have a valuable new resource in a comprehensive “Geotourism MapGuide” and website for Canada’s Eastern Newfoundland region. The landmark project has taken two years to plan and execute and is a historically significant asset for everyone who visits or lives in the region.

It’s that exciting time of the year again. Time to launch two brand new Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism TV ads. The two new chapters of the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism story, Most Easterly Point and Conversation, highlight the compelling differences that make this province the ideal destination.

CONCHE, Newfoundland - I'm preparing to be drawn and quartered by my friends as we drive a long gravel road on the northeast tip of Newfoundland's rugged Great Northern Peninsula with no idea how far it is to the French Shore tapestries in Conche, an outport of 200 that had no road connection with the rest of the island until 1970.

Fast forward to 2012. I find myself in the rugged Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, at the historic town of Bonavista frantically trying to channel the vague memories of my salad days on the banks of Berkshire.

On more than one occasion, a day-tripper to Trinity has asked Marieke Gow where her home really is. It’s incomprehensible for some that Trinity — with its heritage buildings, utterly charming stores and residents so friendly it’s easy to assume they might be paid to behave that way — could be anything but a manufactured tourist attraction.

Zita Cobb transformed a dwindling community off the coast of Newfoundland into a creative hub where artists and architects come together to take inspiration from the beautiful landscape.

On my recent trip to Newfoundland this September, I was exposed to some of the most remote parts of Canada’s most easterly province. To say they were awe-inspiring might be the biggest understatement of the century.

UPPER AMHERST COVE, NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR — The view alone makes a trip to Katie Hayes’ new establishment in rural Newfoundland worth the drive.

In the eternal struggle to find a place to get away from it all, one small Canadian fishing village is providing travelers with the perfect blend of natural beauty, artistic inspiration and service few far-flung places offer these days.

“What kinds of pie do you have tonight?” the man sitting by the window asked. He and I were both eating dinner in a café in the outport of Cow Head, N.L.

CUPIDS, Newfoundland Labrador – Up on the rooftop garden of the Cupids Legacy Centre, Peter Laracy is delivering some stern advice. About fairies. "If you hear strange music, don't follow it...

ST. JOHN’S—These are heady days in this oft-beleaguered town. The oil industry has brought a boom. There are new condo projects downtown and restaurants serving blistered Naples-style pizzas and Japanese fusion cuisine. New shops on Water St. sell the sort of trendy goods you’d find on Queen West or Ossington.

What do fish and brewis, cod tongues, toutons, Jiggs’ dinner and moose meatballs have in common? They are just a few of the delicious dishes served in Labrador and Newfoundland. My only complaint after spending two weeks driving across Labrador and down the west coast of Newfoundland with my husband, Barrie, is that I put on more pounds than I care to divulge.

The province of Newfoundland and Labrador teems with culinary traditions from the sea and the land...

When the last of the pack ice disappears and St. John’s harbour readies itself for summer traffic, one might be lucky enough to see an iceberg making its way behind the ships. The glaciers begin their parade down “iceberg alley” each April, slow moving and stately like German opera singers. It’s a kind of magic, spotting one.

The approaching centenary of Titanic’s sinking has brought out all kinds of projects and commemorations. While most focus on some aspect of the ship, its crew or passengers – what they ate, what they wore, what they danced to - the role wireless played in helping rescue more than 700 people is the subject of a new social media project from Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism.

Newfoundland, a.k.a. “The Rock,” (for reasons obvious to anyone who visits), is Canada’s eastern most province. It is a land of anomalies. It is almost 2,500 miles closer to Europe than to Vancouver on the west coast of Canada. Despite being almost as large as Cuba, less than half a million residents call it home.

In the true Newfoundland and Labrador style of coming together to face a challenge, a team of local chefs will take over the kitchen at Bacalao to offer special five-course dinners while Chef Mike Barsky and the team represent the province at the Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships in BC February 8-12.

2012 is off to a great start with the launch of two brand new Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism TV ads.

Still relatively unknown as a tourism destination, Newfoundland and Labrador is a treasury of fascinating history, scenery, great seafood, ghostly “happenings”, traditional music and friendly people.

But this is where the North American day dawns first.