World Country Guide

Travel - International

Air
Air Canada (AC) operates regular services to Newfoundland and Labrador. Air Labrador, CanJet, Interprovincial Airlines, Jazz and WestJet operate services within the province and to the Maritime Provinces.

International airports
Gander (YQX) is 3km (2 miles) from the city centre. Airport facilities include car parking, restaurant, duty free shop and banks.
St John’s (YYT) is 8km (5 miles) from the city centre (travel time – 15 minutes).
Other major airports are at Churchill Falls, Deer Lake, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, St Anthony, Stephenville and Wabush.

Sea
A year-round daily passenger and vehicle ferry service runs between North Sydney, Nova Scotia and Port aux Basques on Newfoundland’s southwest coast (crossing time – six hours). Summer services run three times a week between North Sydney and Argentia on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, mid-June to mid-September (crossing time – 12 hours). Reservations can be made with Marine Atlantic (tel: (800) 341 7981 (toll-free in USA and Canada) or (709) 695 4200; fax: (902) 564 7480; e-mail: info@marine-atlantic.ca; website: www.marine-atlantic.ca). There is also a summer ferry to the French islands of St Pierre & Miquelon from Fortune on Newfoundland’s Burin Peninsula (crossing time – 90 minutes) (tel: (800) 563 2006 (toll-free in USA and Canada) or (709) 832 0429). Intra–provincial ferries connect island communities with larger towns. A seasonal twice-daily summer ferry (tel: (709) 729 2830) connects Blanc Sablon in southern Labrador and St Barbe on Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula with an 80-minute crossing. Remote communities on the Labrador coast and Newfoundland’s south coast are also served by coastal boats. All intra-provincial ferry services can be checked online (website: www.gov.nf.ca/ferryservices).

Rail
A passenger service provided by The Qubec North Shore & Labrador Railway operates between Sept Isles in Qubec and Labrador City in western Labrador (tel: (709) 944 8205).

Road
A modern paved highway (Route 1, the Trans-Canada Highway) crosses Newfoundland from Port aux Basques in the southwest to the capital of St John’s in the east. Distance is 905km (565 miles). Paved secondary roads connect most communities to the main highway. Visitors can reach western Labrador along a partially paved highway from Baie Comeau, Qubec. Route 500, a seasonal gravel highway dubbed the ‘Freedom Road’ by residents, connects Labrador City and Wabush in the west with the interior town of Churchill Falls and Happy Valley-Goose Bay in east-central Labrador. There are limited services along this road. Coach: DRL Coachlines (website: www.drlgroup.com) operate a daily scheduled bus service between St John’s and Port aux Basques (Route 1). Stops along the route include Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor and Corner Brook. Route 510 connects communities along Labrador’s southeast coast between L’Anse au Clair on the Quebec/Labrador border and Cartwright. The road is paved for the first 85km to Red Bay and is Class A gravel from there to Charlottetown (160km). From L’Anse au Claire to Cartwright is 400km.