7 Days / 6 Nights | Small-Group Guided Journey | Fully All-Inclusive
Newfoundland: Fjords, Cliffs & Great Tables
This is where the landscape opens up—and where you begin to feel just how far you’ve come.
Of the four journeys Great Earth Expeditions operates, this one asks the most and returns the most. Over seven days, you’ll cross the open ocean by ferry, move up the west coast of Newfoundland, and spend three nights based in Gros Morne National Park—one of the most geologically significant and visually dramatic landscapes in North America. Cliffs that rise several hundred metres from the sea. A fjord carved by glaciers that retreated ten thousand years ago. A mountain hike that puts you above everything, looking out over a terrain so ancient and so vast it recalibrates your sense of scale entirely.
This journey moves through more ground than any other in the collection—ferry crossings, national park access, longer days on the road between places that genuinely feel remote. That sense of travel between worlds is not incidental; it’s the point. You don’t stumble into Gros Morne. You earn it.
This journey is fully all-inclusive from departure in Halifax to your final drop-off at Deer Lake Airport: every meal, every activity, all accommodations, all ferry passage, and all ground transportation are covered. There is nothing to coordinate and no reason to reach for your wallet. Your role is simply to be present.
Starting at $6595 + HST
Maximum 12 Guests
What’s included—everything
All-inclusive means exactly that. From the moment you depart Halifax to drop-off at Deer Lake Airport, the following are fully covered:
- All ground transportation throughout the journey
- Return ferry crossing of the Cabot Strait, North Sydney to Port aux Basques
- 6 nights’ accommodation across Cape Breton, Port aux Basques, Corner Brook, and three nights in Norris Point
- All meals—breakfasts daily, all lunches, and six dinners
- All guided activities: sailing on the Bras d’Or Lake, Marble Mountain Zipline, Green Gardens Trail hike, Western Brook Pond boat tour, sea kayaking on Bonne Bay, and the full-day Gros Morne Mountain hike
- National park fees and activity reservations throughout
- Dedicated local guide for the full duration
No hidden costs, no optional add-ons, no awkward wallet moments. The logistics on a journey of this scope are genuinely complex—ferry schedules, park access windows, tide-dependent activities—and every element is managed in advance and handled throughout.
What sets this journey apart
- Travel from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland, including a Cabot Strait ferry crossing
- Experience the Bras d’Or Lake by guided sailing excursion with Amoeba Tours
- Spend a night on Newfoundland’s southwest coast in Port aux Basques—the island’s first impression
- Explore the west coast from Corner Brook to Gros Morne National Park
- Take on a high-energy zipline experience at Marble Mountain, above the Humber Valley
- Hike the Green Gardens Trail, where coastal cliffs, sea stacks, and open meadow converge
- Boat deep into the fjord of Western Brook Pond—one of Canada’s most iconic and inaccessible landscapes
- Take on the Gros Morne Mountain hike, one of the park’s most demanding and rewarding full-day routes
- Paddle the sheltered waters of Bonne Bay by sea kayak
- Spend three nights based in Norris Point—long enough to settle into the rhythm of the park
- Travel in small, intimate groups—never coach-style—with a dedicated guide for every 6–8 guests
Guided by someone who knows this coast deeply
Your journey is led by a guide born and raised in Atlantic Canada—someone with a deep familiarity with the landscapes, logistical realities, and cultural texture of a journey that crosses provincial lines and open ocean.
A trip of this scope involves moving parts that most travellers never see: ferry windows that don’t wait, park trail conditions that change with the weather, a mountain hike that requires sound judgment about when to go and when to hold. Your guide manages all of it in real time—not from a script, but from experience. They know Gros Morne the way a local knows it: not just the trails on the map, but the light at Western Brook Pond in the late afternoon, the route adjustments that turn a weather delay into a better day, and the small places along the way that never appear in any guidebook.
Groups travel with a maximum of 8 guests per guide—intentionally small, so the experience stays personal and the pace remains yours, even across seven days and several hundred kilometres.
Day By Day
Day 1 — Halifax to Cape Breton
Halifax → Baddeck → North Sydney
Travel north from Halifax toward Cape Breton, arriving in Baddeck—set along the shores of the Bras d’Or Lake. Before the journey turns toward the open ocean and Newfoundland’s west coast, there’s a moment here worth taking.
Step aboard with Amoeba Tours for a guided sailing excursion on the Bras d’Or Lake. Still water, open views, and an unhurried afternoon—it’s a deliberately calm counterpoint to what’s ahead, and a fitting way to ease into seven days of movement.
Continue to North Sydney and settle in ahead of the morning crossing.
ACCOMMODATION
A comfortable, well-positioned property in North Sydney—chosen for its practicality and proximity to the ferry terminal. This is a transit night; the journey begins in earnest tomorrow.
DINNER
A relaxed first evening—good food, an early night, and the knowledge that by this time tomorrow you’ll be standing in Newfoundland.
Day 2 — Crossing to Newfoundland
North Sydney → Cabot Strait → Port aux Basques
Board the ferry in North Sydney and cross the Cabot Strait—roughly six hours of open water between Nova Scotia and the island of Newfoundland. This is not a transfer to be managed or waited out. It’s one of the defining passages of the journey.
The Cabot Strait is wide, often rough, and genuinely open ocean. The deck gives you a horizon in every direction and a growing sense that you are moving toward something remote. By the time Port aux Basques appears on the western edge of the Newfoundland coast, the landscape has already begun to make its first impression—exposed, windswept, and nothing like what you left behind.
Arrive in Port aux Basques and settle in for the evening.
ACCOMMODATION
A comfortable property in Port aux Basques, chosen for setting and quality. Your first night on the island.
DINNER
An introduction to Newfoundland’s west coast table—fresh, local, and unpretentious in the best sense. The island announces itself here.
Day 3 — Into Western Newfoundland
Port aux Basques → Corner Brook → Marble Mountain
Travel north from Port aux Basques toward Corner Brook, where the terrain begins to build and the scale of western Newfoundland starts to become apparent. The drive itself is part of the experience—open country, long sightlines, and a landscape that feels genuinely unhurried.
At Marble Mountain, take on the zipline park above the Humber Valley. It’s a different register from the hiking and paddling days ahead—faster, more kinetic, and positioned with wide views over forested slopes and the valley below. A high-energy afternoon before the pace shifts toward the park.
The evening allows time to settle into Corner Brook before the journey moves into Gros Morne.
ACCOMMODATION
A well-located hotel or inn in Corner Brook, selected for comfort and setting. Confirmed at booking.
DINNER
A grounded evening meal in Corner Brook—locally sourced and unhurried, with the best days of the journey still ahead.
Day 4 — Into Gros Morne & the Green Gardens Trail
Corner Brook → Norris Point → Green Gardens Trail
Travel into Gros Morne National Park, and feel the landscape change as you go. By the time you reach Norris Point—positioned along the shores of Bonne Bay, with the Gros Morne peaks visible across the water—it becomes clear why this place holds UNESCO World Heritage status. The geology here is among the most significant on the planet. The scenery makes a more immediate argument.
Settle into Norris Point, your base for the next three nights. Then set out on the Green Gardens Trail: a route that descends through boreal forest and open meadow before arriving at a dramatic stretch of coastline shaped by sea stacks, cliffs, and the cold North Atlantic. It’s one of the park’s most rewarding hikes, and a strong opening statement for what the next three days will deliver.
ACCOMMODATION
A carefully selected inn or lodge in Norris Point—chosen for its connection to the landscape and its quality of comfort. Three nights here. Confirmed at booking.
DINNER
Your first dinner in Gros Morne—a strong introduction to what the park’s best tables do with local ingredients. Bonne Bay provides; the kitchens here know what to do with it.
Where You'll Stay
This journey moves through distinct regions, and the accommodations reflect that. Each night’s property is chosen for its setting, its comfort, and its connection to where you are—from a well-positioned inn near the North Sydney ferry terminal to the character lodges and inns of Norris Point, where Bonne Bay and the Gros Morne peaks form the view from the window.
Three nights in Norris Point are the heart of the journey’s accommodation. Staying in one place for that duration allows you to settle in properly—to wake up in the park, return to the same table in the evening, and feel like a temporary resident rather than a tourist passing through. The properties here are chosen because they belong to Gros Morne in the way only a few places do.
Specific properties are confirmed at booking and may vary by season and availability. What doesn’t vary is the standard: well-located, well-run, and genuinely reflective of where you are.
Dining
Newfoundland’s food culture has undergone a quiet transformation over the past decade—driven by chefs and producers who take the island’s larder seriously. Salt cod, bakeapple, snow crab, Bonne Bay mussels, and wild game prepared with the same care you’d find in any serious kitchen. The best of it tastes specifically and unmistakably like Newfoundland, and you won’t find it anywhere else.
Each dinner is chosen to reflect the region you’re in that evening—locally sourced, thoughtfully prepared, and matched to the character of the day. After a full-day hike on Gros Morne Mountain, the meal that follows deserves to be more than an afterthought; it’s the moment the day settles into something complete. That’s the standard we hold each dinner to across all seven days.
Specific restaurants and menus are confirmed at booking and may vary by season and availability. Dietary requirements are accommodated with advance notice.
Day 5 — Fjords & Coastal Waters
Western Brook Pond → Bonne Bay
This is the day most guests point to afterward.
Travel to Western Brook Pond and board a boat into the fjord. The numbers are stark: cliffs rising over 600 metres from the water, a lake 165 metres deep, carved by glaciers that retreated ten thousand years ago and now landlocked—technically a freshwater fjord, one of only a handful on earth. No description prepares you for the scale of it. The boat moves slowly, the walls rise on both sides, and at some point the conversation tends to stop.
In the afternoon, shift to a different relationship with the water. A guided sea kayaking excursion in Bonne Bay puts you at surface level—paddling through sheltered inlets with the park ridgeline above you, close to the coastline in a way the boat tour cannot offer. Two experiences, two entirely different scales. Both necessary.
DINNER
A relaxed and memorable evening back in Norris Point—the kind of dinner that follows a day like this and doesn’t try to compete with it. Good food, good company, time to take it in.
Day 6 — Gros Morne Mountain
Gros Morne Mountain → Norris Point
The defining day of the journey—and the one that demands the most.
The Gros Morne Mountain hike is a full-day effort: a sustained climb through boreal forest that gives way to open, rocky terrain above the treeline, followed by a traverse across the Tablelands—an ancient section of the earth’s mantle pushed to the surface, rust-coloured and almost entirely without vegetation. The summit sits at 806 metres. The views from it extend across the park, the fjords, Bonne Bay, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence beyond.
It’s a challenging day. Expect six to eight hours on the mountain, variable weather, and terrain that requires solid footing and a steady pace. It’s also one of the most physically and emotionally rewarding experiences this part of the world offers. Your guide will brief you on conditions the evening before and make the call on the day.
Return to Norris Point in the late afternoon.
DINNER
The closing dinner in Gros Morne, and one of the best of the journey. After a day like this, the meal that follows carries its own weight—well-earned, unhurried, and reflective of everything the last three days have been.
Day 7 — Final Views & Departure
Norris Point → Southeast Brook Falls → Deer Lake Airport
Your final morning moves at a gentler pace—a fitting close after six days of sustained activity.
En route to Deer Lake, stop at Southeast Brook Falls, where a short walk leads to a waterfall cascading through a gorge into Bonne Bay. It’s a quieter, more intimate landscape than anything you’ve stood in over the past two days—close, detailed, and beautiful in a way that feels like a deliberate final note. The kind of place you might have walked past on another kind of trip.
Continue to Deer Lake Airport for departure. The journey ends here, but the sense of scale it leaves behind tends to linger considerably longer.
Who travels with us
This journey is for a specific kind of traveller—and it’s worth being honest about that.
They’re drawn to landscapes that require something of you: distance, effort, physical commitment. They’re comfortable with longer days on the road and a genuine sense of travelling between worlds rather than between highlights. The Gros Morne Mountain hike is a full-day physical effort on demanding terrain, and they’re not only willing to take it on—they’re drawn to that as the centrepiece of the journey.
They’ve likely done serious independent travel before and understand what it takes to pull something like this together on your own: ferry logistics, park access, trail conditions, accommodation across five different stops. They choose a guided journey not because they can’t manage those details, but because they understand what it’s worth to hand them off entirely—and what local knowledge unlocks in a landscape this complex and this remote.
They also know how to sit down to a good dinner at the end of a hard day and appreciate it for exactly what it is.
If you want to cross the open ocean, hike to the summit of one of Canada’s great national parks, boat into a landlocked fjord, and come home with a felt sense of just how far the edge of the world actually is—this journey was built for you.
