Start from 50 curated places around St. John's, CA, then choose the recommendations that fit your guests.
Restaurants & cafés
Mallard Cottage
An 18th-century saltbox cottage in Quidi Vidi turned into the city's most-loved brunch room, with a daily-changing menu built on Newfoundland producers. The dessert table at the end of weekend brunch is the move that makes locals book weeks ahead.
The Merchant Tavern
A high-ceilinged Water Street room from chef Jeremy Charles (formerly of Raymonds) where the kitchen turns Newfoundland fish and game into the city's go-to grown-up dinner. The bar program leans coastal-pickled and is one of the better ones downtown.
Trails & outdoors
North Head Trail
The 2.2-mile cliff-edge route from the Battery down to Signal Hill and back, with wooden stairs cut into the rock and harbour views the whole way. The single best short hike in the city.
East Coast Trail: Sugarloaf Path
A 5.7-mile coastal cliff path between Logy Bay and Quidi Vidi, with high barrens, a 1940s shipwreck site, and some of the most exposed clifftop walking near St. John's. Hard but unforgettable.
Things to do
The Rooms
The province's combined museum, art gallery and archives — the single best indoor cultural day in St. John's, with rotating contemporary art shows alongside the permanent Newfoundland history galleries. Strong rainy-day fallback.
Quidi Vidi Brewery
Newfoundland's largest craft brewery, in a converted fish plant on the Quidi Vidi harbour. The taproom has cliff-and-water views and pours the Iceberg Beer made with water from actual icebergs — yes, really.
Landmarks & sights
Signal Hill National Historic Site
The cliff-top fortification overlooking the harbour where Marconi caught the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901. Wind-blasted, gorgeous, and the single best vantage point in the city.
Cabot Tower
The 1898 stone tower crowning Signal Hill, built to mark Cabot's 1497 landfall and Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Small Marconi exhibit inside, 360-degree views from the roof.