It’s the question we see more than any other from people planning a trip: “We can’t do everything Bonavista or Twillingate?”
Both are fishing towns turned visitor favourites, both sit at the end of a peninsula road, and both deserve more than a drive-through. But they’re not interchangeable. Here’s the honest breakdown, from people who watch this debate play out every week.
The quick verdict Bonavista or Twillingate
- Choose Bonavista if puffins are your #1 priority, you want the shorter drive, and you like your history big this is John Cabot landfall country.
- Choose Twillingate if icebergs are the dream (especially May–June), boat tours top your list, and you’re pairing it with a Fogo Island day.
- Choose both if you have 7 days or more. They’re about 4 hours apart by road, and together they’re the classic east-and-central Newfoundland trip.
The drive
This is where a lot of trips are won or lost.
- St. John’s → Bonavista: 301 km, about 3.5 hours.
- St. John’s → Twillingate: 444 km, about 5 hours.
- Bonavista → Twillingate: roughly 4 hours, through Terra Nova country.
- Flying into Gander instead? Twillingate is only 115 km (about 1.5 hours) from there which flips the math completely.
If you’re flying in and out of St. John’s with limited days, Bonavista is the kinder drive. If you’re crossing the island anyway, Twillingate sits naturally on the route west.
Icebergs Bonavista or Twillingate
Twillingate wins this one. It bills itself as the Iceberg Capital of the World for a reason it sits right in Iceberg Alley, and in a good May or June the bergs ground offshore and stay in view for days. Bonavista sees bergs too, but it’s not the guarantee Twillingate is in peak season.
Honest timing note: iceberg season typically runs May into June, sometimes stretching into early July. By late July and August, plan for whales and scenery not bergs at either town.
Puffins
Bonavista wins this one because of Elliston. A short drive from Bonavista, Elliston’s puffin viewing site is one of the closest land-based puffin experiences in North America: the birds nest on an island just offshore, and they often come within a few metres of the viewing area. Twillingate has puffins on boat tours, but for puffins up close on foot, Elliston is the spot. Puffin season typically runs May through August.
Elliston also gives you the root cellars the town is known as the root cellar capital, with well over a hundred of them built into the hillsides.
Whales and boat tours
Even both deliver in summer. Twillingate’s boat tours go out for icebergs in spring and whales as the season turns. The Bonavista side answers with boat tours from Trinity, about 30 minutes down the road, in some of the best whale water on the island. Either way: book your tour before you arrive in June and July they sell out.
History and the towns themselves
Bonavista is the bigger story historically: Cape Bonavista Lighthouse on the point, the Ryan Premises National Historic Site telling the cod-fishery story, the Matthew Legacy building, and Dungeon Provincial Park’s collapsed sea cave just outside town. Give it a full day minimum two nights is better.
Twillingate spreads across two islands joined by a causeway, with Long Point Lighthouse above Crow Head, the French Beach trail, and a working-harbour feel that hasn’t been polished for tourists. It’s the town people fall for quietly.
The add-ons
- From Bonavista: Trinity is 30 minutes away historic streets, the Skerwink Trail at Port Rexton, theatre and boat tours. This pairing is why the Bonavista Peninsula punches above its weight.
- From Twillingate: Fogo Island. The ferry at Farewell is roughly an hour up the road, and a Fogo day (or overnight) turns a good trip into a great one.
How we’d split the days
- 4–5 days total, flying in/out of St. John’s: Bonavista Peninsula (2 nights) + St. John’s (2 nights). Twillingate would eat a full day in driving.
- 7 days: St. John’s (2) → Bonavista/Trinity (2) → Twillingate (2) → back to St. John’s (1). Our 7-day Newfoundland itinerary lays this route out day by day.
- 10 days: do both properly, add Fogo Island, and slow down. The free 10-day itinerary PDF covers exactly that trip.
One last honest note
Whichever you pick, book the big things early for rental cars, boat tours, and the best places to stay in both towns go first for June and July. And leave a spare day in your plan: Newfoundland weather rewrites itineraries, and the unplanned day is often the one people talk about most.
Torn on your own route? That’s literally what our Insiders trip-planning help is for and the debate continues daily on our Facebook page. Come argue your side. #explorenl
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