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from the airport.and beyond

A loop from Clarenville

Discovery Trail

Distance
304.6 km
Roads
Route 230Route 239Route 238Route 235Route 234Route 233Route 1
Open the loop in Google Maps →

Google Maps is the one app that takes a loop's stops in order from a link. In another app, drive it stop by stop from the list below.

Cape Bonavista lighthouse up the track, deep blue sky.
Cape Bonavista lighthouse up the track, deep blue sky.Photo: ErixS · source · CC BY-SA 3.0

Out on the water

Boat tours that leave from here. The sea and the season decide what you see: ask them what is about. Times and prices are on each one's page.

From Trinity

From Bonavista

Every tour in the province, by kind →

A loop from Clarenville and back: 304.6 km by road, via Routes 230 · 239 · 238 · 235 · 234 · 233 · 1.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line measured along OpenStreetMap's roads.

  1. Stop 1: Random PassageDetour

    The set of the TV miniseries Random Passage at New Bonaventure, a replica of an early 1800s fishing village, per the province's tourism site. OpenStreetMap maps its admission and tearoom.

    Stopping here adds 27.8 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Random Passage ↑

  2. Stop 2: Trinity Museum

    The town's own museum. The province's tourism site counts about 350 permanent residents and some 50 architecturally significant buildings in Trinity, and names the Cooperage and a working forge among its exhibits. Check hours with the museum.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Trinity Museum ↑

  3. Stop 3: Skerwink Trail lookoutDetour

    A lookout on the Skerwink Trail at Port Rexton, which Travel + Leisure listed among the 25 best hikes in North America and Europe, per the province's tourism site. The trail passes a sea stack called the Music Box; the province names kittiwakes, gannets and whales among what you can see from it.

    Stopping here adds 5.2 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Skerwink Trail lookout ↑

  4. Stop 4: Port Union

    A town built by a union and founded by the fishermen's leader Sir William Coaker, as the province's tourism site tells it. Its boardwalk is part of the Discovery UNESCO Global Geopark, with fossils from the Ediacaran Period.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Port Union ↑

  5. Stop 5: Elliston Puffin Viewing PointDetour

    The province's tourism site calls this the closest view of puffins from land anywhere: the birds often land on the cliffs a few feet away. In season only.

    Stopping here adds 3.5 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Elliston Puffin Viewing Point ↑

  6. Stop 6: John C. Crosbie Sealers Interpretation Centre

    Opened at Elliston in June 2014, a hundred years after the disaster it exists for. On 30 March 1914 sealers from the SS Newfoundland were left on the ice in a blizzard, and the SS Southern Cross went down the same day returning from the front; more than 250 men were lost between them. Elliston lost a greater share of its men than any other community, so the centre is here.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: John C. Crosbie Sealers Interpretation Centre ↑

  7. Stop 7: The root cellars at Elliston

    A root cellar keeps vegetables from freezing in winter and cool in summer, and was ordinary domestic infrastructure before electricity. Elliston has enough still standing to be known for them. The town points visitors to an upstairs/downstairs pair built in 1915. They are on the roadside and free to see.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: The root cellars at Elliston ↑

  8. Stop 8: Dungeon Provincial ParkDetour

    A ParksNL day-use park around a collapsed sea cave, now a steep-sided crater with two ocean windows, in a sheep pasture near Cape Bonavista.

    Stopping here adds 3.5 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Dungeon Provincial Park ↑

  9. Stop 9: Cape Bonavista Lighthouse

    The top of the circle: the road up the peninsula ends at a lighthouse on the cape. From here the way home runs south down the Bonavista Bay side. It is a provincial historic site with its own season, so check with the operator whether the building is open. The cape and the view are there whatever the date.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Cape Bonavista Lighthouse ↑

  10. Stop 10: Mockbeggar Plantation

    A provincial historic site and the legacy of F. Gordon Bradley, Newfoundland's first federal cabinet minister after Confederation: a restored outport merchant's house and outbuildings, among them a former cod liver oil factory, per the province's tourism site.

    Stopping here adds 1.6 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Mockbeggar Plantation ↑

  11. Stop 11: Ryan Premises National Historic Site

    Parks Canada's site on Bonavista's waterfront: a restored fish merchant's premises that tells five centuries of the fishery. Parks Canada publishes hours and season.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Ryan Premises National Historic Site ↑
⛽ Fuel and gravel, road by road ▾
  • Route 230 →Whole road: 8 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 45 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 4% has no surface tag, so unknown.
  • Route 239 →Whole road: 0 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 17 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 0% has no surface tag, so unknown.
  • Route 238 →Whole road: 1 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 12 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 36% has no surface tag, so unknown.
  • Route 235 →Whole road: 5 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 33 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 2% has no surface tag, so unknown.
  • Route 1 →Whole road: 54 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 119 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 68% has no surface tag, so unknown.
Campground 83 km from the end →

Drive measured Oct 11, 2026, Clarenville round by Trinity, Elliston, Cape Bonavista, Plate Cove East, Summerville, Musgravetown and Port Blandford. Your maps app gives the time on the day. How we measure

Staying here? Days out ↓Download GPX (offline, Garmin)

304.6 km, all the way round. The province’s Discovery Trail has two ways onto the Bonavista peninsula, Route 230 at Clarenville and Route 233 at Port Blandford, and this circle uses both: up Route 230 through Trinity and Elliston to the lighthouse at the cape, then home down the Bonavista Bay side on Route 235, across on 233 through Musgravetown, and back along the Trans-Canada.

What you drive twice: about 17 km of Route 230 at the neck of the peninsula, which every road on and off it shares, and the short runs in to Trinity and out to the cape.

Not a day trip. That is 305 km of driving, before any stops.

Why the province says 425 km. It adds the side roads off the circle.

When you get to Clarenville

Sunrise and sunset at Clarenville, by month
The 15thFirst lightSunriseSunsetLast light
Jan7:16 am7:51 am4:37 pm5:13 pm
Feb6:41 am7:13 am5:26 pm5:58 pm
Mar6:49 am7:20 am7:10 pm7:41 pm
Apr5:44 am6:16 am7:54 pm8:27 pm
May4:49 am5:26 am8:37 pm9:14 pm
Jun4:23 am5:04 am9:07 pm9:48 pm
Jul4:41 am5:20 am9:02 pm9:42 pm
Aug5:25 am5:59 am8:21 pm8:55 pm
Sep6:10 am6:41 am7:20 pm7:51 pm
Oct6:52 am7:24 am6:18 pm6:49 pm
Nov6:38 am7:12 am4:29 pm5:03 pm
Dec7:13 am7:49 am4:12 pm4:49 pm

Worked out for the 15th of each month at this spot, in local time. First and last light are when the sun is 6° below the horizon: light enough to see and shoot by. The weather line at the top has today's.

Places to eat on the way

Near Clarenville, the places are on the town's own list: where to eat near Clarenville →

30 places to eat within 2 km of this drive, in the order you pass them. The longest stretch with none is 92.7 km, after Bonavista Social Club.

Every one of them, in the order you pass them
  • The Curtain Call Cafecafékm 7.3
  • Robin's Donutsfast foodkm 23.8 · 153 m off the road
  • Dunrovinrestaurantkm 25.1 · 173 m off the road
  • Twine Loft Diningrestaurantkm 69.3
  • The Vintage Grindcafékm 69.4
  • Dock Marina restaurantrestaurantkm 70.1
  • The Galleyrestaurantkm 77.5
  • Port Rexton Brewerypubkm 78.7 · 714 m off the road
  • Oh my Cheesesfast foodkm 78.7 · 726 m off the road
  • 2 Whales cafecafékm 79.2
  • Sea Breeze Takeoutfast foodkm 121.6 · 604 m off the road
  • Puffin Cafécafékm 122.2
  • Nanny's Root Cellar Kitchenrestaurantkm 122.6
  • Oceanview Restaurantrestaurantkm 130.3
  • Restaurant glace take outrestaurantkm 132.6
  • PK's Restaurant and Take-Outrestaurantkm 140.2
  • Ragged Rocks Gastropubpubkm 140.2
  • The Quintal Cafécafékm 140.3
  • The Boreal Dinerrestaurantkm 140.3
  • Marsh's Snack Barrestaurantkm 140.4
  • Mifflin's Tea Roomcafékm 140.6
  • Mifflin's Tea Roomcafékm 140.6
  • Bonavista Brewing Taproompubkm 140.6
  • Bonavista Bicycle Picnics and Cafecafékm 140.8 · 597 m off the road
  • Walkham's Gate Pub & Cafepubkm 140.8
  • Neil's Yardcafékm 140.8 · 652 m off the road
  • Robin's Donutsfast foodkm 142.3 · 942 m off the road
  • Bonavista Social Clubcafékm 155.4 · 895 m off the road
  • Restaurantfast foodkm 248.1
  • Snack shack.fast foodkm 266.2

Not ranked or complete, and nobody pays to be here. No opening hours: phone ahead. Open map data, read 2026-09-20 (how we measure). Missing one? Add it to the map or email us the details.

Short drives from Clarenville

An easy day out from ClarenvilleDunphy's Pond Trail 44 km awayA walk: 9.8 km out and back · moderateDirections from where your phone is now:
Directions →
Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze

Or any of these: nearest first, measured by road from Clarenville. Each one's page has directions.

More, up to 80 km (10)

Distances by road from Clarenville, measured on OpenStreetMap November 7, 2026. Your maps app gives the time on the day. How we measure

Doing it electric

Fast chargers on this drive
Port Rexton km 79, Bonavista km 143, Port Blandford km 273
Longest stretch without one
130 km
Bonavista → Port Blandford, of 304 km driven
Nearest fast charger to Clarenville
29.3 km
by road, at Goobies

The chargers

Charging: about 100 km of range every 15 minutes, and most EVs to 80% in less than an hour. You start it with a free ChargePoint account, with the ChargePoint app or card. NL Hydro, read November 1, 2026.

Coming in 2026 (NL Hydro, October 22, 2026): Clarenville (km 303; CCS and CHAdeMO plugs · ultra-fast, up to 175 kW to one car, 350 kW where a site has two or more chargers). Not counted until it opens.

NL Hydro fast chargers within 3 km of the drive. Check the app for one that's working. Exported October 22, 2026. How we measure

Every route compared →NL Hydro: plan your road trip →

Paved or not, per the map

Mapped as unpaved
1.3 km
a residential road (0.17 km, 27.3 km from Clarenville); Main Street (0.47 km, 28.8 km from Clarenville); Old Point Road (0.3 km, 85.8 km from Clarenville)
Mapped as paved
66%
161.2 km of 304.6 km driven
No surface tag on the map
33%
80 km: surface not recorded

In a rental car: Hertz Canada’s terms say “use off paved roads or on roads which are not regularly maintained” voids the damage waiver. Check your own agreement. Hertz’s terms ↗. Source for these figures: OSRM driving profile, stored route query, with node annotations; OpenStreetMap surface tags via Overpass, checked 2026-10-11. Today's road conditions: 511.

Before you go

These change, so we link to the people who keep them up to date.

  • Cape Bonavista LighthouseA provincial historic site with a summer season — dates are the operator’s

    The lighthouse at the cape is a provincial historic site. The operator’s page has its dates and prices. The cape and the road to it are open year round; the building is not.

    seethesites.ca →

  • MooseYear round, worst between dusk and dawn

    The province states the likelihood of injury in a moose collision is twice as high between dusk and dawn as in daytime. With 305 km of driving plus stops, most people drive home down Route 235 and across on 233 in the evening.

    gov.nl.ca →

  • Road conditionsYear round, matters most November–April

    The Bonavista peninsula is a long headland with weather off the Atlantic on three sides, and every way on and off it shares one short stretch of Route 230. Check conditions before you go.

    511nl.ca →

Questions

How far is the Discovery Trail?＋

As a full circle from Clarenville: Route 230 out by Trinity and Elliston to Cape Bonavista, Route 235 south down the Bonavista Bay side, Route 233 through Musgravetown to Port Blandford, and the Trans-Canada back. 304.6 km of driving. Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism names the drive and its entrances (Routes 230 and 230A at Clarenville, Route 233 at Port Blandford). It gives about 425 km, which adds the side roads out to the coves.

Can it be done in a day from Gander?＋

Gander to Clarenville is 147 km, and the circle passes Port Blandford on the Trans-Canada, so you can join it there instead and go either way round. The circle alone is 305 km of driving. With Trinity, the cape and Elliston, it is too much for a day from the airport. Most people stay on the peninsula.

What is at the far end?＋

Cape Bonavista, where the road ends at a lighthouse. Elliston, just south, has the root cellars and the sealers’ centre for the 1914 disaster, which cost the town a greater share of its men than any other community. Both are stops on this page, with sources.

No recorded track yet.Drove it? Send yours →

Put this map on your site

Run a place to stay, a tour or a town page on this drive? Add this map to your site. It shows your guests the drive and its distance. It is free, needs no account, and we keep the figures current.

<iframe src="https://fromtheairport.xyz/embed/discovery-trail"
  width="100%" height="420" style="border:0" loading="lazy"
  title="Driving route: Discovery Trail, a loop from Clarenville"></iframe>
Add ?lat=&lon=&label= to the URL to pin your own property on the map.

Every distance and coordinate on this page was checked against its source on September 30, 2026. Origin: OpenStreetMap node/1455969499 — Clarenville. Destination: OpenStreetMap node/1455969499 — Clarenville. Planning only: not live and not for navigation; roads and conditions change. Terms