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from the airport.and beyond

Deer Lake Airport (YDF) to L'Anse aux Meadows

Distance
436.4 km
Roads
Route 1Route 430Route 436
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The recreated Norse sod longhouse behind a palisade, sea and coast behind, blue sky.
The recreated Norse sod longhouse behind a palisade, sea and coast behind, blue sky.Photo: D. Gordon E. Robertson · source · CC BY-SA 3.0

Places to stay in L'Anse aux Meadows

No place to stay in L'Anse aux Meadows is listed on Best Kind Stays yet. Every place it lists →

A place listed in L'Anse aux Meadows shows on 6 pages here: 6 drives to L'Anse aux Meadows.

Own a place in L'Anse aux Meadows? List it, free →

Guests book with you directly. Nothing paid changes the order.

Why list here: every town's count →

Art in and near L'Anse aux Meadows

By road, from the open map. Shops and galleries keep their own hours. All the art, by region →

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.

  • Linkum Zodiac Tours ↗

    Linkum Tours · Quirpon Waterfront

    On the Northern tip of Newfoundland, icebergs linger longest, often into August.

Every tour in the province, by kind →

Driving route from Deer Lake Regional Airport (YDF) to L'Anse aux Meadows: 436.4 km by road, via Routes 1 · 430 · 436.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line measured along OpenStreetMap's roads.

  1. Stop 1: Gros Morne Visitor Information Centre

    The park's main entrance, early in the drive. Route 430 runs straight through Gros Morne, so the UNESCO park is part of the drive, not a detour.

    Stopping here adds 0.8 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: Gros Morne Visitor Information Centre ↑

  2. Stop 2: Lobster Cove Head LighthouseDetour

    A century-old lighthouse on the headland at Rocky Harbour, with Parks Canada's exhibit on the people of the coast inside and short trails out to the rocks and the open sea. Parks Canada calls it the place for sunsets; the exhibit keeps a summer season, on its page.

    Stopping here adds 2.5 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse ↑

  3. Stop 3: SS Ethie wreck site

    A mapped shipwreck site on the Gros Morne coast. The coastal steamer Ethie went ashore here in 1919, and the beach still shows her bones. Steps from the highway.

    Stopping here adds 0.3 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: SS Ethie wreck site ↑

  4. Stop 4: Western Brook Pond trailhead

    The trailhead for the walk in to Gros Morne's most photographed water, a landlocked fjord. Parks Canada describes the walk and the operator the boat tour; the parking is right off the highway.

    Stopping here adds 0.2 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: Western Brook Pond trailhead ↑

  5. Stop 5: Steve's Trail, Broom Point

    Parks Canada's 900 m return walk from the Broom Point parking lot: the woods open on a seaside meadow looking over the coast and the Long Range Mountains, and a stairway goes down to the sand where Western Brook meets the sea. Parks Canada lists it for sand dunes and a picnic. At the end of the road is Broom Point's restored fishing premises, the Mudge brothers' summer home from 1941 to 1975, open when Parks Canada staff are there.

    Stopping here adds 1.7 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: Steve's Trail, Broom Point ↑

  6. Stop 6: The Arches Provincial Park

    Sea-carved limestone arches in the surf right beside Route 430. The map holds the park as a reserve and names the rock formation. A ten-minute leg-stretch. ParksNL lists it as day use; keep back from the sea.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: The Arches Provincial Park ↑

  7. Stop 7: Port au ChoixDetour

    The one real spur on the Viking Trail. The town's national historic site holds thousands of years of burial and settlement archaeology; people fished this point for millennia before the Norse sailed. 29 km out and back, plus time at the site.

    Stopping here adds 29 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: Port au Choix ↑

  8. Stop 8: Pistolet Bay Provincial ParkDetour

    The ParksNL campground at the peninsula's top, off Route 437 just before the Norse site. It is the campground on this route and the closest mapped one to the meadow. ParksNL sets the season and sites.

    Stopping here adds 20.4 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: Pistolet Bay Provincial Park ↑

  9. Stop 9: Thrombolites at Flower's Cove

    A walking trail to thrombolites: mound-building microbial structures of a kind that dominated Earth billions of years ago. The trail is just off the highway.

    Stopping here adds 0.3 km to the drive.

    Directions →
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    Show on map: Thrombolites at Flower's Cove ↑
⛽ Fuel and gravel, road by road ▾
  • Route 1 →Whole road: 54 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 119 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 68% has no surface tag, so unknown.
  • Route 430 →Whole road: 17 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 97 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 44% has no surface tag, so unknown.
  • Route 436 →Whole road: 1 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 16 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 0% has no surface tag, so unknown.
Campground 36 km from the end →

Drive measured Sep 2, 2026, terminal to the settlement. Your maps app gives the time on the day. How we measure

Add to a trip →Staying here? Days out ↓Download GPX (offline, Garmin)Airport info: Deer Lake Regional Airport →

436.4 km. Deer Lake airport to L’Anse aux Meadows: Route 430, the Viking Trail, through Gros Morne and up the Strait of Belle Isle, then Route 436 to the end.

Make it an overnight (see the FAQ). The one spur worth taking is Port au Choix: 29 km for several thousand years of human history.

Why people come. The meadow where the Norse hauled up their boats a thousand years ago: a UNESCO site, reached through Gros Morne.

When you get to L'Anse aux Meadows

Sunrise and sunset at L'Anse aux Meadows, by month
The 15thFirst lightSunriseSunsetLast light
Jan7:32 am8:11 am4:30 pm5:09 pm
Feb6:52 am7:27 am5:25 pm6:00 pm
Mar6:54 am7:27 am7:15 pm7:48 pm
Apr5:41 am6:17 am8:07 pm8:42 pm
May4:38 am5:20 am8:56 pm9:37 pm
Jun4:05 am4:53 am9:30 pm10:18 pm
Jul4:26 am5:11 am9:24 pm10:09 pm
Aug5:19 am5:56 am8:36 pm9:14 pm
Sep6:12 am6:45 am7:28 pm8:02 pm
Oct7:01 am7:35 am6:20 pm6:53 pm
Nov6:53 am7:30 am4:23 pm5:00 pm
Dec7:31 am8:11 am4:03 pm4:43 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 either end, the places are on the town's own list: where to eat in Deer Lake → · where to eat near L'Anse aux Meadows →

14 places to eat within 2 km of this drive, in the order you pass them.

The longest stretch with nothing mapped on it is 207.9 km, after Pizza Delight, until Dark Tickle Shop - Cafe Nymphe.

Every one of them, in the order you pass them
  • Funland Resortrestaurantkm 11.1 · 948 m off the road
  • Fisherman's Landingrestaurantkm 70.7 · 577 m off the road
  • Earle‘srestaurantkm 70.7 · 1940 m off the road
  • SunSet Cafécafékm 70.7 · 635 m off the road
  • Jackie‘sfast foodkm 70.7 · 1648 m off the road
  • Anchor Pubpubkm 70.7 · 566 m off the road
  • Oceansrestaurantkm 70.7 · 554 m off the road
  • Buoy & Arrowrestaurantkm 70.7 · 348 m off the road
  • Treasure Box Crafts & Cafecafékm 70.7 · 713 m off the road
  • Whale‘s Back Grub Hubrestaurantkm 89.9
  • C&P Take-Outfast foodkm 212
  • Pizza Delightrestaurantkm 212.2
  • Dark Tickle Shop - Cafe Nymphecafékm 420.1
  • The Daily Catchrestaurantkm 422.3

Not ranked or complete, and nobody pays to be here. No opening hours: phone ahead. Open map data, read 2026-09-12 (how we measure). Missing one? Add it to the map or email us the details.

Access, as its own page says: Step-free: The site, the visitor centre and the washrooms. An all-terrain wheelchair on request. Accessible travel, with the sources →

Short drives from L'Anse aux Meadows

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

Distances by road from L'Anse aux Meadows, measured on OpenStreetMap November 7, 2026. Your maps app gives the time on the day. How we measure

What has been recorded near here

Wildlife people have reported within 10 km of L'Anse aux Meadows, and the months they saw it. Tap a name for everywhere else on our drives it turns up.

  • Northern gannetseabirdMorus bassanusReports cluster in July, August, June209 reports on record
  • Humpback whalewhaleMegaptera novaeangliaeReports cluster in July, August, September63 reports on record

Reports, not counts: busy harbours report more. No sighting is promised, and the list covers only the species we look up. Source: GBIF, the international record of wildlife sightings, checked 2026-10-07.

Doing it electric

Fast chargers on this drive
Deer Lake km 4, Rocky Harbour km 71, Cow Head km 116, Flowers Cove km 316
Longest stretch without one
200 km
Cow Head → Flowers Cove, of 436 km driven
Nearest fast charger to L'Anse aux Meadows
39.7 km
by road, at St. Anthony

The chargers

  • Deer Lake km 4 of the drive

    Irving Oil 62-102 Trans-Canada Highway

    CCS and CHAdeMO plugs · 62.5 kW DC fast charger

    Directions →
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  • Rocky Harbour km 71 of the drive, 0.7 km off it

    Pharmasave 33 W Link

    CCS and CHAdeMO plugs · 62.5 kW DC fast charger

    Directions →
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  • Cow Head km 116 of the drive, 2 km off it

    Shallow Bay Motel & Cabins 193 Main St, Cow Head, NL A0K 2A0

    CCS and CHAdeMO plugs · 62.5 kW DC fast charger

    Directions →
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  • Flowers Cove km 316 of the drive

    Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro’s Flower’s Cove Line Depot Main Street

    CCS and CHAdeMO plugs · 62.5 kW DC fast charger

    Directions →
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  • St. Anthony 39.7 km from L'Anse aux Meadows by road

    Outdoor Shoppe Sales and Rentals Inc. 46 West St, St. Anthony, NL A0K 4S0

    CCS and CHAdeMO plugs · 62.5 kW DC fast charger

    Directions →
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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): Deer Lake, a second site in the same town (km 0; 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
none
Not proof it is all paved: 43% has no surface tag.
Mapped as paved
57%
245.5 km of 436.4 km driven
No surface tag on the map
43%
182.8 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 2026-09-06. Today's road conditions: 511.

Before you go

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

  • Site seasonParks Canada opens the site seasonally and sets the dates

    L'Anse aux Meadows is a Parks Canada national historic site and UNESCO World Heritage site. Opening dates, hours and fees are on Parks Canada's page. Check before planning two days of driving around it.

    parks.canada.ca →

  • MooseYear round, worst between dusk and dawn

    The province states that the likelihood of injury in a moose collision is twice as high between dusk and dawn as in daytime. Over 436 km, dusk is hard to avoid without planning. Break the drive.

    gov.nl.ca →

  • Road conditionsYear round, matters most November–April

    Route 430 runs the length of the Northern Peninsula between the Long Range and the Strait, and the weather changes several times in 400 km. Check the cameras at the far end, not just the near one.

    511nl.ca →

Renting a car? Book the car when you book the flight.

Summer rentals sell out, says NL Tourism, and in June 2026 BNN Bloomberg reported St. John's airport agencies booked for nearly all of summer.

Both checked October 7, 2026.

Rental counters at Deer Lake, with numbers →

Arriving without a car

Not renting? Here's who Deer Lake Regional Airport lists at the terminal.

No rideshare here.

The airport's ground-transportation page lists no rideshare service, only three taxi firms, a shuttle and seven charter operators (checked 2026-09-15).

  • Taxi

    Star Taxi, which the airport calls its primary ground transportation provider, serving the whole region with wheelchair-accessible vans and accommodating service dogs. The airport advises contacting them 24 to 48 hours before you arrive.

    (709) 634-4343

  • Taxi

    Deer Lake Taxi, listed as operating around the clock across the province with no pre-booking required.

    (709) 635-0000

  • Shuttle

    Star Taxi runs a shuttle between Corner Brook and the airport, serving named hotels, with a private-car option. It must be booked ahead. The airport publishes the fares.

    (709) 634-4343

  • Coach

    DRL Coachlines' once-a-day coach each way between St. John's and Port aux Basques stops in Deer Lake town (the Circle K), not at the airport terminal. It reaches no island and no national park. Tickets are bought on the bus, cash only. Times and fares are DRL's: drl-lr.com.

    (888) 263-1852

Source: Deer Lake Regional Airport,2026-09-15. Check there for fares and times.

The drive back

Measured the other way, L'Anse aux Meadows back to Deer Lake is the same distance: 437 km.

Plan back from your check-in time. Give the planner your flight time and it tells you when to set off.

How early to arrive depends on the carrier and the season: check Deer Lake Regional Airport →

Return measured 2026-09-29, the same way as the drive out. How we measure

Questions

Should I fly into Deer Lake or Gander for L'Anse aux Meadows?＋

Deer Lake, by a long way: 436 km against 740 km from Gander. The Viking Trail begins essentially at the YDF junction.

Can I do this as a day trip?＋

Barely, and we would not: 873 km of driving around a site that deserves half a day, with dusk moose risk on the return. Plan an overnight; Gros Morne is on the way if you want a place to break it.

What actually is L'Anse aux Meadows?＋

The only authenticated Norse site in North America, where the sagas' Vinland voyages touched ground a thousand years ago. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site run by Parks Canada, which tells its story on site.

What is the drive actually like?＋

Three acts: Gros Morne's mountains and coast for the first stretch, then the long middle where Route 430 runs the shore of the Strait of Belle Isle with Labrador visible across the water on clear days, then the turn onto 436 through the little capes to the meadow at the end of everything.

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/ydf-lanse-aux-meadows"
  width="100%" height="420" style="border:0" loading="lazy"
  title="Driving route: Deer Lake Regional Airport (YDF) to L'Anse aux Meadows"></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 2, 2026. Origin: OpenStreetMap way/180061286. Destination: OpenStreetMap node/1529040271 — L'Anse aux Meadows place node. Planning only: not live and not for navigation; roads and conditions change. Terms