Deer Lake Regional Airport (YDF) → Port aux Basques
Deer Lake Airport (YDF) to Port aux Basques and the Codroy Valley
- Drive time
- 3h 28m
- Distance
- 270.9 km
- Routes
- 1
Conservative model estimate, Deer Lake Regional Airport (YDF) to Port aux Basques — no stops, dry roads. Many of Newfoundland's provincial routes carry no speed limit in the open map data, so the router assumes a slow default: a driver who knows the road will beat this. The ferry after it is not included. Source: OSRM driving profile, terminal door to the town, checked 2026-09-05.
⛴ Then the ferry to North Sydney, Nova Scotia — sailings & schedule →
Drive it with your own nav:Organic Maps →OsmAnd →Apple →Google →Waze →The first two run on OpenStreetMap and don't track you — the same map this site is built from.
Or take the whole route with you: Download the GPX → — the measured drive plus every stop as a waypoint, for Organic Maps, OsmAnd or any Garmin, no account and no signal needed once it's on the device.
No one has sent a recording of this drive yet.Be the first — send the track →
The terminal side — parking, arrivals, ground transport — is the airport's own information: Deer Lake Regional Airport →
This is the longest measured drive on the site, and it earns every kilometre: the full run of the west coast, from the Humber Valley’s big-river country down through the Bay St. George lowlands to the Codroy Valley, where the Long Range Mountains walk into the sea and the island runs out of land.
The valley is the reward in the middle: the Grand Codroy estuary is the gentlest landscape on this coast — broad wetlands, farm fields, staging waterfowl — with a mapped provincial reserve to stand in and mountains stacked close behind. Then the road narrows between the Table Mountains and the water, passes the place the map bluntly names Wreckhouse, and delivers you to the town where the island keeps its sea door.
Port aux Basques itself is the arrival experience most Newfoundland travellers have in reverse: the ferry town, the harbour that swallows the boat from North Sydney, the first and last Tim Hortons on the island depending on your direction. Stand at Cape Ray light in a west wind and you can watch your own ferry coming — which is exactly the kind of full-circle this site exists to measure.
Then a ferry to North Sydney, Nova Scotia
Port aux Basques is the island's sea door: Marine Atlantic's year-round crossing to North Sydney sails from the mapped terminal at the end of this drive. Sailings, fares and weather holds are the operator's to state — check theirs before building a day around a departure.
Operated by Marine Atlantic.
Current schedule →Worth stopping for
Codroy Valley Provincial ParkDetour
The mapped reserve on the Grand Codroy estuary — the broad, sheltered river mouth that makes this valley the west coast's great bird water. Waterfowl staging in the wetlands, the Long Range mountains stacked behind, and a green softness the rest of this shore doesn't attempt. ParksNL publishes what operates and when.
Stopping here adds about 17 min and 17.3 km to the drive.
navigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · WazeWreckhouse
The most famous stretch of wind in Newfoundland, named on the map like the warning it is: here the Long Range funnels southeasterlies hard enough that they once employed a man — Lauchie MacDougall, the human wind gauge — to decide whether trains could pass. The Trans-Canada runs straight through it; high-sided vehicles still get held when it blows. The forecast decides your timing, not this page.
Stopping here adds about 1 min and 0.1 km to the drive.
navigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · WazeJ.T. Cheeseman Provincial ParkDetour
The ParksNL campground on this route, minutes before town — sand beach, dune boardwalk, and the last sheltered pitch before the ferry. It is also piping plover shore: parts of the beach close for nesting, and the park's own postings say where. Season and sites are ParksNL's calendar.
Stopping here adds about 4 min and 2.6 km to the drive.
navigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · WazeCape Ray LighthouseDetour
The light on the island's southwest corner, where the Cabot Strait begins — mapped at the end of Cape Ray Road with a Maritime Link information board alongside and J.T. Cheeseman's beach between it and town. The Table Mountains stand behind; the ferry you may be catching passes in front.
Stopping here adds about 18 min and 18.6 km to the drive.
navigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · Waze
What has been recorded near here
Species reported within 50 km of Port aux Basques and shared to GBIF, the international record of species occurrences. The useful column is when — the months the reports cluster in.
- Northern gannetseabirdMorus bassanusReports cluster in June, July, August924 reports on record
- Atlantic puffinseabirdFratercula arcticaReports cluster in July, June, August78 reports on record
- Minke whalewhaleBalaenoptera acutorostrataReports cluster in August, July, October23 reports on record
- Fin whalewhaleBalaenoptera physalusReports cluster in October, June, July20 reports on record
- Humpback whalewhaleMegaptera novaeangliaeReports cluster in April, July, August18 reports on record
What this is not
- Not how many there are. A report means somebody looked, saw and wrote it down. A busy harbour with tour boats reports more than an empty coast with the same animals in it.
- Not a sighting you are promised. Nothing here says you will see one.
- Not complete. Only species we ask GBIF about appear, and only where somebody reported them.
From GBIF, queried 2026-09-14 — their record, not a copy of it.
When you get to Port aux Basques
- Where to eat in Port aux Basques → — 13 places the open map records, alphabetically, with addresses and phone numbers.
Doing it electric
- Fast chargers on this drive
- Deer Lake km 4, Corner Brook km 55, Robinsons km 164, Port aux Basques km 268
- Longest stretch without one
- 109 km
- Corner Brook → Robinsons, of 271 km driven
- Nearest fast charger to Port aux Basques
- at Port aux Basques
NL Hydro lists an ultra-fast site coming in 2026 at Deer Lake (km 0) — not counted above until it opens.
Source: NL Hydro's published fast-charging network map, exported 2026-09-13 — sites within 3 km of this route's measured line, the km read along it, the drive to the nearest site priced by OSRM. NL Hydro lists these as 62.5 kW DC with CCS and CHAdeMO plugs on a ChargePoint account; whether one is free or working right now is the app's to say. Level 2 chargers in towns are not counted.
Paved or not, per the map
- Mapped as unpaved
- none
- Mapped as paved
- 21%
- 48.2 km of 270.9 km driven
- No surface tag on the map
- 79%
- 180.1 km the map does not describe either way
Why it matters: Hertz Canada’s published rental terms — the one set of Canadian rental terms we could read in full, quoted not recommended — list “use off paved roads or on roads which are not regularly maintained” as misconduct that voids the damage waiver. Read the agreement you sign before leaving the lot. The terms themselves. Source for these figures: OSRM driving profile, origin to destination, with node annotations; OpenStreetMap surface tags via Overpass, checked 2026-09-06. A road with no tag is unknown, not paved; what any road is like today is on 511.
Eating on the way — measured, not recommended
40 places to eat that the open map data records within 2 km of this drive, in the order you would pass them. No stars, no prices, no opinions, and no opening hours — distance along the road is the one thing measured here that a directory cannot give you.
The longest stretch with nothing mapped on it is 91.4 km — after Pinchgut Restaurant & Convenience, until Midway Motel and Lounge. That is the figure worth planning around.
- Big Stop Restaurantrestaurantkm 4.1
- Tim Hortonfast foodkm 4.1 · 222 m off the road
- Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 4.6 · 192 m off the road
- Wingn' itrestaurantkm 5.1
- Pizza Delightrestaurantkm 5.7 · 235 m off the road
- Tim Hortonscafékm 5.8 · 225 m off the road
- A&Wfast foodkm 5.8 · 178 m off the road
- Subwayfast foodkm 5.9 · 178 m off the road
- KFCfast foodkm 6
- Burger Kingfast foodkm 6.1
- Peter's Pizzafast foodkm 6.1
- Langerspubkm 6.2 · 550 m off the road
- Oasis Grill Houserestaurantkm 27.7 · 245 m off the road
- Cafe 59restaurantkm 27.7 · 863 m off the road
- Tim Hortonscafékm 46
- Pizza Delightrestaurantkm 53.4 · 881 m off the road
- Tim Hortonscafékm 53.5 · 923 m off the road
- Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 53.5 · 912 m off the road
- Samuel's Sammiches and Sweetsrestaurantkm 53.6 · 1496 m off the road
- King Henry's Pubpubkm 53.8 · 1919 m off the road
- KFCfast foodkm 53.8 · 1992 m off the road
- Tim Hortonscafékm 53.8 · 1849 m off the road
- McDonald'sfast foodkm 54.4 · 310 m off the road
- Jungle Jim'srestaurantkm 54.8 · 197 m off the road
- Wendy'sfast foodkm 55
- Pinchgut Restaurant & Conveniencerestaurantkm 72.3
- Midway Motel and Loungepubkm 163.7
- Robin's Donutsrestaurantkm 232.6
- Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 265.4
- Robin‘sfast foodkm 267.5 · 754 m off the road
- Alma‘s Restaurantrestaurantkm 267.5 · 384 m off the road
- Subwayfast foodkm 267.5
- Tim Hortonscafékm 267.6
- Bob's Chicken Coopfast foodkm 267.7
- Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 267.8
- Pizza Delightrestaurantkm 268.1
- Tai-Hong Restaurantrestaurantkm 268.3
- Port Clubpubkm 269.1
- Shark Cove Restaurantrestaurantkm 270.5 · 608 m off the road
- Shark Cove Restaurantrestaurantkm 270.5 · 608 m off the road
What this list is not
- Not a recommendation. Nothing here is endorsed, reviewed or rated. It is in the order you drive past it.
- Not complete. Somewhere unmapped does not appear. This is never "all of them".
- Not open hours. We publish none, because the open data holds none. Never assume a kitchen is serving.
- Not necessarily still trading. A place that closed stays in the data until somebody removes it.
- Not for sale. No one can pay to appear here, to rank higher, or to have a rival removed.
Open map data is incomplete — somewhere unmapped does not appear here, and this is never "all of them" or "the good ones". A place that closed is also still on the map until somebody removes it, which is why no hours are shown and nothing here says a kitchen is open. From OpenStreetMap and Overture Maps (which includes data from Meta, Foursquare and AllThePlaces); swept 2026-09-12. Map the one that is missing → and every site built on the open map gains it, this one included.
Before you go
These change. We link the people who keep them current rather than copying numbers that go stale here.
Wreckhouse windsYear round, worst in fall and winter storms
Environment Canada issues wind warnings for exactly this stretch, and the province holds high-sided vehicles at Wreckhouse when it blows. If your day includes the ferry, the same wind that stops trucks holds sailings — check both before committing to a schedule.
Check it now →Road conditionsYear round, matters most November–April
Two hundred and seventy kilometres of west coast Trans-Canada crosses every weather system the Gulf can throw. The cameras and plow reports are the honest source.
Check it now →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 — and a 3h 28m drive to catch a morning ferry is exactly the drive that starts in the dark.
Check it now →
The trails
Arriving without a car
Every distance and time on this page is a drive. If you are not renting, here is what Deer Lake Regional Airport lists at this door — operators and numbers, not fares: a tariff is theirs to change, so it is linked and not copied.
No rideshare here.
No rideshare service is named anywhere on the airport's ground-transportation page, which instead lists three taxi firms, a shuttle and seven charter operators. Read off the page on 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, which is the single most useful sentence on that page.
Taxi
Deer Lake Taxi, listed as operating around the clock across the province with no pre-booking required.
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 per-person and private fares are the airport's to publish.
Deer Lake Regional Airport, read 2026-09-15 — the authority on what operates at this kerb, and the only place a current fare or timetable should come from.
Questions people actually ask
Why drive 271 km to a ferry town?＋
Because the drive is the west coast entire: the Humber Valley, the Bay St. George lowlands, the Codroy Valley's wetlands under the Long Range, Wreckhouse, and the Cabot Strait at the end. Port aux Basques is where the island begins for everyone who arrives by sea — seeing it from the land side completes the geography. And if your trip ends with the ferry, this is simply the way home.
Is this the road to the Marine Atlantic ferry?＋
Yes — the year-round North Sydney crossing sails from the mapped terminal at this drive's end, and the onward note above carries the operator's link. Leave slack for wind: the same southeasterlies that named Wreckhouse hold sailings.
What is Wreckhouse, actually?＋
A few kilometres of the Trans-Canada where the Long Range Mountains squeeze the wind into something that has blown trains off their rails — the map carries the name as a place, and the province still holds high-sided vehicles there in a blow. In a car on a calm day you will drive through without noticing; the name is for the other days.
Should I fly into Deer Lake or Gander for this?＋
Deer Lake, decisively: 3h 28m against well over five hours from Gander. YDF is the west coast's door; this is the west coast's road.
Put this map on your site
If you run a place to stay, a tour, or a town page along this drive, this map answers the question your guests already email you: how far are you from the airport? Free, no account, and the measured figures stay current because they are ours to maintain.
<iframe src="https://fromtheairport.xyz/embed/ydf-port-aux-basques"
width="100%" height="420" style="border:0" loading="lazy"
title="Driving route: Deer Lake Regional Airport (YDF) to Port aux Basques"></iframe>?lat=&lon=&label= to the URL to pin your own property on the map.Every distance, drive time and coordinate on this page was checked against its source on September 5, 2026. Origin: OpenStreetMap way/180061286. Destination: OpenStreetMap node/33943661 — Port Aux Basques town node.