Gander International Airport (YQX) → Placentia
Gander Airport (YQX) to Placentia and Castle Hill
The drive from every airport and ferry ↓
- Distance
- 289.8 km
- Drive time
- In your maps app ↗
Use another map app
Apple Maps · Google Maps · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
Faded lines are other drives from Gander International into this area: Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve (354 km). Each splits off where its line leaves this one.
Stop 1: Silent Witnesses MemorialDetour
A memorial on Route 1 outside Gander, unveiled in 1990 for the lives lost in the Arrow Air crash of 12 December 1985. An American soldier stands atop a rock holding the hands of a civilian boy and girl, each child carrying an olive branch for the Screaming Eagles' peacekeeping mission in the Sinai; they were going home for Christmas. The trio look toward Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where a similar statue looks back.
Stopping here adds 2.4 km to the drive.
Directions →Show on map: Silent Witnesses Memorial ↑Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · WazeStop 2: Square Pond
A pond-side stop beside the Trans-Canada. OpenStreetMap still uses its old provincial-park name; the province no longer lists it. A place to stretch your legs.
Stopping here adds 0.7 km to the drive.
Directions →Show on map: Square Pond ↑Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · WazeStop 3: Joey's Lookout
A mapped viewpoint on the Trans-Canada east of Gander, effectively on the road. OpenStreetMap records only the name and that it is a viewpoint. It is easy to miss at highway speed.
Stopping here adds 0.1 km to the drive.
Directions →Show on map: Joey's Lookout ↑Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · WazeStop 4: Sandy PondDetour
One of the park's officially designated observing sites under its Dark-Sky Preserve status: the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada designated Terra Nova on 26 February 2018, and Parks Canada's own night-sky page calls Sandy Pond the darkest skies in the park. RASC notes the designated sites have paved parking with a walk to the observing spot. The pond also has a beach and a trail for daytime. After dark, the drive back to the highway is moose country.
Stopping here adds 4.8 km to the drive.
Directions →Show on map: Sandy Pond ↑Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · WazeStop 5: Fitzgerald's Pond Provincial Park Reserve
A Provincial Park Reserve beside Route 100, on the driven line. ParksNL classes reserves as former camping parks whose campground was privatised before 1997, the rest kept to protect natural features, with no visitor services. This one protects a rare lichen, Erioderma pedicellatum (boreal felt lichen), in the Maritime Barrens, Southeastern Barrens subregion. The privately owned Fitzgerald's Pond Park next door is separate from the reserve.
Directions →Show on map: Fitzgerald's Pond Provincial Park Reserve ↑Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · WazeStop 6: O'Reilly House Museum
A house museum run by the Placentia Area Historical Society, a nonprofit and registered charity. The Society dates the area's occupation to the 1500s and records Placentia as the French capital in Newfoundland from 1662 to 1713, and later an English capital too. It says the museum opens for the summer tourist season and sometimes longer, so check with them before planning around a date.
Stopping here adds 0.2 km to the drive.
Directions →Show on map: O'Reilly House Museum ↑Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
Scan with your phone to open this page there. Then tap Keep for offline before you lose signal.
⛽ Fuel and gravel, road by road ▾
- Route 330 →Whole road: 8 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 42 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 70% 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.
- Route 100 →Whole road: 3 fuel stations mapped, longest gap 63 km. Unpaved mapped: none; 0% has no surface tag, so unknown.
Drive measured Oct 19, 2026, Gander International Airport (YQX) to Placentia. Your maps app gives the time on the day. How we measure
Add to a trip →Staying here? Days out ↓Keep for offline ↓Airport info: Gander International Airport →
289.8 km. From Gander airport to Placentia, on Routes 330, 1 and 100.
When you get to Placentia
- Where to eat near Placentia → — 3 places the open map records, alphabetically, with addresses and phone numbers.
- Jeff Jones Memorial Soccer Pitch → · Unity PARC Arena → · Willard Hatfield Memorial Ball Field → — the venues here, with what you can reach and be back from between games.
Sunrise and sunset at Placentia, by month
| Month (the 15th) | Sunrise | Sunset |
|---|---|---|
| January | 7:48 am | 4:41 pm |
| February | 7:11 am | 5:28 pm |
| March | 7:20 am | 7:10 pm |
| April | 6:18 am | 7:53 pm |
| May | 5:29 am | 8:33 pm |
| June | 5:08 am | 9:03 pm |
| July | 5:24 am | 8:58 pm |
| August | 6:02 am | 8:19 pm |
| September | 6:42 am | 7:19 pm |
| October | 7:23 am | 6:19 pm |
| November | 7:09 am | 4:31 pm |
| December | 7:45 am | 4:16 pm |
Worked out for the 15th of each month at this spot, in local time. The weather line at the top has today's.
Places to eat on the way
28 near the start: where to eat in Gander →
28 places to eat within 2 km of this drive, in the order you pass them.
The longest stretch with nothing mapped on it is 47.2 km — after Meghan's Restaurant, until Mary Brown's.
Every one of them, in the order you pass them
- Copper Kettle Restaurantrestaurantkm 31.9
- Family Pizzarestaurantkm 38.7 · 1870 m off the road
- Mary Brown'srestaurantkm 68.3
- Happy Adventure Cafecafékm 76.4 · 1229 m off the road
- Snack shack.fast foodkm 115 · 624 m off the road
- Robin's Donutsfast foodkm 144.1 · 1142 m off the road
- A&Wfast foodkm 144.2 · 585 m off the road
- A&Wfast foodkm 144.2 · 585 m off the road
- Rod's Restaurantrestaurantkm 144.3 · 508 m off the road
- Don Cherry's Sports Bar & Grillrestaurantkm 144.3 · 200 m off the road
- KFCfast foodkm 144.5 · 773 m off the road
- Jungle Jim'srestaurantkm 144.5 · 488 m off the road
- Jungle Jim'srestaurantkm 144.5 · 488 m off the road
- Tim Hortonscafékm 144.6 · 593 m off the road
- McDonald'sfast foodkm 144.6 · 539 m off the road
- Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 144.6 · 676 m off the road
- Pizza Delightrestaurantkm 146.1 · 1264 m off the road
- Brownings Pubpubkm 146.2 · 1212 m off the road
- Flannigans Pubpubkm 146.2 · 1229 m off the road
- Tim Hortonscafékm 147.9
- Tim Hortonscafékm 147.9
- Breen'srestaurantkm 174.4
- Robin's Donutscafékm 174.7
- Meghan's Restaurantrestaurantkm 198.9
- Mary Brown'srestaurantkm 246.1 · 835 m off the road
- Tim Hortonscafékm 246.1 · 225 m off the road
- Subwayfast foodkm 246.1 · 182 m off the road
- A&Wfast foodkm 246.1
Not ranked or complete, and nobody pays to be here. No opening hours: phone ahead. Open map data, swept 2026-10-18. How we measure · Add a missing place
New place to eat, or one that's missing? This list comes from OpenStreetMap, so nobody can pay to be on it. Add it to the map yourself (about twenty minutes on a phone), or email us the details and we'll put it on the map.
Short drives from Placentia
Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · WazeOr any of these: nearest first, measured by road from Placentia.
- Castle Hill National Historic Sitestop3.2 km
A Parks Canada site on the hill above Placentia, early in the drive.
Directions →Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Argentia ferry terminalstop7.8 km
Where the Marine Atlantic ferry from North Sydney, Nova Scotia comes in.
Directions →Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Gooseberry Cove Provincial Parkstop24 km
A provincial park on the Cape Shore, about halfway down and barely off the road.
Directions →Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - St. Bride'sstop47 km
The town on Route 100 just before the turn for Cape St. Mary's.
Directions →Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reservetown64 kmDirections →
Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Cupids Legacy Centrestop75 km
A museum at Cupids.
Directions →Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Clarke's Beachtown75 kmDirections →
Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Brigustown75 kmDirections →
Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
More, up to 87 km (3)
- Shag Rock lookoutstop76 km
A viewpoint OpenStreetMap records beside Route 80, close enough to the driven line that stopping costs nothing.
Directions →Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Father Duffy's Wellstop86 km
A roadside spring right on the route, named for Father James Duffy, appointed first parish priest of St. Mary's in 1834, who spent the years after walking back and forth to the courthouse in St. John's over a dispute with the local merchant's agent.
Directions →Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze - Salmonier Nature Parktown87 kmDirections →
Other map apps
Apple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
Distances by road, measured on OpenStreetMap October 16, 2026, from where this route ends. Your maps app gives the time on the day. How we measure
Doing it electric
- Fast chargers on this drive
- Gander km 3, Glowertown km 68, Port Blandford km 116, Goobies km 175
- Longest stretch without one
- 114 km
- Goobies → Placentia, of 289 km driven
- Nearest fast charger to Placentia
- 48 km
- by road, at Whitbourne
No fast charger at Placentia. From Goobies it is 114 km there and the same back: plan on about 228 km on one charge, more in cold weather or with the heat on. Or charge at Whitbourne, 48 km from Placentia by road, off this drive's own road.
Coming in 2026 (NL Hydro, 2026-10-22): Gander (km 2) and Clarenville (km 148) and Whitbourne (km 247). Not counted until it opens.
NL Hydro fast chargers within 3 km of the drive. Check the app for one that's working. Exported 2026-10-22. How we measure
Paved or not, per the map
- Mapped as unpaved
- none
- Not proof it is all paved: 63% has no surface tag.
- Mapped as paved
- 37%
- 98.5 km of 289.8 km driven
- No surface tag on the map
- 63%
- 166.7 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 2026-10-19. Today's road conditions: 511.
Before you go
These change, so we link to the people who keep them up to date.
MooseYear round, worst between dusk and dawn
The province says the likelihood of injury in a moose collision is twice as high between dusk and dawn as in daytime. This is 289.8 km, much of it unlit two-lane highway; plan the drive for daylight where you can.
gov.nl.ca →Road conditionsYear round, matters most November–April
Conditions change fast on this coast. Check before you set off.
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 Gander, with numbers →Arriving without a car
Not renting? Here's who Gander International Airport Authority lists at the terminal.
No rideshare here.
The Airport Authority's transport page lists no rideshare service (checked 2026-09-15).
Taxi
Busy Bee Cabs, which the Airport Authority says runs a 24-hour service available curbside in the Domestic Arrivals area.
Coach
DRL Coachlines runs the island's one scheduled coach, once a day each way, between St. John's and the Marine Atlantic terminal at Port aux Basques. It stops at Gander Airport itself (the restaurant), and at Lewisporte, Grand Falls-Windsor, Deer Lake and Corner Brook among others. It reaches no island and no national park. Tickets are bought on the bus, cash only. The Airport Authority says a wheelchair-accessible bus needs 48 hours' notice. Times and fares are DRL's: drl-lr.com.
Limousine
Nobel Limousines, listed by the Airport Authority.
Avis, Budget, National and Enterprise are listed at the airport. The Authority says accessible vehicles with wheelchair accommodation or hand controls are limited and need 48 hours' notice.
Source: Gander International Airport Authority,2026-09-15. Check there for fares and times.
Questions
How far is Placentia from Gander airport?＋
289.8 km from the terminal to Placentia.
What route do I take?＋
Routes 330, 1 and 100. Your maps app has the turns.
Do I need a car?＋
Plan on one. Buses between these towns are few, and the drive is the way most people make it.
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/yqx-placentia"
width="100%" height="420" style="border:0" loading="lazy"
title="Driving route: Gander International Airport (YQX) to Placentia"></iframe>?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 October 19, 2026. Origin: OpenStreetMap way/154350645 — Terminal. Destination: OpenStreetMap node/4209548504 — Placentia.