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St. John's International Airport (YYT) → Heart's Content

St. John's Airport (YYT) to Heart's Content

Drive time
1h 49m
Distance
132.2 km
Routes
40 · 1 · 75 · 70 · 74 · 80

Conservative model estimate, St. John's International Airport (YYT) to Heart's Content — 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. Source: OSRM driving profile, St. John's International Airport (YYT) to Heart's Content, checked 2026-09-05.

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 →

Heart’s Content sits on Trinity Bay, on the far side of the Avalon Peninsula from St. John’s, and the drive there goes around the water rather than across it: out of the city on the Trans-Canada, west as far as the head of Conception Bay, then north up its western side to Harbour Grace and Carbonear before the turn across to Trinity Bay on Route 80.

What is at the end is the reason to make the drive at all. Heart’s Content is the town where the first successful permanent transatlantic telegraph cable was landed in 1866, turning weeks of communication across the Atlantic into minutes, and the province keeps the cable station there as a historic site. The towns on the way carry their own pieces of the century that followed — a ship aground in Harbour Grace harbour, a railway station that was the end of its branch line — before the road reaches the place where the story starts.

Driving route from St. John's International Airport (YYT) to Heart's Content: 132.2 km, about 1h 49m, via Routes 40 · 1 · 75 · 70 · 74 · 80.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

Faded on the map: the other measured drives from St. John's International into this same region, each its own page — Harbour Grace (1h 24m), Brigus (1h 9m), Portugal Cove ferry terminal (15 min). Where a faded line leaves the solid one is where that drive forks from this one.

Worth stopping for

  1. SS KyleDetour

    A ship's hull sits aground in the harbour at Harbour Grace, mapped as a wreck and named on the map as the SS Kyle. OpenStreetMap dates the wreck to February 1967 and records the hull as showing above the water at both high and low tide, so there is something to see whatever the tide is doing. It is a landmark in a working harbour, not a site with a door and an admission desk.

    Stopping here adds about 6 min and 2.7 km to the drive.

    navigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · Waze

  2. Railway Station Museum

    Carbonear's station was built in 1917-18 by the Reid Newfoundland Company, replacing an earlier station destroyed by fire, and stayed the northern terminus of the Brigus Junction to Carbonear branch line until passenger trains ceased in 1984. It was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1988 as a representative example of stations on the Newfoundland Railway System, and the federal directory records its plaque name as the Railway Station Museum — the name it goes by today. It stands at the foot of Water Street West, in the town's main business district.

    Stopping here adds about 1 min and 0.2 km to the drive.

    navigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · Waze

  3. Heart's Content Cable Station Museum

    This is why the town is on the map: in 1866 the first successful permanent transatlantic telegraph cable was landed at Heart's Content, reducing the time to communicate across the Atlantic from weeks to minutes. The provincial historic site here is an 1875 office building with a 1918 extension, and its exhibits cover the history of telegraphy and the part this town played in it. It keeps a season rather than year-round hours, so the site's own page is where the current dates live, not here.

    Stopping here adds about 2 min and 0.9 km to the drive.

    navigate: Organic · OsmAnd · Apple · Google · Waze

What has been recorded near here

Species reported within 50 km of Heart's Content 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 August, July, May1,290 reports on record
  • Humpback whalewhaleMegaptera novaeangliaeReports cluster in July, June, August1,073 reports on record
  • Minke whalewhaleBalaenoptera acutorostrataReports cluster in June, May, July811 reports on record
  • Atlantic puffinseabirdFratercula arcticaReports cluster in July, August, June474 reports on record
  • Fin whalewhaleBalaenoptera physalusReports cluster in August, June, September83 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 Heart's Content

Doing it electric

Fast chargers on this drive
Paradise km 16, St. John’s km 17, Carbonear km 109
Longest stretch without one
92 km
St. John’s → Carbonear, of 132 km driven
Nearest fast charger to Heart's Content
23 km
24 min by road, at Carbonear

NL Hydro lists an ultra-fast site coming in 2026 at St. John’s (km 17) — 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.

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

Paved or not, per the map

Mapped as unpaved
none
Mapped as paved
30%
36.2 km of 132.2 km driven
No surface tag on the map
70%
84.2 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, stored route query, with node annotations; OpenStreetMap surface tags via Overpass, checked 2026-09-13. 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

139 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 70.1 km — after Costco Food Court, until Silver Wood Inn. That is the figure worth planning around.

  • Starbuckscafékm 0.1 · 1631 m off the road
  • Wing'N Itrestaurantkm 0.1 · 1419 m off the road
  • Mr. Subfast foodkm 0.1 · 1607 m off the road
  • Corarestaurantkm 0.1 · 1486 m off the road
  • Pita Pitfast foodkm 0.1 · 1620 m off the road
  • Parkside Pizzafast foodkm 0.1 · 1506 m off the road
  • Jade Gardensrestaurantkm 0.1 · 1899 m off the road
  • Sun Sushirestaurantkm 0.1 · 1888 m off the road
  • YellowBelly Brewery and Public Housepubkm 0.1 · 202 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 0.1
  • Newfoundland Chocolate Companycafékm 0.1 · 173 m off the road
  • Booster Juicefast foodkm 0.1 · 165 m off the road
  • Freshiirestaurantkm 0.1
  • Quesadafast foodkm 0.1 · 1497 m off the road
  • McDonald'sfast foodkm 0.1 · 1835 m off the road
  • Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 0.1 · 1582 m off the road
  • Second Cupcafékm 0.1 · 1739 m off the road
  • Montana'srestaurantkm 0.1 · 1800 m off the road
  • Starbuckscafékm 0.1 · 1733 m off the road
  • Harvey'sfast foodkm 0.1 · 1599 m off the road
  • Milestonesrestaurantkm 0.1 · 1570 m off the road
  • KFCfast foodkm 0.1 · 1671 m off the road
  • A&Wfast foodkm 0.1 · 1882 m off the road
  • Subwayfast foodkm 0.8
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 0.8
  • The Rockrestaurantkm 0.8
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 2.6 · 1639 m off the road
  • Greco Pizzafast foodkm 2.6 · 1623 m off the road
  • Booster Juicefast foodkm 2.6 · 1644 m off the road
  • Rustler'srestaurantkm 2.6 · 1653 m off the road
  • Ches's Fish and Chipsrestaurantkm 2.6 · 1546 m off the road
  • Pizza Houserestaurantkm 2.6 · 1393 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 2.6 · 1524 m off the road
  • Mr. Subfast foodkm 2.9 · 1723 m off the road
  • Pizza Expertsfast foodkm 2.9 · 1716 m off the road
  • Wendy'sfast foodkm 2.9 · 1679 m off the road
  • Domino'sfast foodkm 2.9 · 1657 m off the road
  • Peter's Pizza Restaurant & Loungerestaurantkm 2.9 · 1712 m off the road
  • Mustang Sally'srestaurantkm 2.9 · 1662 m off the road
  • Sun Sushirestaurantkm 2.9 · 1715 m off the road
  • Old Town Pizzeriarestaurantkm 3 · 691 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 3 · 744 m off the road
  • Dairy Queenfast foodkm 3 · 775 m off the road
  • East Side Mario'srestaurantkm 3.1 · 1448 m off the road
  • Big Bite Pitafast foodkm 4.6 · 1842 m off the road
  • MajesTeacafékm 4.6 · 1829 m off the road
  • Donati'sfast foodkm 4.6 · 1949 m off the road
  • Bitterspubkm 4.7 · 1224 m off the road
  • Ziggy Peelgoodfast foodkm 4.7 · 1837 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 4.7 · 1936 m off the road
  • Pop's Dinerrestaurantkm 4.7 · 1935 m off the road
  • NJ's Kitchenrestaurantkm 4.7 · 1983 m off the road
  • Smitty'srestaurantkm 4.7 · 1935 m off the road
  • Noodle Namirestaurantkm 4.7 · 1948 m off the road
  • Subwayfast foodkm 4.7 · 1804 m off the road
  • Quintana'srestaurantkm 4.7 · 1806 m off the road
  • Big Ben's Pubpubkm 4.7 · 1818 m off the road
  • Breezewaypubkm 5 · 1246 m off the road
  • Jumping Beancafékm 5 · 1435 m off the road
  • Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 5 · 1275 m off the road
  • Booster Juicefast foodkm 5 · 1282 m off the road
  • Manchu Wokfast foodkm 5 · 1290 m off the road
  • Pizza Delightrestaurantkm 5 · 1304 m off the road
  • Just Friesfast foodkm 5 · 1309 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 5.1 · 1539 m off the road
  • The Pantry (Autism Society Foundation Room)restaurantkm 5.2 · 764 m off the road
  • McDonald'sfast foodkm 5.3 · 1855 m off the road
  • The Guv'nor Pubpubkm 5.3 · 1851 m off the road
  • Domino'sfast foodkm 5.4 · 1922 m off the road
  • The Bigs Ultimate Sports Grillrestaurantkm 5.5 · 1892 m off the road
  • Old Town Pizzafast foodkm 5.6 · 1911 m off the road
  • Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 5.6 · 1920 m off the road
  • Subwayfast foodkm 6.1 · 1819 m off the road
  • Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 6.1 · 1784 m off the road
  • A&Wfast foodkm 6.1 · 1803 m off the road
  • Dairy Queenfast foodkm 6.1 · 1831 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 6.1 · 1797 m off the road
  • Mr. Souvlakifast foodkm 6.1 · 1790 m off the road
  • Peters Pizzarestaurantkm 6.1 · 1740 m off the road
  • Burger Kingfast foodkm 6.1 · 1998 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 6.9 · 1231 m off the road
  • Red Pepper Restaurantrestaurantkm 6.9 · 1894 m off the road
  • Cora'srestaurantkm 6.9 · 1961 m off the road
  • Scamper's Snack Barrestaurantkm 6.9 · 1806 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 6.9 · 1236 m off the road
  • Montana'srestaurantkm 6.9 · 1975 m off the road
  • McDonald'sfast foodkm 8.2 · 1855 m off the road
  • Dairy Queenfast foodkm 14.7 · 254 m off the road
  • Kozy Kitchenrestaurantkm 14.7
  • Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 14.7 · 206 m off the road
  • Mr. G's Loungepubkm 14.7 · 338 m off the road
  • Ocean Sushirestaurantkm 14.7 · 331 m off the road
  • Peter's Pizzafast foodkm 14.7 · 345 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 14.7 · 285 m off the road
  • Tiny's Bar and Grillrestaurantkm 14.7 · 329 m off the road
  • McDonald'sfast foodkm 14.8 · 536 m off the road
  • Ye's Wokrestaurantkm 14.9 · 654 m off the road
  • A&Wfast foodkm 14.9 · 727 m off the road
  • Coffee Matters Paradisecafékm 15 · 726 m off the road
  • Domino'sfast foodkm 15.2 · 1097 m off the road
  • Subwayfast foodkm 15.2 · 1173 m off the road
  • Cojonesrestaurantkm 15.2 · 1069 m off the road
  • Pizza Housefast foodkm 15.3 · 1855 m off the road
  • Subwayfast foodkm 15.3 · 535 m off the road
  • Robin's Donutsfast foodkm 15.7 · 450 m off the road
  • Donovan's Irvingrestaurantkm 15.9 · 622 m off the road
  • A&Wfast foodkm 16.5 · 1700 m off the road
  • A&Wfast foodkm 16.5 · 1700 m off the road
  • Canteenrestaurantkm 16.9 · 1756 m off the road
  • Starbuckscafékm 17.1 · 1642 m off the road
  • Pizza Hutrestaurantkm 17.1 · 1773 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 17.1 · 1941 m off the road
  • A&Wfast foodkm 17.1 · 1885 m off the road
  • Costco Food Courtfast foodkm 17.2 · 1456 m off the road
  • Silver Wood Innrestaurantkm 87.3 · 1547 m off the road
  • Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 89.2 · 1627 m off the road
  • Greco Pizzafast foodkm 89.2 · 1545 m off the road
  • Country Delightrestaurantkm 89.2 · 1552 m off the road
  • Greco Pizza / Sergio's Ice Creamfast foodkm 89.2 · 1535 m off the road
  • Country Delightrestaurantkm 89.2 · 1552 m off the road
  • McDonald'sfast foodkm 89.4 · 1881 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 89.4 · 1680 m off the road
  • Jungle Jim's Eateryrestaurantkm 89.4 · 1898 m off the road
  • A&Wfast foodkm 89.4 · 1891 m off the road
  • KFCfast foodkm 89.4 · 1907 m off the road
  • Don's Restaurantrestaurantkm 108.9
  • Dairy Queenfast foodkm 109
  • Mary Brown'sfast foodkm 109.1 · 181 m off the road
  • Tim Hortonscafékm 109.2
  • Peters Pizzafast foodkm 109.4
  • KFCfast foodkm 109.4
  • Ches's Fish & Chipsfast foodkm 109.5
  • Crooked Phil'scafékm 109.5
  • McDonald'sfast foodkm 109.6
  • Subwayfast foodkm 109.6
  • The Stone Jugrestaurantkm 111.9 · 753 m off the road
  • Cold Waterrestaurantkm 111.9 · 790 m off the road
  • Studio Coffeecafékm 112.3 · 869 m off the road
  • Darkstar Coffee Roasterscafékm 112.3 · 915 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.

  • MooseYear round, worst between dusk and dawn

    The province states the likelihood of injury in a moose collision is about twice as high between dusk and dawn as in daytime. This drive runs the Trans-Canada west to the head of Conception Bay before turning north, and the stretches between the towns on the western side of that bay are unlit two-lane highway like the rest of the island — the same dusk-to-dawn caution applies.

    Check it now →

  • Road conditionsYear round, matters most November–April

    Route 80 across to Heart's Content is a two-lane secondary road exposed to Trinity Bay weather, and the Conception Bay highways before it are no different. Check conditions before leaving the airport, especially outside summer.

    Check it now →

  • Cable station seasonTypically late spring to early autumn

    The Heart's Content Cable Station is a provincial historic site and does not stay open all year. The province publishes the season, the hours and the admission on the site's own page, and that is where to read them rather than here — a museum's calendar is the operator's to state.

    Check it now →

Arriving without a car

Every distance and time on this page is a drive. If you are not renting, here is what St. John's International Airport Authority lists at this door — operators and numbers, not fares: a tariff is theirs to change, so it is linked and not copied.

Rideshare: it depends who you ask.

The Airport Authority's own ground-transportation pages name City Wide Taxi as “the exclusive provider of ground transportation services for the public” and do not mention rideshare anywhere. Uber publishes pickup instructions for YYT, and the Airport's own account welcomed Uber in 2024. Both things are true and this page will not pretend they resolve: the Authority's pages are what govern the kerb, so check them on the day.

  • Taxi

    City Wide Taxi, which the Airport Authority names as the exclusive provider for the public. Cabs queue outside the Arrivals area and a dispatcher is there to help. The Authority publishes preset fares to named hotels and a meter-plus-surcharge rate everywhere else; what those are is theirs to publish and change.

    (709) 722-7777

  • Public transit

    Metrobus route 14 runs between the airport and the St. John's metro region, including Memorial University. There are two stops at the airport: one near the arrivals area, and one on World Parkway by the Holiday Inn Express. The Authority says Metrobus has committed to a wheelchair-accessible service on this route and can take large, non-folding mobility aids. Schedule and fares are Metrobus's.

St. John's International Airport Authority, 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

How long is the drive from St. John's Airport to Heart's Content?＋

About 109 minutes covering 132.2 km, on the Trans-Canada Highway (Route 1) and then Routes 75, 70, 74 and 80 up through Conception Bay and across to Heart's Content on Trinity Bay. That is a free-flow estimate with no stops.

Should I fly into St. John's, Gander or Deer Lake for Heart's Content?＋

St. John's, and it isn't close. The drive from St. John's Airport is about 109 minutes; from Gander it is about 250 minutes, and from Deer Lake about 478 minutes — both on the wrong side of the island for this trip. Fly into St. John's if Heart's Content is where you're headed.

What's worth stopping for on the way?＋

Harbour Grace's beached SS Kyle, the former railway station turned museum in Carbonear, and — at the end of the drive — the Heart's Content Cable Station Museum itself. The measured detour each one costs is listed beside it above.

Can this be a day trip from St. John's?＋

Yes. The 109 minutes above is one direction, so a return trip is roughly double that and still leaves the middle of the day in Heart's Content. The thing to settle first is the cable station's season: it does not open all year, and its own page carries the dates.

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/yyt-hearts-content"
  width="100%" height="420" style="border:0" loading="lazy"
  title="Driving route: St. John's International Airport (YYT) to Heart's Content"></iframe>
Add ?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/279110348 — St. John's International Airport. Destination: OpenStreetMap node/473136418 — Heart's Content.