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Gander International Airport (YQX) → Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre

Gander Airport (YQX) to Terra Nova National Park

The drive from every airport and ferry ↓

Distance
77.8 km
Drive time
In your maps app ↗
Roads
3301
Open in Google Maps →
Use another map appApple Maps · Google Maps · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze

Stops and map ↓

Looking over the boreal forest of Terra Nova National Park to one of its sheltered sounds reaching in from Bonavista Bay.
Looking over the boreal forest of Terra Nova National Park to one of its sheltered sounds reaching in from Bonavista Bay.Photo: rcheng30 · source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Driving route from Gander International Airport (YQX) to Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre: 77.8 km by road, via Routes 330 · 1.Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

Faded lines are other drives from Gander International into this area: Burnside ferry terminal (94 km), Salvage (97 km), Dover (73 km), Clarenville (147 km), White Hills Resort (148 km), Trinity (200 km), Port Rexton (199 km). Each splits off where its line leaves this one.

  1. Stop 1: Thomas Howe Demonstration ForestDetour

    A demonstration forest with walking trails on the Gander side, early in the drive. The access road takes longer than its distance from the highway suggests.

    Stopping here adds 2.8 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Thomas Howe Demonstration Forest ↑

  2. Stop 2: Square Pond

    A campground a little under halfway along, right on the Trans-Canada. It is not a ParksNL park or reserve, so check who runs it and whether it is open.

    Stopping here adds 0.7 km to the drive.

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

  3. Stop 3: Joey's Lookout

    A viewpoint roughly halfway along, right on the road. It is easy to miss at highway speed.

    Stopping here adds 0.1 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Joey's Lookout ↑

  4. Stop 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 23.8 km to the drive.

    Directions →
    Other map appsApple · Google · Organic Maps · OsmAnd (both work offline, no tracking) · Waze
    Show on map: Sandy Pond ↑
⛽ 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.

Drive measured Aug 29, 2026, terminal to visitor centre. 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: Gander International Airport →

77.8 km. Gander airport to the park visitor centre, straight down the Trans-Canada on good highway.

Why people come. It is the province’s only Dark-Sky Preserve, designated by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2018; the stargazing guide has the designated sites and the sky by month. Gros Morne is 375 km away. Terra Nova is 78 km.

Sunrise and sunset at Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre, by month
Month (the 15th)SunriseSunset
January7:52 am4:36 pm
February7:14 am5:25 pm
March7:20 am7:10 pm
April6:16 am7:55 pm
May5:25 am8:38 pm
June5:02 am9:09 pm
July5:18 am9:04 pm
August5:58 am8:22 pm
September6:41 am7:20 pm
October7:24 am6:17 pm
November7:13 am4:27 pm
December7:51 am4:10 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 →

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

The longest stretch with nothing mapped on it is 29.6 km — after Family Pizza, 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 77.5

Not ranked or complete, and nobody pays to be here. No opening hours: phone ahead. Open map data, swept 2026-09-12. 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 Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre

An easy day out from Terra Nova National Park Visitor CentreClarenville 72 km awayIts own page measures from the Gander airport; from Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre it is 72 km.Directions 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 Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre.

More, up to 80 km (10)

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
Longest stretch without one
65 km
Gander → Glowertown, of 78 km driven
Nearest fast charger to Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre
9.3 km
by road, at Glowertown

Coming in 2026 (NL Hydro, 2026-10-22): Gander (km 2). 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

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: 90% has no surface tag.
Mapped as paved
10%
6.7 km of 77.8 km driven
No surface tag on the map
90%
61.6 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.

  • Park entry and what's openChanges through the year

    Parks Canada sets entry, fees, campgrounds and which trails and facilities are open, and these change with the season. Check before you drive.

    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. This stretch of the Trans-Canada runs through moose country at highway speed.

    gov.nl.ca →

  • Road conditionsYear round, matters most November–April

    Check before leaving the airport.

    511nl.ca →

The trails

The trail, measured

Louil Hill Trail: the mapped path is 3.7 km with 83 m of climbing, from 92 m up to 147 m.

01002000 km123
to ~8% grade8–15%steeperheight exaggerated ~4×

Every cited segment →OpenStreetMap way/123274050; elevation from AWS Open Data Terrarium tiles (z14), sampled ~30 m, ascent over a 3 m noise threshold.
A line that ends at a different height from where it starts is a loop, not an out and back.

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.

    (709) 256-1444

  • 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.

    (888) 263-1852

  • Limousine

    Nobel Limousines, listed by the Airport Authority.

    (709) 535-2457

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.

The drive back

Measured the other way, Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre back to Gander is the same distance: 78 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 Gander International Airport →

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

Questions

How far is the drive from Gander Airport to Terra Nova?＋

77.8 km to the visitor centre, south-east on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Is it worth doing as a day trip?＋

Yes, it is the simplest day trip on this site: 78 km each way on good highway. Unlike the icebergs, the park is there in August and in October.

Terra Nova or Gros Morne?＋

They are not alternatives. Gros Morne is 375 km from Gander and 72 km from Deer Lake; Terra Nova is 78 km from Gander and 381 km from Deer Lake. From either airport, one is close and the other is most of a day. If you fly into Gander, Terra Nova is your national park.

Do I need a rental car?＋

Yes. The park spreads along tens of kilometres of the Trans-Canada, with trailheads and campgrounds off it. There is no realistic way to reach or get around it without one.

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.

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  width="100%" height="420" style="border:0" loading="lazy"
  title="Driving route: Gander International Airport (YQX) to Terra Nova National Park Visitor Centre"></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 August 29, 2026. Origin: OpenStreetMap way/154350645 — passenger terminal. Destination: OpenStreetMap node/1600343274.

Going with someone?

Hear when iceberg season looks worth the trip

One or two emails a year: where icebergs are showing up, and which drive gets you there.

Pressing Email me signs you up for iceberg-season email only, never shared. Unsubscribe any time. Sent by From the Airport, 582 St. Clair Ave W, Suite 326, Toronto, ON M6C 1A6, hello@fromtheairport.xyz. More about it.