Recommended Itinerary
Group Tour / Motorcoach
The Wilds Resort is adjacent to the Avalon Wilderness Reserve providing accommodation, perfectly perched in the Salmonier River Valley. Its 300 acres offers a launching point to explore some of the most sought-after tourism destinations on the province's east coast. The following provides you one to three-night options and itinerary if you arrive at the Marine Atlantic Argentia Ferry for a six-night, seven-day east coast itinerary. This itinerary is easily adapted if you are traveling from the province's west coast and ending your journey in St. John's or arriving in St. John's by air.
Arrival
Your ferry docks at 10:00 am. Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve is just one hour drive from the terminal. Your first stop is to experience one of the awe-inspiring destinations in the province. You don't have to be a birder to appreciate the most accessible and one of the largest colonies of nesting gannets in North America. Lunch at the Three Sisters Restaurant in Placentia before your one-hour drive to The Wilds Resort. Your welcome dinner can be a casual BBQ or Lobster boil or your choice of a seasonal three-course meal.
Day Trip Options
If your group has diverse interests; birders, hikers, anglers, golfers, then a day at The Wilds Resort can accommodate various activities; learn how to fly fish on the Salmonier River, a morning of birding with a local guide along the Spirit Trail or play the 18-hole championship golf course. For those wishing to explore nearby, the Salmonier Nature Park is a 10-minute drive, and in season, St. Vincent's Beach is an up-close and personal land-based whale watching experience. The shoreline drops dramatically providing the whales deep ocean to chase their seasonal food source to the beach and they come meters from shore.
Brigus, Cupids, Clarke's Beach, and Bay Roberts are clustered together and offer varied archeology, historical walking trails, food and beverage, and cultural experiences. Picture perfect Brigus, home to Captain Bob Bartlett and a national Historic Site, the Blueberry Festival and Brigus Craft brewery; Cupids to explore one of the most significant archaeological finds in Canada, Burnt Head walking trail, Perchance Theatre; Clarke's Beach for a visit to the Newfoundland Distillery; Bay Roberts for the Shoreline Heritage Walk, Baccalieu Trail Brewery, and the Christopher Pratt Gallery. This area has so much to offer it could easily be a two-day itinerary.
Ninety minutes from The Wilds Resort is the UNESCO site, Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, home to the oldest fossils of complex multicellular life found anywhere on Earth. If you have an early rise, you can explore this site, lunch at the Claddagh Inn St. Mary's Bay, and return to The Wilds for a dip in the heated pool, a leisurely walk along The Spirt Trail, dinner, a campfire, and live entertainment.
Day Trip Options
You may choose to head south and continue the journey around the Irish Loop through Trepassey, Ferryland, Witless Bay, Bay Bulls before arriving for your overnight in the capital city St. John's.
Highlights include, Sullivan's Song House, Ferryland Lighthouse Picnics, The Colony of Avalon and The Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, and the East Coast Trail.
You may also head north and east on the Trans Canada Highway and take the Witless Bay Line to Bay Bulls for a trip to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve to visit the puffin colony and, in season, icebergs.