Gros Morne National Park CanadaCruise Port Guide

Gros Morne National Park encompasses 1,805 square kilometers of western Newfoundland coastline and interior, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 for its exceptional natural beauty and its outstanding geological record. The park reveals over 1.2 billion years of Earth's history through exposed rock formations that have fundamentally shaped geologists' understanding of plate tectonics and the drift of continents.

Cruise ships anchoring at the north end of the park typically use Rocky Harbour as the tender point — a small community of about 1,000 people that serves as the park's main service hub. The Rocky Harbour area provides access to the park's northern highlights, including the Western Brook Pond fjord, Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, and the coastal bog and barachois pond ecosystem of the Green Gardens.

Western Brook Pond is the park's most celebrated destination: a landlocked freshwater fjord set back from the ocean, whose 600-meter vertical walls are streaked with waterfalls and reflect perfectly in the still water below. The boat tour into the gorge is one of Atlantic Canada's most dramatic experiences.

The Green Gardens area offers hiking trails through unusual lava-formed sea stacks, meadows perched atop sea cliffs, and the remnants of an ancient seafloor terrane accreted onto the North American continent. The Broom Point Fishing Premises preserve the traditional saltfish-making culture of Newfoundland in a restored 1950s outport setting.

Gros Morne mountain itself, the park's highest point at 806 meters, is a flat-topped plateau reached by a strenuous all-day hike. The summit offers views across the entire park, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Long Range Mountains, and on clear days toward the Quebec shore.