The Town of Bonavista has many sites and attractions to keep visitors busy for many days, exploring sites and attractions and walking along the rugged coastline to experience Bonavista\'s culture and rich history.
Bonavista is three hours from the ferry at Argentia or from the Airport at Gander, and just three and a half hours from the provincial capital of St. John\'s. Visitors can take the Trans Canada Highway to Highway 230 or 233 and cruise north along the coast where they will find tourist chalets and craft stores located along the route and throughout the town.
Bonavista is where modern North America began. In 1497, the Italian explorer Giovanni Caboto, sailing under the British flag for King Henry VII, made landfall in the New World. \"O Buona Vista,\" he was said to exclaim after nearly two months at sea. Oh happy site!
In Italy he is known today as Giovanni Caboto, in Spain as Juan Caboto and in England as John Cabot. The Spanish and English forms are not wrong, they merely reflect the way contemporary 15th-century documents described him.
And although Cabot found no spice, the fishing grounds were so plentiful that the crew could dip buckets in the water and fill them with cod fish. King Henry VII was pleased enough to reward Cabot the impressive sum of 10 pounds. And the news of the existance of this Land - and the riches of the Grand Bank fishery - spread throughout Europe after Cabot\'s return journey across the Atlantic.
In the last decade of the 19th century, Bonavista was a booming town that serviced the 20,000 people living on the peninsula.
Visitors are invited to explore the fascinating history of life and work in one of Newfoundland's oldest inshore fishing communities.