Did you know you can visit an area of France from North America without crossing the Atlantic Ocean? If a long haul flight to Europe is not for you, visit a French island just 25 kms off the south coast of Newfoundland, in eastern Canada. St Pierre and Miquelon is a French territory located off the southern coast of Canada’s most eastern province. We took my senior parents on a family trip for two days to St. Pierre, and here is what we did, saw and ate!
Getting to St Pierre and Miquelon
St Pierre and Miquelon are two different islands. Langlade, or Petite Miquelon as it’s also referred, is connected to Miquelon by an isthmus. You can only fly to St Pierre, though. To get to Miquelon, there’s another boat from St. Pierre.
You can reach St Pierre and Miquelon by plane or ferry. It’s a 45-minute flight from St. John’s, Newfoundland, or a 1.5 hour flight from Halifax, Nova Scotia. You can fly from Montreal or Paris, though the Paris flight is not offered year-round. From Newfoundland, you can also take a 1.5 hour ferry ride from Fortune,. That is just under four hours drive from the St. John’s area.
Taking the ferry
We took the ferry from Fortune, which was a pretty easy process. It’s much more afforable than flying from Nova Scotia, where we live. You do not, however, take your car on board. You actually need a different type of car insurance to drive in St. Pierre where it is a different country. We only realized when we got to Fortune the day before our crossing that we needed to arrange parking for the car we were leaving behind.
A quick google search let us know there are two paid lots you can avail of. We went with Drakes, which cost us $5 CAD/ day and included a shuttle from the parking lot to the ferry terminal. They also pick up service on our return. We parked at 730am on a Wednesday and picked it up at 10am on Friday and paid for three full days.
You walk aboard the vessel, and there are three levels of seating. It’s very clean and the staff are excellent. There is a very small cafe that serves water, coffee and soda, but no food, which is probably for the best-more on this in the next paragraph. We found the best place to be was the top deck at the back of the boat as some of us are sensitive to motion sickness.
Here’s where I have to warn you…the ferry crossing is really a gamble if you’re someone who gets motion sickness. We had one crossing that was so smooth, it was like you were on a pleasure cruise, complete with puffins and a pod of dolphins!
We also had a crossing which was anything but. It wasn’t a particularly rough day but there was enough wind to have the boat lurching up and down. A lot of passengers were ‘green at the gills’, and then some, if you catch my drift. Here’s where the ferry staff really shined. They were so quick with helping people who needed a cold cloth, or help to the washrooms at the back. They are truly a well-oiled machine and well versed in all the scenarios that relate to their crossing.
How Long To Visit St Pierre and Miquelon
We decided on 2 days, 2 nights and found we wished we had one more day. A lot of past visitors and blogs online that suggested you didn’t need more than a couple of days to explore St Pierre and Miquelon. Three days would have been perfect for what we wanted to see. We didn’t partake in the many available hikes in St. Pierre-Miquelon. If you are looking to do that, you may wish to stay for a longer stretch. Especially if you wish to visit Miquelon as well. We didn’t make it over to Miquelon on this visit, but that just means we’ll have to go back!
We arrived aboard the Nordet at 11:30am St Pierre time. Yes – that’s right, it has its own time zone which is a half an hour later than Newfoundland. The customs entry process was pretty easy with a slight wait as the passengers worked their way through.
Our hotel (Auberge St.Pierre) offered a shuttle which was waiting for us when we arrived. The hotel is a mere 600 meters from the ferry terminal to our accommodations. Pierre, the proprietor, picked us up and told us some history about the hotel itself. It’s in what was previously his grandparents home. The Auberge St Pierre also offered a lovely continental breakfast which we thoroughly enjoyed.
After a rundown of our room and amenities, we set off on foot to explore. A ten-minute leisurely walk took us back to the downtown area, where we had arrived on the ferry. Here you can find a bustling waterfront, the Saint-Pierre sign for photos, restaurants, and many other picturesque landmarks.
What you need to know before you go
St Pierre-Miquelon uses euros as its currency. You can have your money converted there, but I would recommend doing so at your home bank before you go. French is their primary language, but we had no trouble with speaking English anywhere we went. While you likely won’t be driving there, it is helpful to know that they drive on the same side of the road as we do in North America. There are also cab services available, should you need them.
Book WELL in advance
The island is small. I mean small like the longest road on the island is 6 kms or 3.7 miles. It has a population of under 6000 on St Pierre itself, and a limited amount of accommodations. It’s recommended you book your accommodations before anything else! In March, I reached out to book and some accommodations for our trip in August, and they were already booked for the dates we wanted. Lucky for us, we were able to shift our dates to get the hotel we wanted. There are five hotels, a few bed & breakfasts, and a handful of rental options that are seasonal.
A lot of the places do their bookings over email. You cannot complete a booking online. Some places do not have websites, only Facebook pages. It took a few days to hear back from everyone I contacted, for both accommodations and restaurants, so be patient! I heard back from everyone I contacted, but it did take longer than I’m used to when planning other trips. Another reason you need to start planning your trip to St Pierre and Miquelon early.
Restaurant Reservations are HIGHLY encouraged
Because the island is so small, and a popular destination during the peak summer season, restaurant reservations will fill up earlier than you might be used to booking for a trip. We knew August would be a busier time, so we started our research in February. I booked our hotel first, then the ferry, and then made restaurant reservations. There are also a limited number of restaurants to choose from but don’t panic, there are still plenty of choices.
You won’t find any chain restaurants here. What restaurants you do find are often in small spaces, and therefore fill up quickly. If you want to eat in certain restaurants, I highly recommend you lock those in right after your accommodations. That includes lunches. There are places that are take out, or do not require a reservation as well if planning ahead like that is not your thing.
When we googled the address to see how to get to our reservations, it would say the restaurant was closed at the time of our booking. We’d get there, and the place would be open and full. This happened on multiple occasions, despite google saying the times were updated as recently as three weeks prior. In our experience, if you have a confirmed reservation, you’re good to go even if Google says otherwise.
Cell Service in St. Pierre and Miquelon
We often use an eSim (Alosim is our preferred company with a discount when you use code ALICIA for your first card!) when we travel. We’ve used them in five different countries now, but for some reason, it totally escaped us in the trip planning that we would be leaving Canada and need something for our phones.
A quick search before we boarded the ferry told us it was more problematic than other areas. Because St Pierre is technically France, but quite far from the actual country of France itself, the internet told us that the France card often did not work for people.
Depending on your carrier, you can connect for a daily fee or pre-buy a package, but they’re a little pricer. Some sites did suggest the Orange esim company, but we found most people reported that there was enough wifi between accommodations and most restaurants, so you’re fine to go without.
Because we were going to be there just over 48 hours, we decided to lean on the wifi option and it worked just fine. If you don’t see a wifi password displayed in a restaurant, just ask your server. Every time we did, they brought us a paper with the password on it.
Things to do in St Pierre and Miquelon
We had a very loose itinerary for this trip. We mainly wanted to walk around, enjoy the scenery, take in the architecture, and see what there was to see! There are tours you can book – walking, biking or by car. We chose to book a van tour through Let’s Sea SPM so we could see the entire island and what else we might want to explore.
My mother had found Monica on Facebook and she’s truly a priceless resource. Originally from Newfoundland, she married a man from St. Pierre and now splits her time between the two islands. Monica loves to help people plan their perfect St Pierre and Miquelon trip. If you’re looking for an insider to help plan your trip, or help with bookings, I highly recommend reaching out to her.
Where to eat
There are a lot of choices for restaurants, whether you want fancy French cuisine or easy breezy take out. I was honestly sad we only had two days of meals because there were more restaurants I wanted to try than we could fit in!
With our breakfast included at the Auberge St. Pierre, we had two lunches and two suppers to enjoy. We dined at:
Le Roc for lunch.
Le Feu de Braisse for dinner.
Bar Quai for lunch.
Les P’tit Gravais for our final dinner.
You can check out a list of restaurants on the SPM tourism site here, or if you can get your hands on one of the St Pierre-Miquelon guide books, they list all the restaurants in there which can make it easy to check everything out.
The food was fantastic everywhere we ate. A lot of places had very small menus, just as a heads up, but the quality and service was good everywhere we went.
Summary of our trip to St Pierre and Miquelon
I wouldn’t necessarily say visiting St Pierre is more affordable than going to France in Europe, but it’s certainly a lot less travel time. The hotels range from just under 100 EUR/ night and up, and the cost of food will range depending on where you want to go. The grocery stores stock a lot of imported items from either Canada or France, so you’re paying quite a bit more than you may be used to for some items. We like to grab snacks for the hotel room, but with a large bag of chips being almost $10 CAD, we chose to refrain on this trip.
St Pierre is an experience full of unique culture, interesting history and delicious dining. It’s quaint, charming and yet bustling with life. While you won’t get the cobblestone streets of Europe, that may not be a bad thing – your ankles and knees will thank you!
I will definitely plan a return to St. Pierre and also to get over to Miquelon the second time around. I’d love to take in the hikes, visit the restaurants we missed this time, and who knows what else!
Have a question? Feel free to reach out to me here!
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