When to go: June through early October. The ancient settlement a UNESCO World Heitage site opens for the season on June. How to get around: Car rentals are available at Newfoundland's Deer Lake Regional Airport. The five hour drive north along the Viking Trail toward L'Anse aux Meadows provides travelers with a front row seat to the province's green valleys imposing mountains and resilient coastline. A free iPhone /iPad app for Newfounland and Labrador can help travelers find their way. Alternatively the NorPen Bus Service runs along the Viking Trail and can do the driving for you. Where to stay: Fall asleep to the soothing sounds of the St. Anthony Harbor at Grenfell Heritage Hotel and Suites. Forty five minutes south of L' Anse aux Meadows it offers a choice of suites featuring fully equipped kitchens balconies and free Wi-Fi. There's also on site laundry facilities and complementary continental breakfast.
Where to eat or drink: To watch icebergs and whales pass by request a window seat at the Norseman Restaurant where the locally sourced menu includes elk tenderloin freshly caught Atlantic cod and seasonal vegetables like sweet potatoes beets and asparagus. Or walk down to the adjacent wharf with the chef to pick your own lobster from a floating pen. Save room for a slice of tangy partridgeberry pie topped with fresh whipped cream. What to Buy: The Gaia Art Gallery carries moose antler carvings silver jewelry and Innu tea dolls woven from smoke tanned caribou hide beads and cotton. For keepsakes with a Nordic twist the Heritage Shop of L'Anse aux Meadows stocks historical books knitwear pottery and music during the summer months.
What to read before you go: The New Land With the Green Meadows by Anne Stine Ingstad (2013) explores excerpts from the diary of the author's mother the Norwegian archaeologist in charge of L'Anse aux Meadows excavation in the 1960s with personal stories about the people and life there.Fun fact: The Vikings weren't the first settlers at L'Anse aux Meadows. Different aboriginal groups called the site home as far back as 6'000 years ago. Tools and campgrounds identified at the site have been linked to five or six tinct groups including the Dorset Paleoeskimo who camped here more than 200 year's before the Vikings.