After three days soaking in St. John’s charm, we dropped off our rental car at YYT Saint John’s airport to catch the rare 5pm direct flight (PH1127) via Air Saint-Pierre to Saint-Pierre & Miquelon: one of the few weekly connections between Newfoundland and this unique French overseas territory.
Check-in opens 90 minutes before departure (3:30pm for our flight) and literally takes under 3 minutes. Within an hour, we were boarding.
Though geographically closer to Newfoundland than France, Saint-Pierre & Miquelon is a full-fledged overseas territory (like Réunion or Mayotte off the eastern coast of Africa) making it a remnant of France’s former empire tucked away in the North Atlantic behind Canadian Newfoundland. This piece of France’s once-sprawling North American ambitions remained French long after Canada became British.
Today, these islands represent the last French territory in North America and one of the few places where you can buy a croissant with euros just 25 kilometers from Canadian shores.
Having previously been to Mayotte and Réunion, I couldn’t help but search for that familiar sensation during our quick 42-minute flight: the distinctive blend of mainland France woven into landscapes worlds away from the motherland. Different oceans, different latitudes, but the same surreal beauty of being in France while being nowhere near it.
Since Canada doesn’t stamp US passports upon exit, Saint-Pierre & Miquelon provides your EU entry stamp.
A Transported World
An airport pickup from our hotel delivered us into this transported world: gravel roads and cobblestone streets, colorful houses, and tricolor flags fluttering over the harbor. The scattered arrangement of brightly colored wooden house facades in this capital city particularly reminded me of Longyearbyen or ittoqqortoormiit.
As if France had colonized Scandinavia and transplanted it to northern North America.
Our Self-Guided Exploration
With two nights and a full day to explore, we began with our first official meal: a splendid sunset dinner at our hotel, Les Terrasses du Port.
We then set off on foot through this compact, walkable town after dark, reaching the ferry offices on the harbor’s opposite end within 20 minutes.
The predominantly French-speaking locals descend mainly from Norman, Breton, and Basque settlers, with additional English and Irish ancestry from historical migrations and intermarriage with nearby Canadian Newfoundlanders.
The architecture channels Basque influences while cafés serve Bordeaux wines. The pace remains unhurried and nostalgic…like a time capsule of provincial France with an island twist, perpetually prepared for annual “snowpocalypses.” Notice how remarkably high some doorways are built!
From the ferry terminal we continued our tour:
- La Poste de Saint-Pierre, an Alsatian-style postal office with a tower shaped like a monk.
- The central Place du Général de Gaulle, facing just across La Poste de Saint-Pierre:
- Musée Héritage – A private collection focused on religion, medicine, and Prohibition-era smuggling.
We returned the next day when it reopened at 2pm to explore recreated hospital operating rooms, cinemas, churches, a bootlegger’s backroom, and a nun’s bedroom from Saint-Pierre’s early modern era.
- The Zazpiak Bat fronton, one of the few remaining clues to Saint-Pierre’s Basque heritage.
- The rebuilt Cathédrale de Saint-Pierre, blending Basque, Alsatian, and local stonework into a singular architectural style.
- Parks like Square Joffre:
- Le Monument aux Morts commemorating their losses during World War I
- Musée de l’Arche: Once home to archival exhibits and the infamous guillotine used in the 1889 Néel Affair, it’s been closed since 2024.
- The serene, sloping Saint-Pierre Cemetery, filled with above-ground tombs in a layout unique in North America.
The next day, returning to Saint-Pierre in daylight, we discovered Pointe aux Canons Lighthouse and nearby cannons standing sentinel at the harbor’s edge.
This area clearly served as a defensive outpost during British raids throughout the 17th and 18th centuries . . .
. . . complete with a submarine torpedo on display.
We also spotted Les Salines: vibrant former fishing stations now used by local artisans, though they’re much more visible from the ferry perspective.
By 3pm, we’d returned to the ferry office and decided on a whim to board the hour-and-a-half ferry ride onward to Miquelon, extending our French territorial exploration even further.
- At time of posting in Saint Pierre and Miquelon, it was 12 °C - Humidity: 70% | Wind Speed: 8km/hr | Cloud Cover: rainy, wet, and cold. I feel like a wet dog
