Campgrounds and RV parks near Avondale, NL

The Avondale Railway Station Museum, based in the oldest surviving railway station in Newfoundland, houses both a railway museum and a community museum and is open daily through July and August. A short section of original 42-inch narrow-gauge track remains next to the station, and the site includes restored rolling stock and a small excursion train that runs on about 1.5 kilometres of preserved line. At Butter Pot Provincial Park, hikers can climb Butter Pot Hill for a panoramic view of ponds and barrens, paddle Big Otter Pond, or fish for brook trout. The park has roughly eight kilometres of gravel park road suited to cycling and walking. St. John's, Cape Spear, and the East Coast Trail are all within day-trip range, and Conception Bay is a known route for iceberg and whale spotting in early summer.

The Avondale-area camping season is short and tightly tied to the provincial park calendar. Butter Pot Provincial Park is generally open from mid-May through mid-September, with the Victoria Day long weekend as the usual season opener for most ParksNL sites. Private parks around Avondale typically run from late spring into early fall, though shoulder-season hours vary by operator. July and August are peak months, with the warmest temperatures, longest daylight, and the busiest campgrounds. Butter Pot sites are frequently full on summer weekends, and reservations become important once school lets out. June is cooler and often foggy but tends to be the driest month of the year at the nearby St. John's station. Late summer and early fall bring quieter campgrounds and fall colour but also the tail end of the Atlantic hurricane season, when weakened tropical systems can reach Newfoundland with heavy rain and wind. By late October most parks have closed for the winter, and roads through the interior can see early snow.

Butter Pot Provincial Park sites are unserviced, with no water, electric, or sewage hookups, but the park has a trailer dump station near the park staff cabin, potable water taps throughout the grounds, and two wheelchair-accessible comfort stations with showers and laundry. Many sites can accommodate larger trailers and motorhomes, and campsites are spread along forested loops close to Big Otter Pond and Peter's Pond. Cell service inside the park is limited. Private parks in the Avondale area vary in service level. The Oldmill RV Park leans toward more basic sites with picnic tables and fire pits, while parks closer to the Trans-Canada tend to offer more serviced pull-through sites. Coverage improves near the highway but can drop off in wooded areas.