This French Island Near Canada Is The First Place In North America To Ring In The New Year
It's only about 25 kilometres away from Canada!
Snow-covered street in Saint Pierre and Miquelon. Right: People in Saint Pierre and Miquelon watching fireworks.
You might think France is all the way across the ocean but there's actually a French island near Canada!
Also, it's the first place in North America to celebrate the new year thanks to its unique time zone.
Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a group of eight islands off the southern coast of Newfoundland that's about 25 kilometres — a 90-minute ferry ride — away from Canada.
The archipelago is an overseas collectivity of France and not a part of Canada despite being so close to this country.
If you travel to Saint Pierre and Miquelon — or Saint-Pierre et Miquelon as it's called in French — from Canada and other countries around the world, you have to go through customs to get in.
That means you'll need to bring your passport even if you're just travelling on the 90-minute ferry ride from Newfoundland.
You might expect it to be North American given its location but Saint Pierre and Miquelon is very European.
So, the Euro is used there and cars on the islands have European licence plates.
Newfoundland, the French territory's closest neighbour, has a unique time zone — 30 minutes ahead of Atlantic time — and Saint Pierre and Miquelon does as well.
It's 30 minutes ahead of Newfoundland time even though it's west of parts of the province.
So, when it's 9 a.m. in Newfoundland, it's 9:30 a.m. in Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
This means that the French archipelago is the first place in North America to celebrate New Year's Day despite it not being the easternmost place on the continent.
People in Saint Pierre and Miquelon ring in the new year 30 minutes before anyone in Canada does.
The territory's time zone also has another unique quirk to it.
When you're travelling to Saint Pierre and Miquelon from the closest spot in Newfoundland, you have to go west by ferry.
But it's half an hour ahead of the Canadian province which makes it one of the few places where you have to change your time forward as you travel west!
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
This article has been updated since it was originally published on December 29, 2021.