It is located on the same latitude as Gaspé, Quebec, a city of similar size and landscape on the other side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The Captain James Cook Historic Site stands on Crow Hill overlooking the city.

[26] The Corner Brook Royals currently play in the West Coast Senior Hockey League and were the winners of the 1986 National Title, the Allan Cup.

[30] The city also twice hosted Raid the North Extreme, a televised six-day multi-sport expedition race held in wilderness locations across Canada, and was a leg of the ITU World Cup Triathlon.

Corner Brook is home to Grenfell Campus, Memorial University, where a strong arts community exists both within the school and well into the public.

It was founded in 1979 by Maxim Mazumdar, and it operates a year-round professional theatre company from its home base, Corner Brook.

From May to September, it puts together a professional repertory summer festival in Cow Head, Gros Morne National Park and regular national and international touring of plays like Tempting Providence by Robert Chafe, With Cruel Times in Between by Sarah McDonald, based on the various works by Al Pittman and Our Frances by Berni Stapleton.

Atlantic Canada's largest poetry festival was founded in the late 1980s by poet and playwright Al Pittman and Corner Brook author and historian Rex Brown.

[33] Corner Brook is also home to the region's only community radio station, BayFM (CKVB-FM 100.1, or BOIR).

[38] Route 1, the Trans-Canada Highway, passes the south side of the city on a high ridge before descending to the east into the Humber Valley.

The city is accessed by air services at Deer Lake Regional Airport, 55 km (34 mi) northeast.

It is warmer in summer than St. John's due to less maritime exposure, whereas winters are colder than in the provincial capital.

Precipitation is heavy year-round but highest in December and January and lowest in April and May, with relatively dry, stable conditions extending into July many years.

The combination of intense winter storms and "sea effect" snow make December and January the wettest months on average in Corner Brook.