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Hotel
Prince Edward Island:
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Charming bed and breakfast located on the north shore of the island between North Rustico and Cavendish. This lovely Inn has comfortable rooms decorated with antiques and includes a hearty, delicious, homemade breakfast each morning.
Prince Edward Island is one of Canada's eastern maritime provinces. It is located off of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. Its capital is Charlottetown. This Canadian province has become famous around the world as the pastoral setting of the children's book, Ann of Green Gables. The island is dotted with red-sand beaches, lighthouses along its coast, small charming villages and lots of farmland.
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Our trip focused on hiking and we did most of our hiking on the North Shore of the Island. The Prince Edward Island National Park encompasses 40 narrow kilometres of beaches, dunes, cliffs and inlets. Included in the Park are also woods and meadows with colourful wild flowers and views of the beach. It has several distinct sections with beautiful hiking trails.
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We visited PEI during a road-trip to eastern Canada. The trip included Cape Breton Island and Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Day 1
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island itinerary in 3 days
Noteworthy Restaurants
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The Mill. Located in New Glasgow, this restaurant serves comfort food made of local ingredients. There are peaceful views of the beautiful River Clyde.
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Charlottetown Farmers Market. Great place to grab a bite to eat for lunch. The market is open Wednesday's and Saturday's. There are many food vendors selling freshly caught and cooked seafood as well as a variety of ethnic cuisine.
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Cow's Creamery. Their homemade ice creams are famous. The unique flavours are made using fresh ingredients.
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The Pearl Eatery and Oyster Lounge. Located in North Rustico, this upscale restaurant serves delicious Canadian cuisine, specializing in fresh PEI seafood.
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Blue Mussel Cafe. This popular and casual eatery serves delicious, fresh seafood. They don't take reservations but it's worth the wait if there's a line!
Itinerary Add-ons
This itinerary can be combined with:
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Afternoon
Arriving in PEI by car we drove along Confederation Bridge. This bridge is the longest bridge in the world spanning almost 13 km connecting the Province of New Brunswick and PEI over the Northumberland Strait.
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Our hotel, The Graham Inn, is a charming bed and breakfast located on the north shore of the island between North Rustico and Cavendish. This lovely Inn has comfortable rooms decorated with antiques and includes a hearty, delicious homemade breakfast each morning.
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Evening
After a short rest in our rooms, we headed for dinner to The Mill in New Glasgow. This restaurant serves comfort food made of local ingredients. There are peaceful views of the beautiful River Clyde.
Day 2
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Morning
This morning following breakfast, we headed to the Cavendish Beaches for some hiking. The beaches of Cavendish are part of the Prince Edward Island National Park.
The beaches consist of miles of pristine red sand dunes, barrier islands, sandstone cliffs, wetlands and forests. We walked along some designated paths and also along the sand. They are breathtaking. We hiked to the Oceanview Lookout, MacNeill's Brook, MacKenzie's Brook, Orby Head, Cape Turner and Coyle's Cove. The beaches are deserted and quiet.
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After the hike we drove to Charlotteown, PEI's capital city located on the southern coast of the province. The Province House National Historic Site hosted the Charlottetown Conference of 1864, spurring the country’s birth.
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Charlottetown is a lively seaside city. It has a nice boardwalk along the waterfront and a couple of commercial streets with nice shops and restaurants. In the summer they often have musicians and buskers entertaining visitors.
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We went to the Charlottetown Farmers Market to grab a bite to eat for lunch. The market is open Wednesday's and Saturday's. There is lots of fresh produce, cheese and meat but there are also many food vendors selling freshly caught and cooked seafood, as well as a variety of ethnic cuisine. We had lots to choose from. We ate some fresh oysters and had sandwiches.
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Afternoon
After our lunch we drove into the centre of Charlottetown and walked around. We walked along the boardwalk and went for an ice cream at Cow's Creamery. Their homemade ice creams are famous. Their unique flavours are made with fresh ingredients.
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From Charlottetown we drove along the coast to the small fishing village of Victoria-by-the-Sea. With a population of less than 200, this tiny, quaint village has a few art galleries and a couple of restaurants and coffee shops. There are several beautifully preserved light houses, one of them built in 1879. Many of the homes are built in the Queen Anne Revival style.
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From Victoria we drove a beautiful scenic route back to North Rustico, passing many farms.
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Evening
This evening we had dinner at The Pearl Eatery and Oyster Lounge which was located close to our Inn. This upscale restaurant serves delicious Canadian cuisine, specializing in fresh PEI seafood.
Day 3
Morning
After breakfast we headed out to explore the Brackley to Dalvay section of Prince Edward Island National Park. This part of the part has the fewest services and therefore the fewest people. It is a beautiful and quiet section of the Park. We walked along the trails with stunning beach views and colourful wildflowers along the paths.
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The paths are well-marked and maintained. The trails are fairly flat and easy.
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Following the hike we drove to the Dunes Studio Gallery and Cafe. This art gallery features lovely paintings and hand-made crafts by local and Canadian artists. The cafe looks out onto the picturesque gardens.
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Afternoon
We stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant before heading to the Greenwich section of the National Park. This section is best known for its hike along a floating boardwalk to spectacular sand dunes.
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The floating boardwalk is very unique as it winds through wetlands with stunning grasses and rare plant species. The big surprise awaits when you cross the last bit and climb up the boardwalk. Over the hill are amazing sand dunes and six kilometres of beautiful, sandy beach. The hike is about 4.5 kilometres round trip.
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This was one of the highlights of our trip!
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After our hike we drove to Dalvay by the Sea - an elegant Queen Anne-style house built in 1895, which operates as a hotel and restaurant. It's a nice place for afternoon tea.
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Evening
This evening we had dinner at Blue Mussel Cafe in North Rustico. This popular eatery serves delicious, fresh seafood. They don't take reservations but it's worth the wait if there's a line!
Day 4
Morning
After breakfast we drove to the south shore of the island to catch a ferry to Nova Scotia where we continued our trip in Cape Breton Island and Halifax. See the itineraries.