Prince Edward Island is one of those destinations, not necessarily known to many outside of Canada. It’s our hidden gem. Most people when booking a trip to Canada choose Banff, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal or even Quebec City. Not many know about PEI or even consider it as a destination. I’m here to change your mind.
Located on the East coast of Canada, Charlottetown airport is a 2 hour direct flight from Toronto. You can fly there all year round but try to stick with the late spring, summer or early fall months to make the most of your trip, and to be able to take advantage of the beaches.
Where to stay
As much as I love staying in hotels, the best way to see PEI and the best way to stay in Prince Edward Island is to get a house overlooking the water. This is especially true if you plan on visiting with kids. I’m learning that it’s quite difficult to travel with children because you either have to stay in a hotel and go to bed at 7pm with them or find (sometimes for a lot more) a house where you can have your own space to enjoy post-bedtime.
Prince Edward Island as a travel destination is quite reasonable. You can find a great place to stay on the water for a reasonable amount compared to many other island destinations. The Airbnb we stayed at had the most incredible sunrises that we could watch from the floor to ceiling windows. It truly made our experience and our trip even better by finding great accommodations.
We stayed in Campbellton. The key for us was to stay centrally so that we could see a lot of the island without having to travel too far in the car.
Charlottetown is a good place to stay if you want to have the benefits of ‘night life’ but the accommodations pretty pricey, you’ll get more bang for your buck by venturing further afield.
What to do
The best part of visiting Prince Edward Island are the landscapes. The cliffside, beaches, and rolling hills are incredible to experience. You can easily see the best of Prince Edward Island in one week.
Thunder Cove
My favourite place in Prince Edward Island is Thunder Cove. The beach is incredibly expansive and the red sand is unbelievable. You can walk along the beach with the ocean on one side and a red rock cliffside on the other. The rolling dunes are absolutely beautiful.
Thunder Cove is a great example of what a beach can look like with years of wind and water beating up along the coast. There are so many hidden caves and rock formations. Of course, the most famous rock formation is located in a little hidden alcove and looks like an ice cream cone.
Prince Edward Island National Park
Of course, no visit to the island is complete without visiting its national park. There is over 60km of beach and sand for you to explore. You’ll even find a lot of wetlands and saltmarshes that are protected. We visited the Prince Edward Island park several times on our trip and honestly couldn’t get enough.
Make sure to check the tides before you visit because that will impact what part of the park you visit and where. If the tide is out, take advantage and walk along the water seeing the various sea life that’s washed up on the shore.
Anne of Green Gables Museum
Any book nerd will love visiting the Anne of Green Gables museum. This attraction isn’t for everyone but if you, like me, read any of the Anne of Green Gables books growing up, it’s a really cool attraction to visit.
Avonlea Village
Now honestly, I wouldn’t be running to visit the Avonlea village, it’s very kitchy at the end of the day. I can only imagine in high season how packed and horrible the place would be. HOWEVER, we visited in off-peak season so the place was a ghost town, literally. No shop and no restaurant was open. Because of this, the place was actually pretty cool to walk around and visit.
Cows Ice Cream
Whether it’s the flagship location or one of the smaller shops in Charlottetown, you absolutely have to visit Cow’s Ice cream. Not only is the ice cream delicious but the gift shop is super fun as well. I never do this, but I ended up buying a sweatshirt from the shop and it’s one of my favourite sweaters to lounge around in.
Argyle Shore Provincial Park
Argyle Shore Provinvial Park is absolutely stunning. You have to walk down a steep set of stairs to get there which makes it all the more mystical. Definitely check the tide times before visiting Argyle Shore because if it’s high tide you won’t get to really explore the ocean floor.
Despite it being incredibly cold, we absolutely loved Argyle Shore because we saw so much sealife wash up. Teddy got to see a starfish, lots of crabs, seaweed and a seahorse. It was such a cool experience.
Bonshaw Hills Provincial Park
For something a little different, we explored Bonshaw Hills Provincial Park. The park is absolutely beauitufl in the autumn. There are a number of great walks and trails you can follow that wind in and around the park. It’s actually quite an interesting place because it’s nestled in between a highway and incredibly unassuming.
Cavendish Beach
Cavendish Beach was our go to on the trip because the Airbnb we stayed at was pretty closeby. The boardwalk is beautiful and there a couple of nice little walks you can take. The sand on the beach is fine, soft and perfect. In the summers I can imagine it’s a very popular spot but in the autumn it was dead. Well, I wouldn’t say dead, it was definitely the busiest beach of all the ones we visited.
Brackley Beach
Another fine sand beach is Brackley. The views from the lookout at Brackley are beautiful. You can walk down the steps and onto the sand that stretches for about 10km. There are a lot of dunes and although you aren’t allowed to walk on top of them, you can walk below them and admire them.
When to go
Of course, the best time to visit Prince Edward Island is in the summer. There are way too many beaches and the weather is too beautiful for it not to be the best time to visit. However, if you’re looking to beat the crowds and have beaches all to yourself than autumn is a great time.
You may find in the off season a lot of shops and restaurants have closed for the season so you may have to really plan ahead for meals. A great way to save money
