The real story of how this Prince Edward Island trip came to be started 18 years ago. I was reading a novel that took place in PEI. {Just to clarify, it wasn’t Anne of Green Gables. I know that’s what you were thinking…}
In those days, you didn’t spontaneously book a plane ticket through Hotwire, log into AirBnB to find a place to stay, or Google a list of “25 Best Things to Do in Prince Edward Island”. It was still a paper-and-pencil, cell-phones-the-size-of-a-TV-remote world.
So in the back of this novel was an advertisement by the PEI department of tourism. They were doing a big giveaway to draw attention to this fair island. By simply tearing the form out of the book, filling it out, and mailing it back to them, you were entered into an all-expense paid trip to PEI.
At age 12, I didn’t feel qualified to send in the form…but I still remember how often I dreamed about winning that trip to PEI.
No more than a couple years later, I discovered the Prince Edward Island of Anne of Green Gables. Who hasn’t fallen in love with that energetic, see-the-world-differently red-headed girl who made PEI come alive?
The deal was sealed. Official bucket list item.
While Joel wasn’t completely swayed by my storybook love for a red-headed girl who never actually existed, he was convinced that an island filled with gorgeous scenery, world-class seafood, and the promise of a Confederation Trail bike ride was worth the visit.
We even did something we’ve never done before.
Out of our 2 week trip, we spent an entire week on PEI! Those of you that know our traveling style probably re-read that to make sure you saw it correctly. We’re of the exploring type and rarely spend more than 2 or 3 days in one spot during our personal trips.
We made a valiant effort to do just a little bit more relaxing instead of staying constantly on the go, and we had a chance to dive a little deeper into out-of-the-way little spots on the island.
I also made a valiant effort to keep this blog post within reasonable length… :) That’s why I made a nod to our Anne of Green Gables adventures here, but I’ll save the rest for a blog post of its own!
So without further ado, come along on our wanderings around Prince Edward Island! (P.S. If you’re just here for the travel tips, head down to the bottom and I’ll list some of our faves for you!)
We made Charlottetown our home base for our time in Prince Edward Island. Such a great little town! Home of some amazing coffee, fabulous restaurants, and the Anne of Green Gables musical. Which we totally recommend, by the way. {It also holds the Guinness world record for the longest running musical theatre production.}
Even our AirBnB had a cute little cottage feel!
We got into Charlottetown pretty late, so we grabbed dinner at a really Olde Dublin Irish pub and went back to our cute little cottage AirBnB room.
And the next morning….our first official PEI J&A Coffee Adventure! Receiver Coffee Co. was our first vanilla latte of PEI – and it turned into our island favorite! We allllmost filled up our loyalty card before we left. So close! :)
We spent our first morning just wandering around Charlottetown. I’ll summarize our tour in a few pictures:
And then…we stumbled into the waffles.
PEI Waffle Co is an epic little waffle food truck that’s changing the waffle scene. We got to hang out with Pieter a few times and hear his story. He’s from Belgium and, of course, has an awesome family waffle recipe. He’s working with BioFoodTech to create a specialty PEI waffle made with potatoes.
Side note: PEI is a big potato producer. And I think they serve potatoes with everything! Burger? It comes with fries. Tacos? They come with fries. Pretty much everything…it came with fries. Joel was a happy camper.
Anyway, these potato waffles were yummy! We got the Nutella waffle fries.
Next stop was the Governor’s House! This was really fun for me because I read a historical novel based around this house back when PEI was still a British territory. Lots of great history, and it’s always super cool to see in real life. The gardens were really beautiful.
And…does it look familiar? We met our amazing photographer Brady with Brady McCloskey Photography at the Government House for a session of our own! Definitely the best night of our trip! He’s also the one who introduced us to Gahan House, which ended up being one of our favorite Charlottetown restaurants.
But I know you want to see those pictures, so here you go! Photo credit to Brady!
We started off the next day with a local farmer’s market. Our favorite part was meeting this super sweet older lady selling her blueberries. We bought some, of course, and they were the biggest blueberries we’d ever seen! Deeelicious.
We also got some PEI maple syrup and a little jar of jam made from handpicked wild elderberries. We like PEI farmer’s markets, for sure!
And next….
I officially crossed “Ride a bike on Prince Edward Island” off my wish list! I’ve wanted to do that ever since watching the Anne movies.
There’s this really awesome thing on PEI called the Confederation Trail. It’s a railway-turned-hiking/walking trail that covers the entire island. You can rent bikes along the way and jump on any part of it you want!
Definitely a must-do if you’re on PEI! The ride was sooo quiet, beautiful, and perfect. It’s really easy to ride because it’s so flat.
We made it to this perfect little lighthouse before turning around to head back. We brought a picnic and had lunch here. It filled my Anne-loving heart because I could just see Anne and Diana running around on these sea cliffs!
We had to hustle back to Charlottetown that night for our Anne of Green Gables Musical reservations. Those last couple miles had us petaling really fast, haha! But we made it, and the musical was amazing. No pictures allowed, though!
The next day was raining, so we looked for some interesting indoor things to explore. The Canadian Potato Museum came recommended, so we decided to check it out.
Did I mention that potatoes are a big deal here?
It was interesting if you don’t mind reading all the little plaques to figure out what’s going on. A worthwhile stop if you need a rainy day activity. And they greet you at the door with samples of potato fudge, so….
It was still raining when we left the museum, so we just spent the rest of the day driving around the island. We saw a ton of lighthouses. This one we got a chance to tour inside. I think it was the first time I’ve been inside of a lighthouse.
Rainy view from the top!
As we were driving around, we found this interesting beach of rock stacks. I’m sure there’s a story behind it. If anyone knows, tell us about it in the comments!
Oh look! A lighthouse! :)
This was a long awaited evening! We booked tickets for an official Prince Edward Island Lobster Supper. It has a long tradition on the island, and we went to the official tourist Lobster Supper. We did ask a couple locals, and they all said it was one of their favorite places to go for a lobster supper. It made me feel a little less touristy by going there.
And touristy or not, when New Glasgow Lobster Suppers includes all you can eat mussels, salad, clam chowder, tomato basil soup, potato salad, drinks, desserts, and coffee…you say yes!
I’m still dreaming about their famous Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie.
The next day was Anne Day! And since we had titled this trip “Amber of Green Gables” when we first started planning it, I wore braided pigtails in honor of my Anne dreams coming true.
We checked out Receiver Coffee’s second location before heading out for Cavendish!
Note: Yes, I did spill that coffee on myself right after Joel snapped the picture. I was banned from being the coffee holder in our pictures for the next couple days…
But don’t worry. I rescued most of it with my fast reflexes. And that day, my outfit conveniently hid coffee spills really well.
Pre-spilled coffee.
We swung through PEI Preserve Company on our way down to Anne land. (Preserves as in jam, by the way.) There was this amazing little Gardens of Hope right next to the preserve company, so we went exploring.
We stumbled across a butterfly house!
And then we came to this really strange “magical forest” thing. It felt like some kind of Alice in Wonderland thing. Very strange, but actually really cool. We enjoyed it, random hanging windows and all.
And the view at the end was worth it!
And now…off to Anne land!
Here are just a couple pictures of our Anne of Green Gables adventure, but we’re saving the rest of it for it’s own blog post!
We had time after exploring Cavendish to head down to Victoria-by-the-Sea. My reason for wanting to visit it was that I thought the name sounded so romantic. Definitely out of a storybook. And it didn’t disappoint!
This Island Chocolates especially didn’t disappoint. If you visit, definitely stop! The building is restored general store and they kept it as authentic as possible.
And let me tell you about this Factory Coffee. A warm Belgian chocolate lined glass with fresh coffee and cold whipped cream topped with a chocolate.
Please order it when you go.
And, of course…a lighthouse!
This part of the island definitely has the famous red sand beaches!
Our last full day in PEI! We did a lot of random exploring and checked out all the places we hadn’t fit into our agenda already.
When we weren’t at Receiver, we headed over to Kettle Black for our morning coffee. The atmosphere was really neat.
Another day, another lighthouse. I loved them all!
Lighthouse view.
So this park. Two parts creepy and one part epic. It was in our guidebook, so we took a quick detour to check out this storybook park.
Upon first sight, I’m not sure which storybook they were talking about…
So we tentatively went walking through this deserted park and found these random storybook characters everywhere.
Then it just got cool. That’s where the 1 part epic came in.
So fascinating place, and probably not really as creepy as it looked to unsuspecting explorers.
Then we went in search of buffalo. This South Dakota girl probably gets way too excited about buffalo.
We ended our last day with a quick tour of Cows Creamery. The tour itself wasn’t very exciting, but the ice cream was delicious!
Our Top 10 Recommendations for PEI:
Anne of Green Gables: The Musical
Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silver Bush
Island Chocolates in Victoria-by-the-Sea
Biking the Confederation Trail
Gardens of Hope in New Glasgow
*hugs*
Amber
{P.S. If you liked following along on our adventure to PEI, definitely don’t miss our wanderings in Alaska!
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My life of travel is not as varied as the two of you, However, I have been to PEI and it was unquestionably one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. I would confidently recommend it as a bucket list item for anyone!
It’s an amazing place! That’s so neat that you’ve been to PEI, too! We also stopped in Boston for a couple days on that trip, and I thought of you! Beautiful city!
The song they would sing each night at the Lighthouse. Let the Lower Lights Keep Burning, was the song my mom and her family would sing on their way to Cape Neddick for family vacations. Mom and my uncle sang it at Grandma’s funeral.
Loved your photos , my maternal grandparents were one of the 6 couples who originally owned the New Glasgow lobster suppers , my paternal great grandparents lived not far from the Chocolate factory in Victoria by the Sea. So glad you enjoyed your P.E.I. vacation. Us locals often take it for granted and when seen through the eyes of a tourist it somehow looks amazing!
Thank you so much for your comment! That’s so neat that your grandparents were some of the founds of New Glasgow lobster suppers. We really enjoyed the experience! I agree with you – it’s interesting to see you own city through the eyes of a tourist! There’s so much we take for granted because it’s always there. We loved our time in PEI, for sure! :)
Really enticing, Amber and Joel! I, too, have been enthralled with the world of L.M.Montgomery since I was a child. My husband and I plan to make this pilgrimage, and we thank you for leading the way with enticing information.