“I’d always heard that Prince Edward Island was the prettiest place in the world.” These are the words of literary heroine Anne of Green Gables as she arrives on this fertile island off the east coast of Canada in the early 1900s. As I touch down on the island myself, I’m inclined to agree.
Red lighthouses are dotted across the horizon on sandstone cliffs that loom over red sand beaches; craft shops line the streets in seaside towns like Northport and Summerside; fishermen in yellow overalls trawl the Gulf of St Lawrence for oysters, mussels and lobsters (do not leave without sampling a lobster roll).
This island, one of Canada’s three Maritime provinces with a population of just 177,000, is packed with colour, from the bright yellow of canola fields to the silver-green of its poplar trees and swaying lime-green marram grass.
It’s late September when I visit, and the weather is warm, not hot – ideal for long walks along the beaches and picking wild blueberries. It’s also lobster season – between May and June, and from August to October, hauls are stored in saltwater tanks to keep them sweet and fresh.
On the south coast, Victoria by the Sea is a village of clapboard houses and shingle barns. I arrive to find women in their seventies and eighties sitting on the stoop of the Ewe & Dye Weavery, busy with their looms.
When I walk into Michael Stanley’s pottery shop down the street – its stoneware inspired by the colours and landscape of “PEI” – Michael is putting the finishing touches to a pot, and tells me that his wife is one of the weavers. Everyone knows everyone on the island.
A few doors down is Island Chocolate, a green-fronted chocolate shop run by siblings Eric and Emma. An old-fashioned metal till sits alongside rows of hand-dipped truffles – a relic from when this place was a general store, bought by Eric and Emma’s parents, who turned it into a chocolate shop.
In many ways, then, the island is not much changed from 1864, when it was the site of one of the most important moments in Canada’s history. That year, PEI hosted the Charlottetown Conference, the first in a series of meetings that led to Canadian Confederation. It was intended to be between the Maritime colonies – PEI, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick – to discuss a union.
But when the Province of Canada (present-day Ontario and Quebec) got wind of the meeting, it asked for an invite. It had a proposal: one unified Canada.
The meeting, which was held in the island’s capital of Charlottetown, lasted nine days: there was copious arguing and even more drinking. The building is closed for conservation work, but there’s an exhibit next door, at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, where I notice a picture of the delegates on the steps of Government House.
Look closely, the exhibition guide tells me, and you’ll notice that John A Macdonald (who would later become the first prime minister of Canada) is one of the only people sitting down. As the story goes, he was too hungover to stand.
Three years, a few more meetings, and a lot more hangovers later, Canada, as we know it, was born.
Before PEI was colonised by the French in 1604 (it was later ceded to the British, who named it Prince Edward Island after the father of the future Queen Victoria), the island, Epekwitk (“lying in the water”) belonged to the Mi’kmaq, a First Nations people.
On my second day on the island, it’s the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a day to recognise the untold damage of colonialism, particularly the residential school system set up by John A Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, to eradicate Indigenous language and culture, which forcibly removed First Nation children from their parents.
“We lost everything when colonisation happened,” Darlene Bernard, the Chief of Lennox Island First Nation, tells me. “We’re rediscovering our history.” She gestures around us. As part of Truth and Reconciliation Day, the island is hosting a powwow at the Eastlink Centre (where its biggest ice hockey games usually take place).
Here, First Nation people from PEI’s four Mi’kmaq reserves are performing traditional dances to the powerful beat of an enormous drum. “All of this stuff is coming back,” she says. “We’re trying to make sure that future generations will have this.”
Things are improving. PEI’s government has agreed to “cooperative management” with the Mi’kmaq – important decisions will be made collaboratively, particularly about the landscapes.
In 2022, PEI was devastated by Hurricane Fiona – houses were destroyed and thousands of trees were blown down. One gift shop I visit has a mural of a wave on the wall, to represent the height that the floods reached – it goes up to my chest. “We lost everything,” the shop’s owner tells me.
There is a silver lining, though. An ambitious project to replace the fallen trees, in consultation with the Mi’kmaq, is focusing on the native species that were cut down when the original forest was cleared for agriculture. Farming is still the backbone of the island’s economy – particularly potatoes, which you’ll find in anything from chocolate and fudge to soap.
Before the land was cleared, there was a “cathedral of forest”, my Parks Canada guide Ethain tells me. It was replaced mostly by white spruce, which is native to the island, but is less capable of providing the habitat needed to sustain a greater diversity of plants – and becomes a serious fire hazard when it reaches the end of its relatively short life.
The plan is to “rebuild the wilderness into something more resilient”. Parks Canada is planting red maple, white pine, yellow birch and eastern hemlock – deep-rooted, long-living, strong trees that will build a better, stronger forest.
It’ll be the perfect backdrop for one of the island’s newest and most exciting initiatives – The Island Walk. A 700km route that loops around the island’s shores. It comprises 32 sections and takes about a month to complete, along red dirt roads, boardwalks and the Confederation Trail, and is probably the best way to experience everything PEI has to offer. It’s fairly flat, too, so, if you want a realistic challenge, this is it.
Its founder, Bill Kendrick, also offers a service that fully plans your itinerary and accommodation (goforawalkpei.com), though it’s not cheap – and, of course, you can opt to just do a few sections of the walk.
Modelled on the Camino de Santiago, it offers “pilgrims” an Island Walk passport that can be stamped on completion of each of the 32 sections.
Highlights include Basin Head Beach with its “singing sands” (the high silica content makes it squeak when walked on), celebrity chef Michael Smith’s sustainable restaurant The Inn at Bay Fortune, Amish communities, Canada’s best ice creamery, forests, lakes and, of course, plenty of lobster along the way.
“People have often said, ‘I’ve always wanted to come to PEI but I’ve never had a reason to go,” Bill tells me.
“Now they have a reason.”
Travel essentials
Getting there
Air Canada flies to Charlottetown via Montreal and Toronto. Returns from Heathrow from £686, aircanada.com.
Virgin Atlantic will operate flights between Heathrow and Toronto from March 2025, virginholidays.co.uk.
Staying there
Dalvay by the Sea has doubles from £89, dalvaybythesea.com
The Great George, a historic hotel in Charlottetown, has doubles from £156, thegreatgeorge.com.
More information