Page 73 - 2025-2026 Travel Guide to Canada

Special Events
JUNE – AUGUST
• WATERMARK THEATRE SUMMER FESTIVAL,
NORTH RUSTICO
JUNE – SEPTEMBER
• THE CHARLOTTETOWN FESTIVAL
JUNE
• PEI MUTUAL FESTIVAL OF SMALL HALLS,
PROVINCE-WIDE
JULY
• CAVENDISH BEACH MUSIC FESTIVAL
• MERMAID TEARS SEA GLASS FESTIVAL,
SOURIS
• ROLLO BAY FIDDLE FESTIVAL, ROLLO BAY
• PEI BLUEGRASS & OLD TIME MUSIC
FESTIVAL, DUNDAS
• SUMMERSIDE LOBSTER CARNIVAL
JULY – AUGUST
• VICTORIA PLAYHOUSE FESTIVAL,
VICTORIA-BY-THE-SEA
JULY – SEPTEMBER
• HARBOURFRONT THEATRE SUMMER
FESTIVAL, SUMMERSIDE
AUGUST
• ISLAND FRINGE FESTIVAL,
CHARLOTTETOWN
• OLD HOME WEEK, CHARLOTTETOWN
• TYNE VALLEY OYSTER FESTIVAL
SEPTEMBER
• PEI INTERNATIONAL SHELLFISH FESTIVAL,
CHARLOTTETOWN
• SOMMO FESTIVAL, CAVENDISH
SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER
• PEI FALL FLAVOURS FOOD & DRINK FESTIVAL
www.tourismpei.com/
what-to-do/events
such as museums and historic sites,
performing arts venues, special events,
theatres, galleries, craft shops and artisan
studios (www.artsandheritagepei.ca).
To get a taste of Acadian culture, visit the
Acadian Museum in Miscouche for a history
lesson; then head to Village Musical Acadien
for traditional food and fiddle tunes
(www.museeacadien.org; www.village
musical.ca).
If you prefer Celtic music, follow the
provincial tourism board’s themed itinerary.
Choices run from casual ceilidhs and
concerts to professionally-staged shows and
fun festivals.
To learn more about the Island’s Indigen-
ous heritage, be sure to drop by the Lennox
Island Mi’kmaq Cultural Centre or attend
drum-driven powwows and other related
GUERNSEY COVE • ©TOURISM PEI/PAUL BAGLOLE
events held across the province
(www.experiencelennoxisland.com).
MUST SEE, MUST DO
From Cavendish’s tourist-friendly strand to
the pristine beaches at Greenwich, PEI
National Park and Basin Head Provincial
Park’s silica-rich “singing sands,” PEI has a
beach to suit every taste. Better yet, they’re
lapped by some of the warmest waters north
of the Carolinas (www.tourismpei.com/
what-to-do/beaches-parks).
Many shellfish fans call North Cape Coastal
Drive region as “Canada’s Oyster Coast”
because its prized Malpeque variety, drawn
from the eponymous bay, have set the gold
standard for more than a century. Sample
them waterside or slurp some back at the PEI
Fall Flavours Food & Drink Festival, Tyne
Valley Oyster Festival or the PEI International
Shellfish Festival (www.fallflavours.ca,
www.tvoysterfest.ca, www.peishell
fish.com).
Conceived by celebrity chef Michael Smith,
The Inn at Bay Fortune’s FireWorks Feast
features multiple courses cooked in a
7.5-m-long (25-ft.) wood-burning, fire-
breathing stove that has an integrated
smokehouse, hearth, grill, plancha, rotisserie
and oven (www.innatbayfortune.com).
The entire world seems to know about COWS
ice cream. Its 32 varieties are available at
several locations in PEI, but you can get the
inside scoop at COWS Creamery on the
outskirts of Charlottetown, which offers tasty
and educational tours (www.cows.ca;
www.cowscreamery.ca).
PE
71
Quick Fact
IN 1864, PEI HOSTED THE
CHARLOTTETOWN CONFERENCE, WHICH
LED TO THE CREATION OF CANADA IN 1867.
SCENIC DRIVES
The 350-km (217-mi.) North Cape Coastal
Drive is full of contrasts. It’s quickly getting
a reputation as the Canadian Oyster Coast.
There is everything here from Mi’kmaq
and Acadian communities to secluded
beaches and towering wind turbines
(www.northcapedrive.com).
The 253-km (157-mi.) Central Coastal Drive—
which includes Green Gables Shore and Red
Sands Shore—covers key Anne sites and PEI
National Park, plus communities ranging from
Cavendish to quaint Victoria-by-the-Sea
(www.centralcoastalpei.com).
The 475-km (295-mi.) Points East Coastal
Drive is dotted with lighthouses and lined
with 50-odd beaches. There are timely
attractions, too—among them Orwell Corner
Historic Village and Roma at Three Rivers
National Historic Site (www.pointseast
coastaldrive.com).
FAMILY FUN
Kids of all ages love making sandcastles, and
Maurice Bernard is the expert in residence at
PEI National Park. You can sign up for Experi-
ence PEI’s “Sensational Sandcastles” program
to receive a private sandcastle building lesson
with a professional sand sculptor (www.tourism
pei.com/experiences/sensational-sand
castles; www.parkscanada.gc.ca/pei).