Prince Edward Island, Canada (14)

2013 Best Summer Trip #14

Experience the quiet charms of Canada’s “million-acre farm” before next year, when a yearlong celebration called PEI 2014 will recognize Prince Edward Island’s role in the birth of the nation. Walk the coastal trails at Prince Edward Island National Park, dig for clams, and pedal past tidy villages and potato farms on the island-spanning Confederation Trail.

When to Go: June-September, the Charlottetown Festival's musical theater performances, including Anne of Green Gables–The Musical; July-August, beaches; July-September, Prince Edward Island National Park interpretive activities (campfire and geocaching programs, guided trail walks)

How to Get Around: Follow the locals’ lead and “go for a drive.” Take the eight-mile bridge to PEI from Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick, or the Northumberland Car Ferry from Caribou, Nova Scotia, or rent a car in Charlottetown, the island’s capital. Tourism PEI’s three clearly marked scenic routes—North Cape Coastal Drive, Central Coastal Drive, and Points East Coastal Drive—make it easy to drive PEI “tip-to-tip.”

Where to Stay: Stay in Bedeque at the five-room Briarcliffe Inn, where potato fields, secluded Salutation Cove, and a few private cottages are your only neighbors. Innkeepers Bill and Mary Kendrick also run Experience PEI. Ask them to arrange hands-on activities (woodworking, sand castle sculpting, oyster shucking) led by native islanders.

Where to Eat: Gather fresh ingredients (shellfish, produce, honey, bread) with PEI fishermen, organic farmers, and artisan food producers, then create your own made-from-scratch meal under the direction of local chef Ross Munro. This Surf & Turf experience is one of seven Munro has created for his Prince Edward Island Culinary Adventures (most available June 15-September). If you can’t find what you’re looking for on the menu, ask Munro to create a custom adventure.

What to Read Before You Go: The Anne of Green Gables series of books by L.M. Montgomery

What to Watch Before You Go: Anne of Green Gables (1986) and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel (1987), Canadian television productions filmed on location in PEI

Helpful Links: Tourism Prince Edward Island; Prince Edward Island National Park

Fun Fact: Eleven of the red clay lanes L.M. Montgomery described in her beloved 1908 literary classic Anne of Green Gables are designated as Scenic Heritage Roads. Many adjacent property owners voluntarily support the effort by protecting the hedgerow or woodland “buffer zone” over and along the bucolic lanes.


tidy - 整齐的
confederation - 联邦，联合
interpretive -作为说明的，解释的
secluded - 远离人群的，隐遁的
shuck - 剥皮
ingredient - 食材，原料
artisan - 职人，技工
scratch - 组合的
surf - 碎波
turf - 草地
culinary - 厨房的
gable - 山墙
sequel - 续篇
lane - 小路
adjacent - 邻接的
hedgerow - 灌木墙
bucolic - 牧歌的，田园生活的