Welcome to Prince Edward Island

A breathtaking destination, filled with wandering trails, endless beaches and unique experiences everywhere you look.

A Place for Everyone Nature & Outdoors

Meet fishers, farmers, foodies and other Island friends who want to share their passion for food, adventure and the great outdoors.  Yes, Prince Edward Island is small in size, but you’ll be surprised by the abundance of adventure and activity that awaits. Explore our fishing villages, charming small towns, sprawling farming communities and thriving urban centres.

Real Experiences Simple Pleasures

Our Authentic PEI Experiences offer unique perspectives on the traditions and way of life on the Island. Choose from excursions with chefs, artisans, fishers, farmers, musicians and a host of other characters who love what they do and want to share it with you. The memories will last a lifetime.

Prince Edward Island is one of eastern Canada's maritime provinces, off New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The large island is marked by red-sand beaches, lighthouses, and fertile farmland, and is renowned for seafood like lobster and mussels. Charlottetown, the capital, is home to Victorian government buildings & the modern Confederation Centre of the Arts, with a theatre and art gallery.

Between 250 and 300 million years ago, freshwater streams flowing from ancient mountains brought silt, sand and gravel into what is now the Gulf of St. Lawrence. These sediments accumulated to form a sedimentary basin, and make up the island's bedrock. When the Pleistocene glaciers receded about 15,000 years ago, glacial debris such as till were left behind to cover most of the area that would become the island. This area was connected to the mainland by a strip of land, but when ocean levels rose as the glaciers melted, this land strip was flooded, forming the island. As the land rebounded from the weight of the ice, the island rose up to elevate it farther from the surrounding waters.

HISTORY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND:

The History of Prince Edward Island covers several historical periods, from the pre-Columbian era to the present day. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the island formed a part of Mi'kma'ki, the lands of the Mi'kmaq people. The island was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. The French later laid claim over the entire Maritimes region, including Prince Edward Island in 1604. However, the French did not attempt to settle the island until 1720, with the establishment of the colony of Île Saint-Jean. After peninsular Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia) was captured by the British in 1710, an influx of Acadian migrants moved to areas still under French control, including Île Saint-Jean.

In 1758, the British gained control of the island as a result of the Ile Saint-Jean Campaign during the Seven Years' War. Shortly thereafter, British forces began to deport a number of Acadians from the island. The island was formally established as the British colony of St. John Island in 1769, later renamed to Prince Edward Island in 1798. Although the colony's capital hosted one of the conferences that led to Canadian Confederation in 1867, the colony itself did not enter Canadian Confederation until 1873.

Monument for the Acadian expulsion in Prince Edward Island. A large number of Acadians were forcibly removed from the island in the mid 18th century.

Roughly one thousand Acadians lived on the island prior to the Acadian Exodus from Nova Scotia. The population grew to nearly 5,000 the late 1740s and early 1750s, as Acadians from Nova Scotia fled to the island during the Acadian Exodus, and the subsequent British-ordered expulsions beginning in 1755.

Cuisine & Taste

Learn a new skill and perhaps a new recipe too with local ingredients harvested close by. Learn to shuck an oyster or bake sourdough bread with local ingredients or sign up for award-winning culinary experiences in the kitchen and on the beach. Satisfy your taste buds and your curiosity too!

Flora and Fauna:

Prince Edward Island used to have native moose, bear, caribou, wolf, and other larger species. Due to hunting and habitat disruption these species are no longer found on the island. Some species common to P.E.I. are red foxes, coyote, blue jays, and robins. Skunks and raccoons are common non-native species. Species at risk in P.E.I. include piping plovers, american eel, bobolinks, little brown bat, and beach pinweed.

North Atlantic right whales, one of the rarest whale species, were once thought to be rare visitors into St. Lawrence regions until 1994, have been showing dramatic increases (annual concentrations were discovered off Percé in 1995 and gradual increases across the regions since in 1998), and since in 2014, notable numbers of whales have been recorded around Cape Breton to Prince Edward Island as 35 to 40 whales were seen in these areas recently.

Festivals in Prince Edward Island

The Cavendish Beach Music Festival is an annual music festival held in mid-July.There is an annual arts festival, the Charlottetown Festival, hosted at the Confederation Centre of the Arts as well as the Island Fringe Festival that takes place around Charlottetown. An annual jazz festival, the P.E.I. Jazz and Blues Festival is a one-week-long series of concerts taking place at several venues including Murphy's Community Centre, outdoor stages, and churches in Charlottetown.  The musician's line up included Oliver Jones, Sophie Milman, Matt Dusk, Jack de Keyzer, Jack Semple, Meaghan Smith and Jimmy Bowskill.There is also Canada Rocks, and the Cavendish Beach Music Festival.

With agriculture and fishery playing a large role in the economy, P.E.I. has been marketed as a food tourism destination. Several food festivals have become popular such as the Fall Flavours festival and the Shellfish Festival.

PEI Fly King

Get hooked on fishing! If you are looking for a unique fishing experience on PEI, call The Fly King. Reviews are excellent whether you are a novice or a seasoned pro Fly Fishing in PEI is as good as it gets.

GOLFING IN PEI: A golfer's paradise. Prince Edward Island may be small in size, but we're big in golf! We have more than 25 amazing courses across the Island.

THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW:THE FLAG OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND:

On July 14, 1769, the new seal for the British colony then known as St. John’s Island bore the Latin motto “Parva sub ingenti” (“The small under the protection of the great” or “The small beneath the vast”), which was also represented graphically by an oak tree with three smaller trees at its side. These represented England and the three counties into which the colony was divided. As a province in the Dominion of Canada, Prince Edward Island acquired a coat of arms on May 30, 1905, utilizing the old seal design as the basis for its new shield. The red chief (upper part of the shield) bore a yellow lion, which referred to the English origin of the settlers and to the coat of arms of Prince Edward, for whom the island was named.

THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO SAVE: Lobster recipes, travel photos and memories.

ZENTRAVELER SAYS: Many moons ago Zentraveler arrived on Prince Edward Island in a volkswagen camper with a kawasaki trail bike on the back? I had spinning gear, fly-rods, sleeping bag and hibachi grill for cooking. Arriving at the National Park located on the ocean there was a large sign park closed for rennovation. The park officier said are you by yourself. I nooded my head and he told me I could stay on one of the ocean front campsites. I asked him how much and he told me no charge?  Here is where I would like this statement entered into the guiness book of world records.

"THE PEOPLE OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND ARE THE FRIENDIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD."

My typical day on Prince Edward Island went something like this. Eat breakfast and head out to the many fishing venues.  I especially liked small feeder streams full of smelt whilst the ocean fish came roaring in on high tide to get their fill of tasty smelts.  After catching enough trout and salmon for lunch I would fire up my charcoal hibachi grill and have fish for lunch. I would then head out to the many small lakes chocked full of trout and salmon.  I would then stop by the lobster factory and tell them to give me a kilo of cooked lobster.

Head back to the campground and have lobster dinner with a few brewskis. Walk out on the pier in front of my campsite and catch flounder from the sea. This was my daily routine and if I wanted to have some spirits and meet some locals (at that time PEI was considered dry)  would go to the local VFW of which I had my American Card and be greeted with a large sign-in ledger.  Locals treated me like Royalty and several asked why didnt I move here?  My only logical reason too cold. Change the climate and I will be there in a nano second... and guess what the climate is changing.

From here to Infinity is a relatively short ride! The next leg takes eons and eons as you fly through the Barycentric Dynamical Time Zone! …and on and on and on.  Follow the Zentraveler Newsletter often for Travel, Health and Zen-like stories  and such. Where else can you get a THREE IN ONE NEWSLETTER FOR THE PRICE OF FREE.

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ZENTRAVELER IS A PERSONAL NEWSLETTER, DESIGNED TO GIVE TRAVEL, HEALTH, WRITING AND HUMOR INCLUDING HELPFUL HINTS WITH A ZEN LIKE QUALITY.