PEI Coastal Weekend: Charlottetown to Cavendish in 2 Days - 1000 Towns of Canada

Weekend Blueprints

PEI Coastal Weekend: Charlottetown to Cavendish and Back

Red sandstone cliffs, working fishing harbours, Blue Flag beaches, and PEI's most-photographed coastal viewpoint — a two-day loop through the Island's north shore.

Created by Sarah Finkle, Dalhousie University

Prince Edward Island’s north shore is a string of red-sandstone cliffs, long sandy beaches, and working fishing harbours running east-to-west along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This weekend loop from Charlottetown covers the shortest, sweetest version of the route — about 156 km round trip — hitting two PEI National Park beaches, a fish shack that’s been serving Covehead Wharf since 1976, a National Historic Site fieldstone railway station, and the most-photographed harbour on the Island.

Day 1 goes north to the coast: breakfast at Receiver Coffee on Victoria Row, north to Brackley Beach for the morning, lunch at Richard’s Fresh Seafood on Covehead Wharf, a walk along the North Rustico Seawalk, an afternoon at Cavendish Beach, and dinner and bed in Cavendish (Chez Yvonne’s and Kindred Spirits Inn).

Day 2 runs west along the coastal villages: breakfast at Samuel’s, a morning at New London Wharf — either the 8:30 a.m. deep-sea fishing trip or the L.M. Montgomery Birthplace — the French River lookout, a waterfront lunch at Sou’West, an hour at Kensington’s fieldstone railway station, and back to Charlottetown for dinner at The Merchantman.

Note on route overlap: this itinerary visits several villages that also appear in our Lucy Maud Montgomery Trail guide (Cavendish, Kindred Spirits, New London, French River, Village Pottery). This is the coastal, beach and seafood framing; the other is the literary one. Run them back to back and you have a three-day Island weekend.

Day 1 — Charlottetown → Brackley Beach → North Rustico → Cavendish

→ 72 km of driving · two national-park beaches, a wharfside lunch, a harbour walk, dinner and a night in Cavendish

Start on Victoria Row in downtown Charlottetown by 8:30 a.m. Fill the tank here — it is the cheapest fuel you will see all weekend.

1☕ Breakfast

Breakfast at Receiver Coffee — Charlottetown

★ 5.0·Receiver Coffee, 128 Richmond Street (Victoria Row), Charlottetown, PE

Start the weekend on Victoria Row, the pedestrian block where Receiver opened its first café. The company roasts on-Island and bakes its own bread, and the Richmond Street room — brick walls, tall doors onto the patio — is the one worth sitting in. There are four Receivers in all: two downtown (Victoria Row at 128 Richmond and The Brass Shop at 178 Water), one on Milky Way Drive, and one on the Cavendish Boardwalk you will pass tomorrow. Charlottetown sits at the bottom of the Island; the Gulf coast is half an hour north, and that is where the trip proper starts.

Visit place →

Brackley Beach — PEI National Park

★ 5.0·Brackley Beach day-use area, Gulf Shore Parkway, Prince Edward Island National Park, PE

The western end of Prince Edward Island National Park: soft red-and-white sand, big dunes, and water that actually warms up by August. Park at the day-use area where Brackley Point Road meets the Gulf Shore Parkway — washrooms, changing rooms and the boardwalk over the dunes are all there. Give it two hours, longer if you are swimming.

Lunch at Richard's Fresh Seafood — Covehead Wharf

★ 5.0·Richard's Fresh Seafood, 9 Wharf Road, Covehead Wharf, Stanhope, PE

Richard Watts was a Covehead fisherman who, with his wife Anne, put up a canteen on the wharf in 1976 to feed the boats. Fifty seasons later it is one of the best-known fish shacks on the Island and still on the same wharf. Have the fish and chips on the deck, or take a lobster roll back to the beach. The working harbour, the boats and the Covehead Harbour lighthouse are all right there. Note the season: the Covehead Wharf kitchen closes 23 September.

4Harbour · Walking · Shopping

North Rustico — Seawalk & harbour

★ 5.0·North Rustico harbour, Harbourview Drive, North Rustico, PE

The Seawalk runs along the harbour from Harbourview Drive out toward the breakwater, and it is the best half-hour of walking on the north shore. Give it an hour. If you would rather eat here than at Covehead, On The Dock and the Blue Mussel are both a minute away.

Cavendish Beach — PEI National Park

★ 5.0·Cavendish Beach day-use area, Gulf Shore Parkway West, Prince Edward Island National Park, PE

The PEI beach from the postcards: red sandstone cliffs, a wide strand, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence straight ahead. Walk the boardwalk along the dunes or swim in July or August. Dinner and bed are both five minutes away.

Dinner at Chez Yvonne's Restaurant — Cavendish

★ 5.0·Chez Yvonne's Restaurant, 8947 Route 6, Cavendish, PE

Chez Yvonne's has been feeding Cavendish for decades — seafood, lobster, steaks and homemade desserts in a plain family room at the Route 6 corner. Reservations are a good idea in July and August.

Overnight at Kindred Spirits Inn & Cottages

★ 5.0·Kindred Spirits Inn & Cottages, 46 Memory Lane, Cavendish, PE C0A 1N0

Kindred Spirits — named for the phrase Anne Shirley used for the friends she knew on sight — sits on Memory Lane, immediately west of Green Gables Heritage Place.

Day 2 — Cavendish → New London → French River → Kensington → Charlottetown

→ 85 km of driving · deep-sea fishing (or the Montgomery Birthplace), the Island's most-photographed lookout, a fieldstone railway station, dinner back in Charlottetown

Breakfast at Samuel's Coffee House

★ 5.0·Samuel's Coffee House, 8779 Route 6, Avonlea Village, Cavendish, PE

Samuel's is a Summerside roastery with a seasonal branch inside Avonlea Village, a kilometre west of the inn — coffee, pastries, breakfast wraps.

New London Wharf — Deep-Sea Fishing (or LM Montgomery Birthplace)

★ 5.0·New London Wharf, 6373 Route 20, New London, PE

The water option. Captain Wade's boat sails from New London Wharf three times a day — 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. for cod and mackerel. The season is the tight part: 1 July to 14 September.

French River Viewpoint

★ 5.0·French River Lookout Road, off Route 20, French River, PE

French River is the most photographed stretch of coast on Prince Edward Island — a narrow harbour full of red, blue and green boathouses, lobster boats on their moorings.

Lunch at Sou'West Bar & Grill — New London

★ 5.0·Sou'West Bar & Grill, New London Wharf, Route 20, New London, PE

Sou'West sits on New London Harbour with a great lunch deck for miles — Island oysters, lobster rolls, fish tacos, chowder.

Kensington Railway Station — National Historic Site

★ 5.0·Kensington Railway Station, 13 Commercial Street, Kensington, PE

Kensington's railway station is a fieldstone building put up in 1905 by M.F. Schurman and Company. It houses several businesses today, making it a stop for coffee and a look at the history.

Dinner at The Merchantman — Charlottetown

★ 5.0·The Merchantman Fresh Seafood & Oyster Bar, 23 Queen Street, Charlottetown, PE

Close the weekend at The Merchantman, on the corner of Queen and Water. The kitchen leans on Island seafood: oysters raw and baked, lobster, whatever is landing.

Good to know

When to go: May to October. Many local listings and schedules such as the New London Wharf Deep Sea Fishing runs only in season from 1 July to 14 September.

Total driving: 156 km round trip, about three hours behind the wheel over two days — Day 1 is 72 km and Day 2 is 85 km.