Prince Edward Island National Park, a 22 km² (eight square mile) oceanfront park established in 1937, faces onto the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the north shore of Prince Edward Island.

Understand

PEI is renowned for red, sandy beaches.

History

The park is famous for its place in literature as the home of the Green Gables farmhouse in Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables books.

Landscape

PEI National Park exists to protect broad sand beaches, sand dunes and both freshwater wetlands and saltmarshes; its 60 km (37 mi) length faces onto the Gulf of St. Lawrence. While much of this beach and oceanfront land is open and public, portions are restricted to protect wildlife.

Flora and fauna

A portion of the park is a designated Canadian Important Bird Area as a beachfront nesting habitat for the endangered piping plover; these bird nesting areas are not accessible to the public.

Climate

In summer, an average daytime high is 23⁰C (73⁰F) with the water as a moderating influence on temperature; this drops to −7°C (19.4°F) in January, once the Gulf of St. Lawrence freezes over.

Get in

Provincial Highway 15 runs north from Charlottetown to Highway 6, the main east-west road within the park.

Fees/Permits

Daily park admission is $7.80/person (Senior $6.80, Youth $3.90); campsites are an additional $25-35/night.

See

Green Gables farmhouse

• Green Gables Heritage Centre, Cavendish, ☏ +1 902-672-6350 (park). A 19th-century farm house which was owned by the MacNeill family, cousins of author Lucy Maud Montgomery; the outer walls are white, except for the distinctive green gables. Montgomery visited the farm as a young girl, drawing inspiration from the house and surrounding area, including the "Haunted Woods", "Lovers Lane", and "Balsam Hollow." Park admission is $7.80/person (senior $6.80, youth $3.90). 

• Site of Lucy Maud Montgomery's Cavendish home, Route 6, 1/4 mile E of Green Gables, ☏ +1 902-963-2231. 9AM-5PM (mid-May to mid-Oct), 9AM-6PM (summer). Homestead fields, lanes, gardens and old trees on the grounds where Montgomery's grandparents home once stood; no buildings remain. Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Kilmeny of the Orchard and The Story Girl were written here, as well as hundreds of short stories and poems. $3/person, $1 (age 16 and under). 

Do

• Green Gables Golf Club, 8727 Cavendish Road, Hunter River, ☏ +1 902-963-4653, toll-free: +1-888-870-5454, fax: +1 902-886-3319. 18-hole, par 72 course within the park, with views of Anne of Green Gables House, Cavendish Beach Dunes and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. $60-100. 

Sleep

Lodging

• Dalvay-by-the-Sea, 16 Cottage Crescent, Dalvay, ☏ +1 902-672-2048, toll-free: +1-888-366-2955. Elaborate summer house in the Queen Anne Revival style. A historic Victorian era mansion currently operated as an inn with restaurant and event space, twenty-five bedrooms with four-piece ensuite bath, wi-fi but no TV or radio. Eight one or two-bedroom cottages are nearby. 

Go next

• Charlottetown and the Trans-Canada Highway