Charlottetown

A theatre and art gallery opened in 1964 to mark a century since the 1864 conference. During the summer festival a musical goes up every evening, and the gallery needs no ticket to walk in and see the island's painters.

A block of Richmond Street lined with nineteenth century brick buildings, closed to cars in summer so restaurant patios take over the road. In the evening buskers play fiddle, and patio tables go to whoever arrives first, with no reservations.

An old wharf on the harbour gathering souvenir shops and fish restaurants, and the departure point for cruises out to see seals and lighthouses. Sit on a bench out where the planks run out at sunset, and the sun sinks beyond the opposite shore of the harbour.

A Gothic church whose twin spires show from anywhere downtown, rebuilt after it burned in 1913. The fine detail on the ceiling and columns inside was restored in recent years, and you can slip in quietly when no Mass is on.

A Victorian mansion built in 1877, every room restored with furniture and wallpaper of the period. In summer guides lead you room to room telling stories of the family, and the veranda looks down on the harbour.

A park wrapping the waterfront southwest of downtown, with the white Government House of 1834 at the end of its lawns. A boardwalk follows the water, busy each morning with residents out walking their dogs.

A green roofed farmhouse in Cavendish, 40 minutes north by car, which Lucy Maud Montgomery used as the setting for Anne of Green Gables. Behind it run the Haunted Wood and Lover's Lane trails named in the novel.

A beach in Prince Edward Island National Park, with pinkish sand below red sandstone cliffs. The shallow sea around the island warms up nicely in summer, and the cliff edges keep crumbling, so stay back from the rim.

A 12.9km bridge opened in 1997, the longest in the world over ice covered water. The toll is never charged on the way onto the island, only on the way off.

The oldest lighthouse on the island, built in 1845, and unusual for being round and made of brick. In summer a narrow spiral stair leads up to the lantern room, and the restaurant beside it serves chowder.

A dune landscape in PEI National Park, 1 hour east of Charlottetown by car. A floating boardwalk crosses the wetland to trails between the shifting dunes.

A national park beach 20 minutes' drive to the north, the closest big stretch of sand to town. The Gulf of St. Lawrence warms through July and August, and islanders come out to swim.

A market held every Saturday morning in a building across from the university. Breakfast stalls mix in among island farm vegetables and cheese, so shoppers eat their breakfast on the spot.

This north shore fishing village sees lobster boats tie up at the wharf and a boardwalk follows the harbour. It borders the national park beaches, and many visitors rent bikes to ride the coastal road.

A beach at the far eastern end of PEI whose sand squeaks underfoot; locals call it the singing sands. In summer, kids jump off the channel bridge into the water.

Across the harbour, the site where the French first settled the island in 1720. Today it is a grassy field with only the outline of earthworks, and Charlottetown sits directly across the water.