Charlottetown

Visiting the Anne of Green Gables house in Cavendish is a bit like stepping into the pages of a beloved yet slightly bizarre Canadian fairy tale, where you'll find yourself quoting Anne Shirley lines you didn't even realize you'd memorized (oh yes, you did). Nestled in all its white-gabled, green-shuttered glory, this picturesque farmhouse was the inspiration behind Lucy Maud Montgomery's fiery-haired heroine-one of literature's most endearing and stubbornly optimistic troublemakers. Go early, preferably when the morning sun slants gently across the meadows, before the buses unload hordes of pilgrimaging schoolchildren and wistful literary tourists clutching battered paperbacks. Be smart-plan ahead at least a couple weeks in summer, or you'll find yourself elbowing through a sea of straw hats and pinafores. Entrance fees hover around 8 CAD for adults, a steal considering you'll be drafting your Instagram captions faster than you can say, "bosom friends." Pack snacks, sunscreen, and your imagination, of course, because nothing ruins Anne-style melodrama quite like sunburn and hunger pangs. Why come? Because even if you're secretly more Mark Twain than Lucy Maud Montgomery, wandering around pretending not to be charmed-while actually being thoroughly charmed-is the kind of quirky pilgrimage you're unlikely to deeply regret. At the very least, you'll return home equipped with superior literary trivia and a newfound appreciation for Canadian stubbornness wrapped in floral wallpaper.

Hitting the Red Sand Shores Drive in Prince Edward Island feels a bit like motoring through a Martian landscape-if Mars had charming seafood shacks and postcard lighthouses along its rust-colored coast. PEI's peculiar iron-rich sand gets its audacious red hue from oxidized minerals, turning each beach into a saturated Instagram filter begging for attention. Start after breakfast-around 9 a.m. works perfectly, when shadows cast dramatic textures across the sand, and tourists are still sipping their morning coffees elsewhere. Plan your route a day ahead at most; spontaneity is your friend here, and thankfully, PEI is compact enough to accommodate whimsical detours and impulsive seafood stops (factored into your $40-to-$60 budget: trust me, lobster rolls are non-negotiable). Pack plenty of sunscreen and a blanket to ward off the surprisingly clingy grains that will inevitably hitch a ride back to your rental car. Sure, you could dismiss it as merely another scenic drive-but let's be honest, where else can you casually remark that you've driven on beaches the color of Mars and lived to rave about the clam chowder afterward?

Picture yourself at the crack of dawn, bleary-eyed and slightly questioning your priorities, aboard a weathered fishing boat bobbing in the brisk waters of Charlottetown Harbour, chasing crustaceans with more spunk than sense. Welcome, dear adventurer, to lobster fishing: PEI's salty, pinch-happy rite of passage. Since the 1800s, hardy islanders have wrestled these spiny creatures from trap to table, turning survival into culinary swagger. Book at least a few days ahead, budget around $100 to avoid sticker shock, and layer your clothing-mornings here boast unpredictability worthy of a New England weather report. Bring your sense of humor, sturdy shoes, and perhaps a flask of something fortifying (purely medicinal, of course). After hauling crusty traps up from the depths, you'll savor your catch steamed aboard the boat, fresh enough to silence even the snobbiest seafood critic. Trust me, wrestling a lobster from ocean to plate will earn you bragging rights for decades-or at least until your next misadventure.