PEI 2026: North Rustico Home Swap

On our third day in PEI amidst torrential rain and gale-force winds, we spent the morning visiting the art gallery in the Confederation Centre of Arts in Charlottetown followed by a leisurely lunch before finally heading to our home swap cottage in coastal North Rustico. The original plan had been to set out as early as possible to maximize our time in the area by exploring the PEI National Park between North Rustico to Cavendish. But given the inclement weather, we flipped the entire trip.

Having front-loaded our outdoor activities during our first two sunny days by driving out from Charlottetown to go on strenuous nature hikes and beach walks, we decided to ride out the worst of the storm by loading up on groceries and relaxing “at home” the next day while enjoying our accommodations. After our vacations in the past few years, we continuously talked about slowing down and allocating some rest time on our trips. This gave us the perfect opportunity to do so and it did not feel like a “waste of money” since the home swap did not involve paying for our living quarters.

Driving north from Charlottetown towards North Rustico, we stopped at Gallant Country Food Market in Rustico to pick up enough food and snacks to tide us over for that evening’s dinner plus breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day. Our home swap host told us that she provided coffee so we just needed milk, juice, fruit and vegetables, and something more substantial for dinner. We found some lobster rolls that were a step down from the ones we had earlier in Charlottetown and Covehead but were not bad for something from a grocery store. We also bought a bag of frozen breaded clams to continue with our seafood eating agenda. Next, we stopped at Olde Village Bakery in North Rustico and picked up some muffins and pastries for breakfast. At this point, it was pouring rain and the wind was gusting so hard (trending at 90km/hour!) that our umbrellas were useless. There was no point trying to explore more of the little town so we just grabbed our food and headed for the home swap.

When we were selecting potential home swap locations in PEI to request a guest points swap, we considered several areas including Georgetown and Stanhope. In the end, we decided to concentrate on North Rustico because it is on the coast with easy access to all sections of PEI National Park and is a quick drive from Charlottetown. The vibrant fishing town of North Rustico itself has much to offer including quaint shops, seafood restaurants, walking trails, red-sand beaches, scenic harbour views and even a small community theatre.

Our home swap lodging was the sweetest little vacation property with an outdoor deck, patio furniture, and a barbeque. Unfortunately, we were not able to use any of these amenities during our stay because of the weather. Luckily, the interior was stylishly, comfortable, functional, and easy to keep clean. This was perfect since we planned to stay a day and a half inside waiting out the storm. We had a full kitchen and eating area, plenty of couches and chairs in the living area to spread out, two bedrooms to choose from, and use of a washer and dryer. There was strong WIFI which was important since the cell service in the area was spotty. We were able to surf and play games on our phones and I worked on my vacation blogs on my laptop. We even managed to cast streaming services from our phones onto the TV. Our only issues came when we lost power a few times. The first two times were during the day and the power came back within seconds. The last time was most stressful since it occurred at night and lasted several minutes. As we sat in the dark, we tried to calculate how much battery power we had left on our phones and my external power pack. But luckily, the power did come back and we were OK for the rest of the evening.

By our fifth day in PEI, the storm had subsided and although it was still drizzling, we were able to venture out to explore the area. Just a few blocks from our cottage was Harbourview Drive, a scenic street following the coast where shops, restaurants and fisheries can be found. Cricker’s Creamery is a popular ice cream shop that uses milk and ingredients sourced from local dairy farms. They serve hard and soft-serve ice cream, flurries, milkshakes, sundaes and dipped cones. I loved the cow and calf sculptures positioned in front of the store which were whimsically dressed up in rain ponchos after the deluge. Nearby was Rustico Bay Wool Sweater Company which specializes in handmade local and Canadian wool sweaters, blankets and accessories, including the classic “Doyle Curl Neck” sweater, named after Doyle’s Cove in PEI National Park.

Tide and Tales is a popular bistro, bakery and independent bookstore that sits in a historic harbourside building a short distance from the wool store. There were some really good-looking muffins, baked goods, sandwiches and even smash burgers that would have made great meals for our day spent inside our home swap, but we didn’t make it this far in the pouring rain. There were some cute books too including the punny “Stan of Green Stables”.

Located on the boardwalk that runs along the harbourfront on Harbourview Drive is a group of local artisan shops at North Rustico Seawalk Park including a surf shop and a café. We visited the Harbourside Boutique where I bought a cheery sundress with pockets that was 50% off and Rich bought a bar of goat milk soap with a lobster carved on the side. We would actually stop at the company that produces this soap a few days later. We also checked out Seawalk Studio which had a variety of paintings, ceramics and other artworks, many of which represented views of PEI scenery. One beautiful work of crashing waves was actually a weaving while another depicted the iconic Teapot dune that was destroyed by Hurricane Fiona in 2022. I liked the tiny ceramic geese including one decked out like Anne of Green Gables with her trademark red braided hair and straw hat.

Almost at the tip of North Rustico Harbour on Court’s Wharf is Seagull’s Nest Gift Shop, a nautical and souvenir shop open since 1984 inside a historic, old fishing warehouse that dates back 150 years.  The shop features unique, hand-painted nautical murals and props created by a local artist as well as nautical and coastal souvenirs, local PEI crafts and clothing including sweatshirts, rain gear, socks, and hats. A menacing shark’s head with an open mouth is cheekily mounted on the façade by the entrance.

The North Rustico Harbour, nicknamed “The Crick” (creek) by locals, is centred around a working harbour established in the 1700s with a multi-generational lobster and mackerel industry. The harbour supports 40 local fishing vessels with a lobster season in May/June and catches of mackerel, cod and Bluefin tuna in the summer months. You can buy fresh seafood directly from the boats or from the colourful fishermen’s huts lining the water. Several buildings offer deep-sea fishing excursions. One of the highlights of the harbour is the 1.1km wooden boardwalk known as the Rustico Promenade that connects the town and harbour to North Rustico Beach.

We took a stroll along the boardwalk and passed some scenic views of North Rustico Harbour and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We came across the Seawalk Park Gazebo which acts as a viewpoint, rest stop and rain shelter. Along the length of the path are heritage relief sculptures carved into local sandstone by a local artist. We found carvings of Indigenous people, a sailing ship, a fish and a heron. In the marsh, we spotted a live Great Blue Heron with its neck raised looking for food. Then we had an unexpected surprise when we saw the six-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a 1920s Acadian fisherman in the middle of the water. The sculpture was erected in 2018 to mark over 250 years of fishing heritage and honor the region’s founding Acadian families and fishermen.

As we got closer to the harbour, we noticed the whimsical sign and art in front of the local artisan workshop PEI Wooden Lobster Buoy. There is a cutout of a fisherman in bright yellow rain slickers and a sign indicating “Friends Gather Here”. Right at the tip of the Court’s Wharf is Outside Expeditions where we were planning to rent bicycles during our stay in North Rustico before the inclement weather and high winds nixed those plans. By the beach is the North Rustico Harbour Light, a classic 52-foot-tall wooden lighthouse dating back to 1876 which guards the entrance of the channel.

A path from the lighthouse leads to North Rustico Beach, a quieter, less crowded setting than the more popular Cavendish Beach to the west. Looking back across the red sand towards the lighthouse and the town, you see a very picturesque vista that sums up PEI’s beauty. In a grassy patch by the lighthouse is a whale’s jawbone that has been here since 1969 and has become a local landmark marking the start of the beach. Further inland at 130 Lantern Hill Drive is an architecturally unique building known as the “Rotating House”. This is a 5000-square-foot rental apartment built on a motorized disc that turns 360-degrees, taking 45-60 minutes to complete a rotation.  Four luxury 625-square-foot rental units are available and the rotation allows each unit to have access to views of the sea, red cliffs and harbour.

We ate well in Prince Edward Island and stuck to our goal of consuming some sort of seafood with each major meal. This continued during our stay in North Rustico which has multiple seafood restaurants. Fisherman’s Wharf Lobster Supper is a well-known dining hall open since 1979 with a massive seating capacity for up to 500 people. A main course of a whole lobster (1, 1.5 or 2 pounds) is accompanied by a large buffet of salads, mussels, corn on the cob, clam chowder soup, nachos, and a variety of desserts. If lobster is not your cup of tea (although then why go to a restaurant called Lobster Supper?) you could alternately order scallops, snow crab, breaded haddock, breaded shrimp, chicken, or steak as your main. Because there was so much seating, we were able to walk in last minute without a reservation. The long lineups at the buffet stations were a bit worrisome since we had a time constraint to get to the theatre after dinner, but the lines moved quickly.

We ate at our first “Maritimes Lobster Supper” years ago when we visited Hubbards, Nova Scotia’s Shore Club. For us that was the gold standard as we were presented with substantial lobsters that were stuffed full of meat, large juicy mussels and a delicious no-bake blueberry cheesecake for dessert. The atmosphere there was folksy as we sat at communal tables with red and white checkered tablecloths. By comparison, this lobster supper felt very commercial and the size of it made as feel like we were in an assembly line. It was probably the wrong season but the lobsters and mussels were not as meaty. While it is always a treat to eat an entire lobster, the experience did not quite measure up to our memories of Hubbards.

On our last day in North Rustico, we had lunch at the newly opened Rustico Cannery and enjoyed it much more than the lobster supper. Located right by the water on Court’s Wharf, it is a modern restaurant with an open kitchen, wood-planked walls decorated with local art, and tables by large windows with great views of the harbour. On a nicer day, there is a large outdoor patio deck directly above the water where you could watch fishing boats head out to sea during the day or experience the sun setting during dinner. The bathroom stalls are decked out like ship cabins with opaque ocular windows and brass nautical hardware. Below the bar are examples of locally sourced oysters including ones from the adjacent bay where oyster traps are visible from the windows. The oysters on display include Lucky Limes, Raspberry Point, Irish Point, Rustico and Pickle Point. The bartender explained that the oysters varied in taste and salt level depending on the type of water that their beds were found in.

Rustico Cannery offers fresh, locally caught maritime seafood including freshly shucked oysters, oysters broiled with bacon, butter and breadcrumbs, tuna carpaccio, lobster rigatoni, fish cakes, and more. They also offer a curated list of handcrafted cocktails. As Rich had to drive back to Charlottetown and then the airport after lunch, we both ordered non-alcoholic mocktails including the Captain’s Punch (PEI rhubarb, strawberry, lemon, soda) and the Dry Dock (PEI blueberry, lime, ginger beer). Since we already had an oyster-dominant meal when we visited Malpeque Bay, we decided to try other seafood. We started with Cajun crab dip topped with cheddar, breadcrumbs, pickled shallots and cherry tomatoes served with sourdough and naan. For our main course, we both ordered the panko-crusted haddock with pickled beet remoulade, jalapeno relish, confit potato and coleslaw. These choices were delicious and this restaurant is a great new addition to North Rustico’s dining scene.

As avid patrons of live theatre, we always look for an opportunity to watch a play or musical while on vacation. We were particularly thrilled to learn that the Watermark Theatre was located just a block away from our home swap cottage. Founded in 2008, this is an acclaimed professional company that puts on plays during summer months in the 110-seat thrust-stage theatre. Initially launched as the Montgomery Theatre which produced works written during the lifetime of L.M.Montgomery, it was renamed and rebranded in 2013 and now focuses on a broader range of classic and contemporary plays.

We were lucky enough to secure tickets to one of the final performances of the last show of the 2026 summer season. Bed & Breakfast is a comedy written by Canadian actor and playwright Mark Crawford in 2015 about Brett and Drew, a gay couple living in Toronto who struggle to purchase a home amidst the high-priced and overly competitive real estate market. When Brett unexpectedly inherits his aunt’s house in an unnamed rural town 3 hours from the city, the couple decide to move there, renovate the home and set up a bed and breakfast establishment. What follows is a hilarious social comedy as the couple from the big city experience fish-out-of-water situations, make new friends, but also encounter homophobia in the small town. The play is all the more impressive given that in addition to the central roles, two actors hilariously play all the other quirky characters of varying genders, ages, and backgrounds, including townspeople and the eccentric patrons of their bed and breakfast. The talented actors rapidly switch roles and, on several occasions, even hold verbal discussions and physical interactions with themselves while playing multiple characters at the same time. 

In addition to being a laugh-out-loud, feel-good play, the plot includes a moving tale about being outwardly gay in rural Canada that gives it depth while commenting on identity, tolerance, and finding community. The play premiered in 2015 in Ganaoque, Ontario, where Crawford starred as Brett, before touring regional theatres and festivals across Canada. In 2018, the show was added to Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre’s season.  During its run at Watermark Theatre, the roles of Brett and Drew were played respectively by Montreal actors Chris Barillaro and Jonathan Patterson, who are married in real life. On its opening night, a special fundraiser was held where 50% of the proceeds from that performance were donated to support Pride PEI. We had a wonderful time at this show, making it one of the highlights of our trip.