Canada Guide
The Maritime Provinces
Charlottetown
Pocket-sized CHARLOTTETOWN, the administrative and business heartbeat of PEI, is the most urbane spot on the island, the comfortable streets of its centre – principally Grafton and Kent – hemmed in by leafy avenues of clapboard villas, the most opulent of which spread west of the centre towards Victoria Park. Yet although these well-disposed streets give the place a prosperous and sedate appearance, this is not the whole truth: Charlottetown has a relatively high rate of unemployment and this is reflected in some of the bargain-basement department stores – in contrast to the upmarket tourist shops on the snazzily developed harbourfront. That said, Charlottetown is an exceptionally amiable place to spend a couple of days and it also has, in small-island terms, a reasonable nightlife, with a handful of excellent restaurants and a clutch of good bars.