Greenwich Beach

Greenwich Beach (pronounced the British way as Gren-itch) is at the heart of Prince Edwards Island National Park, yet surprisingly it’s the least frequented.

Access is tucked away about 45 minutes’ drive from Charlottetown and is visitors need to drive around the scenic St Peters Bay to reach it.

The long sandy beach is edged by gently lapping waves so a sun hat will be more use than a surfboard. There are sand bars and shallow warm waters for paddling. It’s also a good beach for swimming with lifeguards attending in the summer months.

Have fun with the floating boardwalks and the three trails that navigate across the massive rare sculpted sand dunes, the largest on PEI. They shift and change with the weather. The Greenwich Dunes Trail was the #1 destination trail in Atlantic Canada and the return hike is 4.4km long. There’s an easier wheelchair loop for those with pushchairs. Informative signboards educate about the parabolic dune system, its structure, ecology and wildlife.

The Greenwich Interpretive Centre has interactive exhibits, multimedia displays and maps of the trails for hikers and mountain bikers to explore. There are marshes and waving sea grass bordering 6 kilometres of light golden sandy beach that is home to rare plants and birds. There is also a snack bar selling refreshments and cold drinks.

It’s a far cry from when Native Canadian Indians lived here, as archaeological evidence suggest. It was also the site of an Arcadian community that sought to live in harmony with nature in the 1700s.