1

The first question is if you are planning to drive to PEI why are you flying in to Buffalo ? The drive would be much shorter from Burlington VT or Portland ME. Are you planning to see Niagara Falls en route or want to see Montreal and Quebec City ? You also did not mention how much time you have for this trip which is a very important consideration.

From Google maps,

Buffalo NY to Charlottetown PEI through US 19 hours
Buffalo NY to Charlottetown PEI through Montreal and Quebec City 20.5 hours
Burlington VT to Charlottetown PEI through Maine 13 hours
Burlington VT to Charlottetown PEI through Montreal and Quebec City 15 hours 15 min
Portland ME to Charlottetown PEI 9.5 hours

Even flying to Burlington VT will save you 6 hours each way or 12 hours total. Unless you have three weeks or more and want to see NF, Montreal, and QC along the way I would not recommend flying to Buffalo and would recommend flying somewhere closer to PEI.

2

"Quickest" and "best" are mutually exclusive in my book. "Quickest" would be to fly someplace closer, as stated above: try Boston or Portland, Me. "Best" from Buffalo (if you insist) would be down through the Finger Lakes, then up through the Adirondacks, across the lake by ferry into northern Vermont and New Hampshire, down to the Maine coast....you get the idea.

You don't say what time of year (important), what interests you (important) or how long you've got (important). That makes it difficult to give a serious answer.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

3

no, the first question is, are you going to PEI or NB? or both?

personally, i'd go through montreal and plan a couple days there, or a day there and one in quebec city. first, they are cool and unique, whereas maine is a heck of a lot like NB.
second, i think you can avoid toll roads. i seem to remember a lot of tolls on the new england coast.

4

The drive through the US is mostly long and boring - except possibly through VT and NH to an extent - Maine is mostly just Interstate through the forest unless you take Coastal 1, which means you're looking at an extra day really.

5

One consideration to make - while driving through Canada is the most direct route (and affords a visit to Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City, fuel is significantly more expensive in Canada than in the United States.

6

there used to be a ferry from new england to NS. not sure what route exactly, or if it still runs.

7

Long gone, that ferry.

8

If by significant you mean about 25 - 30% then I would argue that Europe has significantly higher gas prices being over double the US prices. The current price around Buffalo is $3.93 US a gallon which works out to $1.04 CAD a litre. In Ottawa we can get gas for around $1.25 a litre. In Fredericton NB gas can be bought for around $1.29 a litre. Even for a long trip like this the difference will likely be less than $100 for the whole trip.

I don't know what the OP will be renting but my Nissan Altima uses about 6.3 L/100 km on the highway. The long route from Buffalo through NF, Toronto, Montreal and QC to PEI is about 1900 km. For 2000 km it would take about 130 litres for the highway portions so even with a 30% premium in Canada you are talking about less than $40 extra in gas. If the OP wished to see all those Canadian cities they would need to spend much more than $40 on hotels/food.

Add in the fact that a US rental car will have a full tank of cheap gas and when returning the car in the US the border can be crossed with as empty a tank as possible and filled up again in the US means the gas that needs to be bought in Canada is reduced. Also the return route from PEI can be through the US.

This "consideration" only affects people with poor math skills, automotive knowledge and logic. If the OP wants to visit these Canadian cities they will need to spend much more than the less than $100 extra on Canadian gas.

9

I would argue that Europe has significantly higher gas prices being over double the US prices.

if they're planning to get to the east coast via europe, the price of gas is the least of their worries.