Travel dates: July 2021
For the National Park Service, Niagara Falls has long been a cautionary tale: we need to protect America’s natural wonders quick, before they all go the way of Niagara Falls–commercialized and built up and surrounded by tourist traps! And it’s true. That’s what Niagara Falls is like, and it would be nicer if it had been preserved in a more pristine, natural state long ago. But that’s not what happened. It is, as they say, what it is. If you want to see the truly spectacular falls, you have to deal with the kitschy tourism part of it.
So you might as well embrace it. Is what we figured anyway. Do the cheesy tourist stuff AND admire the very impressive falls!
We had three nights/two full days in the Niagara Falls area, and this was plenty of time to thoroughly check out the falls from assorted vantage points, do some of the touristy stuff, and make it to some off the beaten path sites as well. Note that this was in summer of 2021 when the Canadian border was still closed, so we didn’t get to go to that side. We had originally planned for more days here; if things had gone according to that plan, we would have split our time between Canada and the US and done a day trip to Buffalo. So Niagara Falls is a flexible sort of destination; there’s plenty to do both in the immediate area and in the larger region, so if you want to fill up a week here you can. On the other hand, if all you have time for is an overnight, you can still spend an evening walking around and looking at the falls and it will be well worth your time.
That is, in fact, what we did our first evening in the area. You can park at any of several parking lots in Niagara Falls State Park (and you can do it for free if you’re staying at Four Mile Creek State Park) and then either walk or take the trolley ($3 adults/$2 kids) to assorted locations and viewing spots. Goat Island has a lot of the good viewing areas and trails (and a Nikola Tesla monument! Nikola Tesla will show up in this blog post again later. Watch for it!)
Oh! Also there are very not shy black squirrels who like to eat French fries near the restaurants! and also these (probably healthier) berries, I guess.
There are a number of other trails in the area that take you along the river and to see the falls from other angles if you have more time.
Here are the people getting very wet doing the Cave of the Winds(we skipped this one and opted for the Maid of the Mist as our expensive up close and personal with the Falls activity):
Assuming you have time for more than just a quick gawk at the falls, though, here are the other things we did:
Maid of the Mist
This isn’t actually the Maid of the Mist in this picture; it’s the Hornblower that leaves from the Canadian side, which I seemed to get more pictures of from above. They’re pretty much exactly the same experience, though, just with different colored ponchos.
So the Maid of the Mist is the big, iconic boat ride that takes you right to the base of the falls to get very, very wet. It’s pricey for a 20 minute boat ride ($25 for adults and $15 for kids), but it’s an experience you can’t get anywhere else. You can buy tickets online, but you can’t reserve a time in advance. Lines can get long, so try to avoid peak times. We went in the late afternoon and had a fairly short wait; by the time we got off the boat we noted that the line was nearly non-existent. First thing in the morning should also be a good time.
Dave’s college roommate, Matt, met up with us for our Maid of the Mist experience:
You ride this big elevator down, and then you wait in line. There’s an observation platform by the elevator, so spend some time checking out the views before you head down. The line is right in the sun, so be prepared for that:
I was slightly nervous that the ride was going to be very rough and terrifying, but it’s really not. It’s more gentle rocking, and the experience of all the spray from the falls pretty much overwhelms other sensations anyway. On the ride out, you get this rainbow:
Then you get wet (the rest of my family seems to stay more photogenic than I do when wet. I’m not sure what I’m doing with my face):
After the boat ride, you can either go right back up or take the scenic route for some extra viewing areas:
Niagara Power Vista Visitor Center
The Niagara Power Vista Visitor Center was a lucky find thanks to a search for rainy day activities. We weren’t really sure what to expect from a visitor center at the power company, but it turned out to be a really cool, FREE experience. In addition to being really pretty, awe-inspiring, etc. Niagara Falls provides a whole lot of power to the surrounding region and has for a long time. In fact, the falls used to be even MORE impressive back before they started diverting a lot of the water to make electricity. The “vista” part of the name is because there is just that here: an overlook of the river and dam. But there’s a also a surprisingly well done and extensive museum. You can pick up a badge as you go in that lets you play a fun game as you go through the exhibits. You can watch Nikola Tesla (there he is!) and Thomas Edison having a charming debate about the merits of AC vs DC power (no spoilers, but Tesla’s the one who has a monument right by the falls is all I’ll say). And tons of other interactive stuff all about the history of using the falls for power generation.
Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center
It definitely makes sense that Niagara Falls, NY has a lot of Underground Railroad history, given its proximity to Canada , but I’d never really given it a lot of thought before. The Underground Railroad Heritage Center is a small museum (in the city’s still active actual train station), but it does an excellent job of telling the story of Niagara Falls role in the Underground Railroad, largely through a series of beautiful watercolor illustrations and personal stories of the formerly enslaved people who made the journey through the town on their way to the Canadian side. It won’t take long to go through the museum (give it an hour, I’d say), but it’s well worth a stop (it was another rainy day activity for us, but definitely worth a visit even in nice weather!)
Old Fort Niagara
We rarely pass up a chance to visit a fort, so we’ve seen quite a few of them…and Old Fort Niagara is one of the best. It boasts a long and fascinating history dating all the way back to well before the Revolutionary War, an interesting blend of architecture (it’s been under French, British, and American control at various times, musket demonstrations, a great view, and ice cream:
An Old Fort Niagara visit is a no brainer if you’re staying at Four Mile Creek State Park, as it’s less than 10 minutes away. But it’s an easy drive from Niagara Falls as well.
We arrived just as a tour was about to leave from the museum, so we skipped the short film and museum at first and joined in with that…but definitely do watch the film to get an overview of the fort’s history and spent some time checking out the exhibits. There’s a very big flag from the War of 1812, for example:
The tour guide took us on the short walk over to the fort and gave us an introduction to the history and layout and pointed out some things to be sure not to miss and then turned us loose to explore on our own. The musket demonstration was starting as soon as we got there (I gather that it’s timed that way on purpose), so we headed over there. I’ve seen a lot of musket demonstrations in my day, but the guy doing this one was engaging, funny, and clearly very into his job, so it was a lot of fun:
The impressive French Castle dates to 1726 and is a lot of fun to wander around in. Most of the buildings are self-guided (there may be more interpreters around sometimes, but there weren’t many when we were there), but some of them have audio that will play and explain what you’re looking at.
There are lots of places where you can get up high for great views of the lake and Canada (there’s another fort on the Canadian side, not coincidentally, which we hope to also visit one day):
And that wraps up our time at Niagara Falls, with a post that, for some reason, it has taken me 80 gazillion years to write. I still have a few more posts about LAST summer’s trip, but now we’re also back from THIS summer’s trip, so I might start mixing things up and making everything truly confusing!
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