Day Trip to Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake

My husband and I had a wonderful time last weekend celebrating the marriage of one of our good friends in Ontario. Since the wedding was on Friday we were able to plan a day trip to Niagara Falls for Saturday before heading back home.

We had a great day, my only regret is that we didn’t spend more time in the adorable town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. If you find yourself in the Niagara Falls region I hope my travel tips below help!

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Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls can be done in a day or a weekend but anything more would be unnecessary. I am so glad that people warned me how touristy Niagara Falls is (think the trashy parts of Wisconsin Dells).

Wax museums, Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, and fast food chains are all over the place. Knowing in advance to not expect beautiful natural scenes everywhere helped me lower my expectations.

Since we were driving, I read up on parking. Many of the lots were $25 for the day. We decided to park in Lot B, next to the Floral Showhouse because it is metered (yay for saving money!!). You pay in advance for how many hours you want to park.

This parking lot is in the perfect location. Visitors walk through beautiful surroundings to get to the free walking paths along the falls. It is a short walk to the main Visitor’s Center where you can buy tickets to all the different tours.

The waterfalls themselves are beautiful and I would highly recommend seeing them in your life if you have the chance. Luckily, we were already in Canada so naturally, we went to see the Horseshoe Falls and other waterfalls on the Canada side – which everyone says is better.

Depending on your timeline, many people choose to do a combined tour. This saves money compared to if you did each tour individually. A combined tour may also save you time because some groups might get to cut in front of the line. Since we only had a day to see the Falls we chose to do the Journey Behind the Falls Tour.

After a lot of research, I thought this tour would be the most reasonably priced for the type of experience we were looking for. The wait was maybe five minutes before we took an elevator down to the tunnels literally behind the Horseshoe Falls.

The tunnels are lined with historical posters filled with facts about the Falls which I loved (#historynerd). Cut into the tunnels are two look-outs for seeing the water up close. Plus, the main feature is the observation deck where you are directly next to the rushing water.

You will get soaked on the observation deck but the tour includes a biodegradable poncho. I liked the tour a lot since you go through the tunnels at your own pace and you aren’t struggling to hear a tour guide.

The only downfall I thought was that the tunnels don’t go in a loop. Because of this, people are constantly walking in front of you as you are trying to read the historical posters. In addition, many tour groups of teenagers were down in the tunnels with us and the rowdy kids were being pretty obnoxious.

We did see many of the tour boats and if we had had more time I would have considered going on one. Just keep in mind the boats are packed with people so you might want to arrive early to get a good spot. It looked like everyone stood the whole time (~20 minutes) and you will absolutely get drenched.

Seeing the Falls from above on the free walking paths and being right beside and behind the waterfalls on the tour, I felt I experienced all I needed to.

If you have more time than we did here are the activities I would have liked to do in Niagara Falls;

• Botanical Gardens – It’s free! 99 acres of beautiful gardens.

• Hiking the Niagara Glen – 2.5 miles of rugged paths overlooking the rapids of the Niagara River.

From what I saw don’t stay in Niagara Falls, instead travel 30 minutes North to . . .

Niagara-on-the-Lake

Niagara-on-the-Lake is the cutest town I have ever seen. A small main street lined with adorable shops, restaurants, and a beautiful park.

We spent the rest of our day enjoying Niagara-on-the-Lake. After being a little chilled from the Falls we ate at Corks and warmed up with hot chocolate and espresso. I was finally able to get my mussels – yum! Alex ordered the lamb poutine which did not disappoint.

The historical apothecary was interesting and we were able to get our Christmas ornament at one of the local shops (we do this on every vacation).

Even though it was chilly, I had to have some gelato and we picked up a few bottles of wine to take home with us.

I absolutely would have spent more time in Niagara-on-the-Falls if given the chance. Have a picnic in the park, take a horse-drawn carriage ride, and definitely partake in high tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel (I’m so bummed I didn’t get to do this!).

Surrounding Niagara-on-the-Lake are more wineries than you can count. We initially planned on doing some wine tasting and touring but with the wedding festivities the night before, the two of us didn’t really need any more wine (if you catch my drift).

If you are going to go to more than one winery I recommend traveling by bicycle. Many people were biking between wineries and it looked fun!

 

   

I hope you enjoy your trip to the Niagara Falls area. It’s not to be missed, just make sure you hop up to Niagara-on-the-Lake during your visit. You won’t be disappointed!

Where’s another destination I recommend? Check out my guide for New Orleans.