First trip to Niagara Falls, any advise?
 

My husband, 3 teens and i are traveling for the first time to NF/Canada. Were flying in to IAG in August. We plan to spend 2 days in the Falls area without renting a car. After that the only thing that is certain is the Hockey Hall of Fame (Woo Hoo). We would like to see as much of the surrounding area as possible in 5 days. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

The first thing you may need is a rental Car... there's a lot to see and it will cost you less to rent the car than pay to get around... there's a budget and enterprise near the airport

Book your hotel on the Canadian side... most families like the Embassy Suites, but you could also stay at the Oakes Hotel, Marriott Falls View, or even the Niagara Fallsview Casino... all are in the same neighborhood near the teen restaurants... there's also a Margaritaville, Keg Steakhouse, and TGIFridays...

The MUST do attractions for teens are Whirlpool JetBoats, Cave of the Winds (US side), Clifton Hill, and the maid of the Mist... There are Free concerts on Friday nights with Fireworks...

For you and hubby, there is Niagara-on-the-Lake Wine region, with over 100 wineries, fine dining, and lots of character...

If your kids are into theatre, the Shaw festival runs all Summer, and there are tons of festivals and concerts...

Toronto is only 90 minutes from the Falls, so you can jump in the car and easily visit TO... The CNE is in Mid August and the Blue jays are an easy ticket...

If you have any more questions, there are lots of experts here... so question away...

Thanks for the feedback, i will start shopping for car rental deals.

You're talking about the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, right? I agree you'll need a car. Make sure you see the Falls from the Canadian side--the Horseshoe falls are spectacular.

Just some thinking, before suggestions...

You can get away without a car in Niagra Falls because there's a People Mover tourist bus system. I have no idea of cost, though, and fares for five of you would put a dent in car rental costs. But car rental involves parking fees.

And there's the matter of the border.

Enough musing...

Suggestions:

Assuming you are Americans, rent a car at the NF-USA airport and use that to get you across the border to a Canadian hotel in either NF-Ontario or Niagara onthe Lake. With teenagers, I'd pick Niagara Falls, the city where the falls actually are.

Check People Mover rates, and decide if it is wise to just leave the car parked one day, or to use it.

Maid fo the Mist is imperative. Last time I looked, there were twolines for tickets, one on each side of the building, and one was a lot shorter thant he other.

Check at the hotel for discount coupons.

Is anyone in your group a serious airplane fan; any relatives from WW II air force? If so, lookup Canadian Warplane Heritage airplane museum at the Hamilton airport, more or less on the way to Toronto.

Teens will be interested is walking around the Queen Street West area, running west from University Avenue to Bathurst St.

Can you tell us more about hobbies and interests?

There are tours of Rogers Centre (Blue Jays Park) for sports fans.

Maid boats leave every ten to twenty minutes... lines are constantly moving... there are boats on both the US and Canadian sides...

The people movers run on both US and Canadian sides for separate tickets... they cover about 2 miles back and forth and stop at the main attractions... the rental car is still cheaper when you add in cabfare, people movers and a side trip to toronto and Niagara-on the-Lake...

Completely agree with what is said above. Car is the best way to do this trip. For car rental you may look into the deals offered by Carsrentalcanada dot com. They are brokers and offer fairly priced car hire services.

As a heads up, the restaurant prices in Niagara Falls are OUTRAGEOUS!! My friends and I checked out, for grins, the menu's at Outback and at TGIF and they were about 3x the regular prices. In fact, the steaks at The Keg were about the same price as at Outback. We ate at The Keg, the view was wonderful and we got to see the fireworks. Dinner per person, without drinks of any kind, $55.00. Crazy.

Niagara-on-the-lake, however, has plenty of really, really nice restaurants and makes a nice evening drive. We enjoyed getting out of the touristy area for dinner. Plus, Taylor's Bakery has wonderful sweets.

Have fun and enjoy. Niagara Falls is spectacular. Maid of the Mist never grows old.

I forgot to add, if you buy the combo attraction ticket, it includes 2 days of People Mover tickets, so you can leave your car parked in its VERY expensive parking spot. Not sure what the hours are for the bus, but when I was there 2 weeks ago, it stopped at 5 pm. This may change after 24 June, the start of summer.

If you decide not to rent a car at all, there is a GoTrain that runs from Niagara Falls to Toronto starting 24 June. It's not super expensive and if you decide to combine your Niagara trip to include Toronto (highly recommend) you won't need a car at all, and can avoid taking a home mortgage to pay the parking fees in downtown Toront.

hi all, allow me to join in this question, next august me and my husband also will spend 3nights in toronto and 3nights in niagara falls, so what is the best we can do, should we rent a car or just by bus or train to enjoy our trip?

3nights in NF is it to much? or should we combine with niagara on the lake too? thanks for any advice..

Some recommendations:

The drive along the Niagara River between Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake is quite pleasant (lots of views, lovely gardens and photo ops, fresh fruit stands and wineries as you get close to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Stop at Queenston Heights - great views and if the restaurant is open it's really pretty good. I would also recommend the Butterfly Pavilion along the same route. If you are interested in technology, there are tours of the Adam Beck Power plant.

At the other end of Niagara Falls (above the Falls) the Niagara Parks Commission has some great parkland and greenhouses. You could drive across the canal to Sodom (yes that is the name) and eat at Lucy's - great fish and chips.

If you rent a car and drive to Toronto, consider stopping at Ball's Falls near Vineland - nice park and surprisingly impressive falls.

My advise is don't go in the summer. Sept. is ideal. We were there yesterday and the heat/humidity was oppressive, also the crowds! Sorry I'm spoiled as I usually go in Sept. and Oct. so I was miserable yesterday. It was fine up by the casino up higher but for some reason down by the falls never has a breeze (which isn't what I would have thought), also no shade by the falls.

N4, yes 3 nights in NF is too much. Personally, I wld not stay in NF at all but in NOTL & just visit NF.

You can rent a car or take the GO Train from Toronto to NF.
Google GO Transit for schedules.

Personally I would do two nights at a room over looking the falls, and one night in Niagara on the Lake. No, 3 nights is not too long.

hmm.. interesting, i think i prefer to do the same like amelie, but 1night in falls and 2 night in NTOL, since my hubby like winery so much. and definitely we will try GO Train from Toronto to NF and rent a car during our stay in Toronto. thanks guys for all the info. GBU.

I'm not sure the teens would like Niagara on the Lake as much, hence the one night there.

Why rent a car in Toronto? They have super public transportation, and parking is very, very expensive. Just wondering?

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but at the last minute we decided to stay one night in NF (July 23) on our way to visit relatives in Toronto, then on to Ottawa after that. I keep reading that restaurants in NF are very expensive. Can someone recommend some restaurants in NOTL, & how far is NOTL from NF?
Thanks.

Its a twenty minute drive from the Falls along the river Parkway to NotL... Falls restaurants are very pricy due to the captive audience and chains are close to double priced compared to suburban locations... in NotL we like both the Harp pub and the Angel Inn Pub... decent food, good prices,,, and if you want winery dining, Peller, Hillebrand, Strewn and On the Twenty are top choices....

There are plenty of reasonably priced restaurants in Niagara Falls (after all, 80,000 of us that live here like to eat out too without paying high prices). Some of our favourites:
Johnny Rocco's www.johnnyroccos.com
Mick & Angelos www.mickandangelos.ca
Syndicate www.niagarasbestbeer.com
Betty's www.bettysrestaurant.com
Paris Crepes Bistro www.pariscrepesbistro.com
GooEe's Oriental Grillhouse www.gooeesrestaurant.com
Falls Manor www.fallsmanor.com
Spicy Olive www.spicyolive.com
Taps on Queen www.tapsbeer.ca