Niagara Falls and Cooperstown Questions
 

We are taking a family road trip this summer and our itinerary includes stops at Howe Caverns, Niagara Falls (3 nights) and Cooperstown (1 night). We are traveling with our kids ages 15 and 11. We have booked accomodations but I would love any advice on family friendly restaurants (or places to avoid!) and also on any attractions that are not to miss. We plan on the Maid of the Mist and the whirlpool boats at the Falls but otherwise we are open to suggestions. Thanks!

one suggestion I offer is to get out of the USA and go to the Canadian side of the falls - much nicer, less tacky, and just in general more pleasant. The US side in a nutshell: roll up coney island, Branson, MO, Orlando, Myrtle Beach, and all of those kind of places into one ball and you have Niagra Falls USA side

Cant help with Cooperstown or Howe Caverns, but I live close to Niagara Falls (US side) and can tell you that we've never found anything great in Niagara Falls, Canada in terms of restaurants. There is a Hard Rock Cafe which does appeal to kids, and there may be a Planet Hollywood (it may have closed also). Now, if you take a 20 minute drive to Niagara on the Lake, almost anyplace you walk into will be good. The U.S. side of the Falls has some good Italian restaurants all mostly concentrated on Pine Avenue, it's own "Little Italy" Dont miss the Maid of the Mist, and the Cave of the Winds tour is fun too. There is a butterfly conervatory about 10 minutes away from the falls (going towards NOTL) which is beatiful-where birght colored clothes to attract the butterflies. Also, try the Canadian post of Fodors for Niagara Falls, Canada. Enjoy

We stayed that the Tunnicliff Inn in C'town several years ago, and I wouldn't recommend it. They advertise it as a quaint inn, but it's really just an old hotel that's badly in need of refurbishing.

I agree, you MUST stay on the Canadian side of the Falls. (Your US dollar goes a long way there!) We stayed at a lovely B&B, but most of them don't allow children, so I can't help you out with lodging. Maid of the Mist is an absolute must and so is the tunnel under the falls. There was this other attraction that takes you down to the river via an elevator then you follow a path along the river. It was exciting to watch and hear the roar of the river just before it flows over the falls. The cable ride over the whirlpools had a super long and slow moving line when we were there, so we skipped it. There's a restaurant called the Love Boat that was family friendly and served decent food. It's located on that tacky tourist trap street along with a zillion other places. Your kids will love it! Enjoy.

We had a great lunch at the Doubleday Café right in “downtown” Cooperstown. Great little village!

Your kids will love everything about Niagara Falls - from the actual falls to the tackiness of the town. We took some sort of walk "under" the falls and got soaked - it was great.<BR><BR>If you have time in Cooperstown, try the Farmer's Museum. It sounds awful, but our kids really enjoyed it. For them (and we are all baseball fans), a half day at HOF was enough.

Susan - we stayed at the Marriott Fallsview (Canadian side) and it was excellent! Maid of the Mist was our favorite thing. The walk "under' the falls to which gail is referring is the "Journey Behind the Falls" which was also very interesting. The Butterfly Conservatory was very good, but our boys (16, 12, 10) found it tolerable. We also enjoyed shopping around Clifton Hill (the main strip) and watching the ships go through the locks on the Welland Canal. Restaurants that we enjoyed were The Rainforest Cafe (very good), The Outback Steakhouse (near the Marriott - good), Applebee's (fair), The Beer Garden (near the falls - very good for lunch) - we're not real fancy diners. One of our favorite activities by far was simply walking around near the Table Rock House and looking at the falls and the river. Have fun!

We had a pretty good dinner at the restaurant at the Table Rock Complex, and the view was great. The restaurant at the Marriot Fallsview has a wonderful breakfast buffet, and, once again, an amazing view.<BR><BR>We enjoyed the Omnimax movie, but what we thought was really neat there was the display in the lobby of lots of the containers and contraptions that people have gone over the Falls in, with a history of each - quite fascinating.

There is a great place on the American side of the falls to see the river movement and rapids above the falls - very interesting and a great place to sit on the rocks for a short spell and relax. I believe it's called Seven Sisters Island and is reached by a footbridge. Worth seeing. A former co-worker grew up in nearby Lewiston (very, very close) and swears that "granny's", a restaurant there, has the best hot wings and burgers you'll ever try. Haven't been there myself but she used to rave about when ever anyone mentioned the Falls. I know little about C'town but did go to the Farmer's Museum as a child and recall that it was surprisingly interesting. If you can, pack a picnic lunch for the Howe's caverns trip. They ahve a cafeteria/cafe there but there's a nice outdoor picnic area by the trees with a great view of the rolling hills and the csurrounding countryside.

Well no one seems to be commenting on that wonderful old Howe Caves, but since my kindergarten teacher was the owner at the time, and went to school with the current manager ....... (over ten years growing up in Coby)<BR><BR>My all time favorite restaurant for special occasions is right on Rte 7 not far from the 88 exit for Howe Caves. It's an Italian place called Borelli's, and for while you might not expect to order pizza from a sit down Italian restaurant (instead of a pizzaria), try it. Bull's Inn in Cobleskill is the best restaurant in the area, but very expensive, advanced notice, dress up, ie not for kids.<BR><BR>An idea on the way to Cooperstown is to stop in Sharon Springs if you go via Route 20. Several good restaurants, my brother's family suggest Gino's after eating there 3 weeks ago. A couple of the really old victorians there seem to be coming alive. (even the Adler which looked like Bate's motel at one point and *wow* check out the job they've done with the Roseboro - www.sharonsprings.com and www.roseboro.com)<BR><BR>