16 Best Sights in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Western New York

Twentieth-century art is well represented here. The gallery's collections are especially rich in postwar American and European art, including Jackson Pollock, Jasper Johns, and Andy Warhol. Works by Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir are here as well. On Sunday afternoons in July and August, free jazz performances are held on the massive front steps. The museum's restaurant, Muse, serves dinner and a highly acclaimed brunch.

In 1928 Darwin Martin commissioned a family mausoleum—a project he dropped after his fortunes were pummeled by the following year's stock-market crash. In 2004, Buffalo's Forest Lawn cemetery (near Delavan Avenue) built the concrete-and-granite Blue Sky Mausoleum from plans owned by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

Even in the middle of winter you can soak in the sights and scents of the tropics under the domes of this Victorian glass conservatory. The greenhouses shelter cacti, fruit trees, palms, and orchids. The American Ivy Association certified the claim of the largest ivy collection of any botanical garden in the world. Formal gardens and a park with a golf course (the park is popular with runners) surround the conservatory. Guided tours are given by reservation.

A guided-missile cruiser, destroyer, and a World War II submarine are on display at this 6-acre waterfront site, the largest inland naval park in the nation.

This broad-shouldered art-deco architectural masterpiece rises from the heart of downtown. An elevator to the 25th floor, then three flights of (unmarked) stairs take you to an observation deck; though you can't go outside, it has spectacular views of the city and the Lake Erie waterfront.

Exhibits cover everything from anthropology to zoology. One exhibit uses the stories of three mummies to explore what daily life was like for ordinary citizens in ancient Egypt.

The Buffalo Transportation/Pierce-Arrow Museum is building a winged gas station from unfinished Wright plans. A former Wright apprentice is involved with the project, which, once built, won't actually function as a station but will rather complement the museum's collection of cars and automobile memorabilia and artifacts.

Endangered Amur (Siberian) tigers, Asian elephants, and Indian rhinos are among the nearly 1,000 wild and exotic animals found in this natural setting in Delaware Park. The grounds include an interactive, mock, field-research station, and a rain-forest exhibit. There's also an on-site children's zoo, which features farm animals historically found in the Erie Canal area.

This premier showcase for western New York artists spotlights the works of watercolorist Charles Burchfield (1893–1967) and handcrafted objects from the Roycroft Arts and Crafts community. It is New York State's first LEED-certified art museum.

The Darwin D. Martin House, part of the Darwin D. Martin House Complex in Buffalo's Parkside East Historic District, is considered one of the finest examples of a Wright prairie-style structure. The estate was commissioned in 1902 by Darwin Martin, a wealthy Buffalo businessman who would become one of Wright's most loyal patrons. The first Wright house on the property was the George Barton House (at 118 Summit Avenue), built in 1903 for Martin's sister and brother-in-law. The final touches were applied to Martin's own house in 1907. The estate also includes the Gardener's Cottage (285 Woodward Avenue). At this writing, the complex is undergoing a multiyear restoration. Restored in the first phases of the work were the pergola, conservatory, and carriage house. The final phase is a restoration of the house interiors, which will likely continue through 2010. The site remains open for tours during restoration.

The centerpiece of the 8½-acre Graycliff estate is the two-story main house, built circa 1926. Its cantilevered balconies take advantage of its position atop a 70-foot-cliff overlooking Lake Erie. The estate is undergoing an extensive multiphase, multiyear restoration. The property is about 18 mi south of Buffalo.

The old factory contains two operating carousels—one from 1916 and a smaller "kiddie carousel" from the 1940s—as well as a menagerie of hand-carved carousel animals, some quite elaborate.

More than 400 rare and unique bicycles and related antiques and memorabilia are on display at one of the largest bicycle museums in the world.

Photos, exhibits, and memorabilia pay tribute to western New York's steel workers and what was once the largest steel plant in the world, Bethlehem Steel. The museum is open only three days a week from 10 to 2.

Five miles of nature trails, boardwalks, and a cattail marsh make this wildlife refuge near the Lake Erie shore an ideal place for hiking, bird-watching, and picnics. The 264-acre preserve is part of the Buffalo Museum of Science.

After President William McKinley was assassinated at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated as the nation's 26th president in the library of this Greek Revival mansion. You can take guided tours and view exhibits and gardens. Architectural walking tours are also available. The site underwent a major yearlong renovation in 2008 to rebuild the carriage house and to update and add exhibits.