When I was about 8, my dad rented an RV and exercised his custodial rights to bring my two brothers and I to Niagara Falls, along with his current girlfriend and her kids. I got tonsillitis before we made it there, but even sick and febrile, I remembered so much about the trip, so we decided to go there first.
Niagara? Is that still a thing?
In the 19th century, and the early 20th, before easy access to AC and air travel, Niagara Falls was the premier attraction. So there is and has always been a lot to do there. However, with so many other attractions, Niagara may seem passé, so we figured we would do it while the kids were still young enough to be impressed by anything we told them was impressive. I have to say, it is not old hat (if you do it right).
First off, go to Canada. These days, the US side of the falls is worn. The parklands are still a great way to access the falls, but the real show is on the Canadian side. The US side felt, to us, uncared for, potholed, depressed, and unsafe. Nice gift shop at the former HoJo, though! The Canadian side is a carnival, with so much to see and do. It is expensive, but the exchange rate may help take the sting out for US travelers. Plus, you can’t actually see Niagara Falls as a whole from the US side, you have to go to Canada (with passport) and look across. There are activities that you can only do on the US side, like Cave of the Winds, so you may end up on both shores. We should have spent another day here (a weekday) to see more attractions, but what we did we still remember.
Here is what we did with one evening and one full day:
- Evening fireworks
- Bird Kingdom
- Cave of the Winds
- Rainforest Café
- Walking dowtown Canada
Niagara and Horseshoe Falls are beautifully illuminated, and it is breathtaking even in this age of Instagram image overload. Again, for best results, go to the Canadian side. From the US side, you get an oblique view, but you do get to stand close to the water’s edge and feel the immense power.
Cave of the Winds
Another one of the classic Niagara attractions we did was the “Cave or the Winds,” which gives you an opportunity to get right up under the falls. The original eponymous Cave was lost to a landslide in 1954, and has been replaced by a walkway that takes you to the base of Bridal Veil Falls.
An elevator takes you down to a tunnel that leads out to a riverwalk. Follow that along to the redwood decking that has to be rebuilt every year. You can follow the switchbacking deck as far as you dare, right up to the “Hurricane Deck,” where you can stare into the teeth of the crashing waterfall. My kids found it quite empowering!
After that, we drove over the Rainbow Bridge to the Canadian side, passports in hand
Bird Kingdom
My son loves birds, so this was a major planned stop, but we all loved it. We’ve been to the National Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, Harvard’s Peabody Museum, but never anything like this. Five floors of birdcage that humans walk through.
You can check out our review of Bird Kingdom on TripAdvisor, under our “Prospero212” user name. Please note, this is on the Canada site, so you will need a passport to travel through the checkpoint.
Downtown Niagara Falls, Ontario
Parking on River Road, near the river, was impossible, so we moved west a few blocks and paid for parking. There is so much to see here: zip lines, the Skylon Tower, SkyWheel, an indoor waterpark, an IMAX theater, the Fear Factory, “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” and more restaurants than we could comprehend. Tired and hot, we ended up eating at an IHOP that we still talk about today, and retreating across the bridge to our hotel room.