A 4-day trip to Niagara Falls, things to do?

[Key West]

Boston -> Niagara Falls

I only remember visiting the fall as a kid. I'm sure there are lots of outdoor activities and beautiful scenic drives...

Or am I completely confusing it with the routes between Montreal -> Toronto?

1. What else is there to do in and around the fall? We definitely want the boat ride, but is that all? Lady wants bicycling around there...

2. I-90 would directly hit Albany, Syracuse, and Buffalo. We can even hit Toronto. How are these cities? I assume they're small and few hours each would suffice?

3. Recommend any must see sights and cuisine in all the destinations.

Ofc, I'm doing my own research, but first hand experiences get the top vote.

 

[techs]

Obligatory, go over the falls in a barrel.

 

[Anubis]

id recommend not driving on I90

 

[Key West]

id recommend not driving on I90

Why?

 

[techs]

id recommend not driving on I90

Why?

Outside of the tolls, I don't see why not, either?

 

[Anubis]

cause its a shitty road + its always full of traffic, and the tolls as you mentioned

 

[techs]

cause its a shitty road + its always full of traffic, and the tolls as you mentioned

The alternative are back country roads that take twice as long...

 

[DukeN]

The falls are definitely fun and there are a couple of nice, scenic drives around there (albeit short ones).

Would definitely check out Toronto - it's like a cleaner, more European version of NYC. Not a small town either - the population in the GTA is in the 7-8 Mil range.

 

[Anubis]

not really if you take 88 to 86 and the come up up 390 cutting through batavia its nearly the exact same real world time. the only non highway you are on is from geneseo to batavia

 

[meltdown75]

maid of the mist
casino
walk all around the falls
take the walk down the Niagra river, the water is furious and interesting
butterfly observatory sounds gay but it's kinda neat
play golf @ the John Daly course
check out some historic sites
go downtown @ night to the touristy areas and check out places like the Guiness museum
get laid
get wasted
eat some good eats

don't go to T.O. when you're in the falls... F that noise!

 

[mmntech]

There's a lot of tacky tourist stuff there now. It's like a miniature Vegas. I'd suggest heading up to Niagara-On-The-Lake and visiting the wineries if you want something more adult/upscale.

 

[chin311]

I can't really imagine being there 4 DAYS, i was there earlier this year for about 1.5 days and that was enough to do the main things around there. But couldn't go to Canada side because of no passport.

 

[Imp]

If you have a passport, I'd recommend passing through Niagara Falls and just driving to Toronto; not much to do there except gamble. Most people I know just go to Niagara Falls for a day trip, then come back. It's a 1.5 hour drive along the QEW from Niagara Falls to downtown Toronto, I've done it a bunch of times. Pretty good and scenic-ish drive.

 

[sdifox]

I just spent two nights there.

Take your passport and cross to Canadian side.

Take the Maid of the Mist, not sure if you want to do the jetboat thing, do make reservation if you want to.

Next to the jetboat place is a trail system where you can walk for hours down the escarpment.

Niagara on the Lake is a decent place to visit.

I don't see the point of coming to Toronto.

 

[crashtestdummy]

If you're going to be taking 4 days, you might want to consider taking some detours along the way. Some ideas:

Take Rte. 2 across Massachusetts. Check out Mass MoCA (really awesome art museam in an old factory) in North Adams. If you like hiking, Mt. Greylock nearby is a good one. As an added bonus, the drive across the state border on Rte. 2 is really beautiful and well worth the detour alone. The road goes to Albany and back onto I-90.

If you pass through Syracuse at meal time, check out Dinosaur BBQ.

Do some wine touring in the finger lakes. The west side of Seneca is my favorite, but Cayuga will do you fine as well.

Make a day trip out to Toronto. Haven't been there in 15 years, but I've heard good things and the CN tower stuck in my head as being a lot of fun.

 

[JoPh]

goto niagra on the lake. very nice town up there.

also if you like wine you are in luck. there are over 70 vineyards in the niagra/niagra on the lake region..

try ice wine-- its good.

niagra itself is very touristy.

dont eat.. i went into tgif and walked out. they wanted like $25 for a hamburger.. niagra on the lake and good food prices and is close. but going more into the city to get away from the food prices.

i hope you are on teh canada side.

i was just there like 3 months ago.

toronto is a nice city i was just there too. decent drive though.

 

[dainthomas]

I feel sorry for northeasterners and their crappy vacations. Niagara Falls? Toronto? Lol.

 

[thepd7]

goto niagra on the lake. very nice town up there.

also if you like wine you are in luck. there are over 70 vineyards in the niagra/niagra on the lake region..

try ice wine-- its good.

niagra itself is very touristy.

dont eat.. i went into tgif and walked out. they wanted like $25 for a hamburger.. niagra on the lake and good food prices and is close. but going more into the city to get away from the food prices.

i hope you are on teh canada side.

i was just there like 3 months ago.

toronto is a nice city i was just there too. decent drive though.

this. plus gamble

 

[DVad3r]

4 days is a lot and you will get bored fast. Niagara Falls is usually a day trip and that's it.

Things I would do:

Check out falls, take boat ride. Walk around both US side park and Canadian (although I like the US one better).

Cross over to Canada, check out Niagara Falls Ontario side, a lot more going on etc. After that, check out Niagara on the Lake. It's a rich snobbish town with some nice shops and wine places. Also, I would recommend checking out Port Colborne, decent place with some good eats/drinks and you can watch as big ships enter the Welland canal.

You can come to TO but, it's just another big city, I'm pretty sure you have what we have in Boston.

Honestly there isn't much to do. See Niagara Falls for a day and go elsewhere. Montreal is a cool city, better than TO. You can also go around PA and check out some mountains etc.

 

[Key West]

I feel sorry for northeasterners and their crappy vacations. Niagara Falls? Toronto? Lol.

NE rocks. I'm just sick of it as I grew up here.

We the country's most beautiful autumn in Vermont, NH, & Maine. Our skiing/snowboarding rocks too. We also have Cape Cod for the beach. NYC is a short 4 hr drive.

But I'm just sick of it. I should move to CA.

 

[JoPh]

you can easily spend 3 days in niagra. just gotta do other things than the falls... this assumes you are on the candian side. if you are on the american side.. well there isnt anything there

day 1 - hit up all the major niagra stuff
maid of the mist
the movie
journey behind the falls
at night goto the bar and drink and relax

day 2
spend the day visiting the country side. visit wineries etc.. tour them and try the wine...
finish by going up to niagra on the lake

day 3
hit the misc stuff up like the butterlfly place... goto the casnio.. i forgot what else was there.


more than that i dont think you need. goto

 

[DrPizza]

Maid of the mist, Cave of the Winds. Look at the falls from Goat Island. Look at the falls on the Canadian side by Horseshoe falls. See the falls at night all lit up.

That takes care of about 6-8 hours. Walk down the escarpment down by the water. That's about the only thing I've never done & would love to do; friends have brought back pictures of there.

On your way over the Rainbow bridge (or whichever bridge you use to cross into Canada) just toss half your money out the window into the river below. That'll save you the time of going to the casino.

 

[StageLeft]

Watch your speed.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2096627

Everyone says do canadian side. We went there last year and did the cave of winds. No need to do that and the maid of mist. I think niagara falls can be done in 2 hours tops. Or if you're a tacky-ass tourist you can suck up all the sh*t that has nothing to do with the falls like hard rock cafe, etc. If you've ever been to pigeon forge, TN, a place that ought by any reasonable right be nuked off the map, then portions of niagara are like that. However, the falls themselves are nice. But there's no way in the world to spend days there unless you do all the other tacky crap.

 

[DrPizza]

Instead of spending 4 days at Niagara Falls, stop at Letchworth State Park on the way. Not the same volume of water, but much more scenic & relaxing. Stay at one of the bed & breakfasts in the area. Eat dinner at the Glen Iris Inn. (Or even stay there; 1000% more peaceful and relaxing than at Niagara Falls.) If the official gauge on the river is between 9 and 10.5 feet, call up DrPizza and say "Hey DrPizza, bring some kayaks up to Letchworth." Or, if it's between 10.5 feet and 14 feet - IF and only IF you've kayaked whitewater before.

Oh, and I believe you can arrange for balloon rides over/through the canyon.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1635&bih=813&q=letchworth+State+Park&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

(sorry, you'll have to click the link there for images yourself. images dot google link fail for me. )

 

[mmntech]

you can easily spend 3 days in niagra. just gotta do other things than the falls... this assumes you are on the candian side. if you are on the american side.. well there isnt anything there

day 1 - hit up all the major niagra stuff
maid of the mist
the movie
journey behind the falls
at night goto the bar and drink and relax

day 2
spend the day visiting the country side. visit wineries etc.. tour them and try the wine...
finish by going up to niagra on the lake

day 3
hit the misc stuff up like the butterlfly place... goto the casnio.. i forgot what else was there.


more than that i dont think you need. goto

There's Skylon tower which has a pretty decent view. Marine Land which is a chintzy Seaworld-esque aquarium. There's an IMAX theature, Madame Tusauds's Wax Museum, and other tacky touristy crap.

There's a train that goes to Niagara Falls to Toronto. It's not cheap but it might be worth it. Only operates on weekends though. There's lots of shopping downtown. Far more upscale, better restaurants. Niagara Falls proper can be seen in an afternoon. There's the casino but I can think of better things to blow my money on.