Niagara Falls from Toronto
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An easy road trip from nearby Toronto, Visiting Niagara Falls is a vital destination in the United States.
Niagara Falls From Toronto: (Jump To)
We visited Toronto for a long weekend over the July 4th holiday. We set aside a half-day for a road trip to Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls Road Trip From Toronto
While it is possible to take public transportation from the city to the falls, we decided it was easiest to rent a car. You can be in Niagara Falls from central Toronto in under 90 minutes, especially if you get an early start.
We crossed the border in the morning to spend the first part of the day at Six Flags Darien Lake in New York. We arrived at the Canadian side of Niagara Falls around 3 pm.
To save a few dollars we found some free all-day street parking about three-quarters-of-a-mile from the falls and walked fifteen minutes to the Falls View Lookout.
What to See in Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls is one of those tourist cities that has a solidly packed downtown district filled with kitschy shops and attractions. The Clifton Hill neighborhood is home to Mirror Mazes, Haunted Houses, a Ripley’s Believe it or Not, arcades, and blacklight miniature golf. You could easily spend all day having some mindless fun in these places.
We were here for the falls. There are many ways to explore the giant awe-inspiring natural falls. Famous choices are the Maid of the Mist tour, a boat ride that takes you as close to the falls as you could possibly desire. There is also a behind the falls tour, that explores some of the hydroelectric tunnels that are in the rock behind the waterfalls.
Visiting late in the day on a holiday weekend gave us the unpleasant surprise that all of the falls tours were already sold out for the day. Our only option for enjoying the falls was to slowly walk along the Falls View Walkway.
It turns out that you don’t need to spend any money on a tour to enjoy the falls. We were happy just to have the chance to stand close and watch the millions of gallons of water gush past our eyes.
We walked up the hill for an amazing dinner at Polindaz Place, a Polish restaurant with surprisingly tasty food, great prices, and friendly service. We walked through the Clifton Hill district to enjoy the atmosphere of the tourist town, then returned to the falls.
Niagara Falls Lights
In the evenings they light up the falls with color-changing pastel lights. I had been to the falls numerous times as a kid and while living in Pennsylvania, but never had the chance to see the lights. We found a nice falls-side view and watched the sunset over the falls. Then, as dusk fell, the lights illuminated the natural beauty of the falls.
We will return again on a slower weekend to dive deeper into the local attractions, but this was a perfect day.
