I’ve visited the falls several times. My first visit was with my parents and sisters in the late 1960s.

My daughter and I stopped by for one afternoon and one night on the way to Maine in 1993 and we rode the Maid of the Mist. We were in Toronto for a week in 2004 and drove over for a day; we did Journey Behind the Falls. I’ve never spent any time in the area, however, to see anything other than the falls.

I booked an AirBNB in Canada for 10 days. I bought the Adventure Pass Plus since it was a great value for seeing many things I wanted to do. Because it was so all-inclusive, it included things I wasn’t planning to do but enjoyed since they were “free”.

• The Power Station and Tunnel are new activities, just opened in 2021. When I read about it, I decided I was interested and that’s how I came across the adventure pass. I added the guided tour (not included in the pass but they will allow you to pay the difference). I enjoyed the history of the power station, information on the “Current Wars” between Edison and Westinghouse, and a great exhibit on Tesla, too. The walk to the tunnel was full of information signs on building the power station and tunnel and the end of the tunnel offered great views of the falls, of course.
• I did the great White Water Walk, the rapids along the boardwalk are beautiful. I didn’t know about this until buying the pass; I’m very glad for the experience. It’s beautiful!
• Niagara’s Fury is a very Disneyfied 360 degree movie/experience where they dump water and mist on you. I wouldn’t recommend it it wasn’t already included in the pass.
• I booked the Journey Behind the Falls again; it was included in the pass. I remember it being more enjoyable 20 years ago. This time it was just very crowded and not much to see in the “portals” but the viewing balcony was great. Not much different than the Tunnel though, if booking them separately, I would skip this.
• The Whirlpool Aero car had some beautiful views over the whirlpool and rapids.
• The Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Conservatory are included and I am so glad I visited. The butterfly conservatory, especially, is amazing, never seen so many butterflies all together or so many 100s of smiling people.
• The Floral Showhouse, south of the falls, is also beautiful. The outdoor Life on Display miniatures are especially attractive.

The pass plus includes four historic sites: Old Fort Erie, the Laura Secord Homestead, the Mackenzie Printery, and the MacFarland House. You can visit 3 of the sites using the Niagara on the Lake Shuttle service from the Floral Clock, the last stop on the Green Line. The shuttle goes all the way to Fort George. I had already visited there but from the Fort George stop it’s an easy walk to Niagara on the Lake, a beautiful town.

• Laura Secord is considered a hero of the War of 1812 for walking 20 miles overnight through American occupied territory to warn the British of an American attack. The Americans are coming, the Americans are coming! According to the guide, Lt. FitzGibbon didn’t believe her until he sent out advance security who saw the Americans advancing. With her warning they were able to repel the American invasion.
• The Mackenzie Printery is the home of William Mackenzie, owner of the newspaper, Colonial Advocate. Interesting history! I liked hearing about the month long Republic of Canada he founded on Navy Island against the “Family Compact”, what he called the oligarchy running Upper Canada. They offer tours and information about Mackenzie and the printing process.
• The McFarland House offers a short guided tour of the home used as a hospital by both British and American troops during the War of 1812.

The Wego bus pass (48-hours included) is a great bonus as part of the pass. I used it the one day, parking at the Whirlpool Aero Car, to go back and forth downtown. The second day, I parked out by the Butterfly House and then used the bus to go to the Floral Showhouse, avoiding the expensive downtown parking.

The Niagara City Cruise (same as Maid on the Mist on the US side) is a must-do while in town. I had done this 30 years ago but really enjoyed it, getting very, very wet. It is so much fun, truly amazing to get this close to both the falls and feel the power and hear the roar of the water.

Niagara-on-the-Lake

There is a lot of history in the area. I visited the Fort George National Historic Site in Niagara-on-the-Lake, close to Lake Ontario my first weekend in town. There isn‘t a visitor center but there are 8 restored buildings and the two blockhouses on site offer lots of exhibits; there are also a great number of events, history talks, musket demonstrations, costumed interpreters, and more. I learned about General McClure who left the fort and burned Newark (the town now known as Niagara-on-the-Lake), then tried to blame his superior. That didn’t go really well. He was released from the Army.

I drove to town, not realizing then how close it was, just following Google Maps, parked and walked down to the Fort Mississauga National Historic Site for a quick visit. Surrounded by the golf course it’s a unique area. It probably took longer to drive to it with the traffic, stop signs, and winding roads.

Days later, I drove back up to Fort George and parked there and walked to town. It’s a flat CA$8 parking fee for the day, and downtown it’s CA$4.75/hour so worth the short walk. Another benefit is to avoid the bumper to bumper slow traffic in town and, besides, it’s a beautiful walk.

The entire town is a lovely area to walk. I walked up and down Queen Street and Front Street enjoying the amazing flowers, old buildings, Queen’s Royal Park and the waterfront. I also walked out to see Butler’s Barracks, where the British Army moved inland from Fort George out of the range of guns at Fort Niagara during the War of 1812.

Fort Erie

Another day I drove down to Fort Erie to see Old Fort Erie. Entry to this is included in the Adventure Pass. There is a nice visitor center, they offer guided tours and the buildings, enlisted barracks, officers quarters, officers mess, quartermaster, all have exhibits, too. While in Fort Erie, I also stopped for a short visit to the Fort Erie Historical Museum. It’s just 2 small rooms, donations only, but has some interesting history on the War of 1812, the Fenian Raids, products from the area and patent medicines.

I also visited Battle of Ridgeway National Historic Site. I thought this was another War of 1812 site but it was a battle in 1866. I had just heard about the Irish-Americans and Fenian Raids at the history museum. I didn’t know anything about the history of the Fenian Army that invaded Canada to force the British out of Ireland. There were information signs and exhibits on site. They technically “won” the battle but when returning to Buffalo were arrested by the American government.

Old Fort Niagara

It was only about 30-40 minutes to Old Fort Niagara, Youngstown, NY from Niagara Falls, Ontario. I wanted to visit after seeing Fort George but decided to wait until returning to the US at the end of my trip. It was just easier not having to go back and forth across the border multiple times. I visited Monday morning after crossing Rainbow Bridge, arriving just as they opened at 1000. It’s a fairly expensive ticket at US$20; the site is maintained by a private organization. They have a 15 minute video playing every hour, lots of exhibits and information in the visitor center and a walking map of the fort. The French Castle, from 1726, is the oldest building in the Great Lakes area. They had plenty of guides, dressed as British or American soldiers, to answer questions. It was a very interesting visit.

Restaurants and Breweries

• Counterpart Brewery – had some good fish tacos and a flight. Several styles of beer and all were very good beers.
• Brimstone Brewing – excellent beer! Their Days Get Shorter is delicious.
• Micah Bistro – just a block away, I picked up some takeout. Their chile basil noodles and Tom Yum soup were both great.
• Blind Pig – also walking distance from my AirBNB. Nice outside seating and a good menu, I had a good chicken pesto panini.
• Blackburn Brew House – stopped in Sunday after visiting Niagara on the Lake for a flight. Great selection of beers. I had their black lager, Back Alley, with a meal at Blind Pig a few days prior and loved it so wanted to check out their other beers. The food looked good, too.

I had a few other meals out but the food was below average and wildly overpriced, about what is expected for a tourist town like Niagara. The food gets cheaper the further away from the falls you go.

On the Water White boardwalk

** All photos property of Lisa, not to be copied or reproduced **