We visited Niagara Falls in August, staying at the Westin Harbour Castle Hotel on Queens Quay West in Toronto. Ontario, Canada. With beautiful views of the sunset at night and of the sunrise over the river in the morning, I would highly recommend staying here. We were within easy walking distance of Union Station, Dundas Square, the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and the Harbourfront area. Having already stayed in New York on several occasions over the years, we decided to visit the falls from the north, whilst exploring the City of Toronto.
There are so many tours to Niagara available but we opted for a day to night excursion to get the full experience. Whilst this is not the cheapest option (we paid £160 each in August), this really is great value for money. It comprised of a 1pm pick up (outside a Tim Horton’s of course!), travelling by air-conditioned coach stopping at picturesque Niagara on the Lake, the largest hydro clock (the Floral Clock), visiting a maple syrup shop / tasting experience and finally to Niagara Falls itself, arriving at around 4.30pm. We took the obligatory boat trip ‘Into the Falls’, had our photos taken of course, then headed up to the Sheraton Hotel for an inclusive buffet dinner. We then took a while to explore the main strip (Clifton Hill) before heading back to the waterfront area to see the lightshow and fireworks.
We booked through Viator using their buy now pay later function and reserving our space with the money being taken from my account two days before. As mentioned before, once the money is taken the tickets become available in the Viator app.
We were picked up at 1pm outside a Tim Horton’s coffee shop in the city about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. We headed out of town travelling along the Niagara Parkway which gives you some great views of the outlying areas of Toronto. The itinerary does quote around 16 different things to see along the way, however although you do get commentary from your guide on the bus, you really only do get the opportunity to get off and view about 4 places.
We stopped at Niagara on the Lake – a beautifully picturesque town which to me looked like something out of a western film! We literally had 50 minutes at this stop and as the town was a 10 minute easy walk from the coach stop, we literally had just about long enough to visit 3 or 4 shops (this is meant to be your lunch stop). To be fair there was really no time to queue and wait for a table and to eat a sit down meal so we just enjoyed the shops (we actually got a couple of decorations for the tree in the Christmas shop!) and then wandered back to the coach. The allotted time is far too short to explore properly and I would definitely love to go back, whether by rail / bus or hire a car for the day and drive down from the City. For those who are not quite so fit, there is a bus that runs from the coach park down to the town, I believe the trip takes around 5 minutes and the buses come every 10-15 minutes but it really is a very easy walk.
Our next stop was the maple syrup factory / shop – Maple Leaf Place. We were given the opportunity to try 3 different syrups, provided with some information and some money off coupons and were then left to wander the shop. We did purchase a small bottle of syrup which was maple leaf shaped and some fudge but it was overpriced. I just felt that I could get a much cheaper bottle of maple syrup at St Lawrence Food Market which we were going to visit the next day.
We arrived at Niagara at around 4pm and were pretty quickly escorted through to the boat trip area, provided with a red poncho each and given our boarding time, tickets and boat. The queue was quick and we were soon underway. The boat moves over to the Falls for photo opportunities and as you would imagine it is totally amazing – the power of the water is quite something.
You then travel across the water towards the mighty Horseshoe Falls. The boat travels right up to the edge of the water fall itself, travelling straight through the mist and you really do get absolutely soaked! It is like being in the midst of a wild storm – the wind is howling and the ‘rain’ is lashing down. It’s a crazy experience, G really did fear for her eye make-up as you can see below but we giggled throughout and it was an experience I will never forget.
After our boat trip (and a quick clean up of our faces!) we headed up along Clifton Hill to the Sheraton Hotel for dinner.
As part of the excursion we had a complimentary buffet dinner included and there really is a huge array of food to choose from but beware the buffet does close relatively early (around 8pm I believe) so it was a bit of a dash from the boat / gift shop up to the hotel to eat. I have read reviews on this trip where people have missed dinner simply because they decided to head up to the main strip (Clifton Hill) before heading into dinner.
After a hearty dinner (and numerous desserts), we wandered up Clifton Hill which is the main strip at the Falls to check out the various shops etc and to purchase yet more magnets and stickers! There are plenty of places to eat here, purchase souvenirs and hang out.
We then headed off to queue, getting a space right at the front of the waterfront area to see the falls lit up in different colours and to await the fireworks.
The falls are lit at night, every night, from 9pm onwards. Apparently, you can even choose what colours are used! Google tells me that you will need to apply to the Niagara Falls Illumination Board and request a specific colour scheme, perhaps for a special occasion.
To finish our day, there was a 20-30 minute spectacular firework display over the falls which attracts huge crowds.
We then headed back to our coach and travelled back to the city where we were dropped off outside Tim Hortons which was around a 10-15 minute walk back to the Westin.
One thing I would say is that this trip is great value for money; the coach journey, boat trip and dinner alone make the £160 each well worth it. Prior to our trip to the US/Canada we did look at taking the train from Toronto and staying overnight at the Sheraton overlooking the Falls but the time and cost involved (and the fact that we would have had to lug out 23kg suitcases with us) made a coach trip more appealing. It is a long journey from the city, and although the stops are interesting you really can’t wait to get there and see the Falls. I have to say it did feel a lot quicker on the way back into the city – there was less traffic and less stopping and I think we were back at our drop off point by around midnight.
A thoroughly enjoyable once in a lifetime experience – this did cost around £320 for the two of us but did include a lot of travelling, an eat all you want dinner, the unforgettable boat ride and the fireworks plus Niagara on the Lake which is definitely calling me back.
See you soon
Georgia and Tracey x
** See more of our travel adventures at georgialouisetravels
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