Buffalo/Niagara Falls recommendations

Cafe Society
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Other vacation plans have fallen through so my wife and I have decided to get an item on my mother-in-law’s bucket list checked off.

She has always wanted to see Niagara Falls so in early October we’re going to take her there.

I have been there before but it was as part of a cross country drive in college and we pretty much just stopped long enough to say “yep, that’s a lot of water.”

At this point it looks like we’ll be there for three days.

Any interesting suggestions on sights and/or activities for Niagara Falls or the greater area? While elderly, my mother-in-law is still pretty spry so no restrictions in that regard. About the only thing to rule out up front would be anything alcohol focused as we’re not drinkers.

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Dinner: Yukiguni. I’m not a fan of raw fish, so I couldn’t tell you whether that was any good or not - but the chicken teriyaki was amazingly good, like none I’ve had anywhere else. Wife and I went once in 2007; I went again by myself on a motorcycle trip in summer '09, and wife and i went together in fall '09 on the way to NYC - and again on the way back.

Best views of the falls seem to be from the Canada side, and there’s a decent green strip along the river on that side, but there’s a really nice park/walking area on the American side. I’d suggest both, if you have time.

From the Canada side, you can walk through a tunnel that puts you on an observation deck down near the base of the falls. They’ll give you a disposable plastic poncho to wear, but you’re probably still going to get soaked. Walking in those tunnels is like being inside a gigantic subwoofer: from all of the noise of the waterfall, the tunnel selects/amplifies some extremely low frequencies that you end up feeling instead of hearing.

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I’d second Machine Elf’s recommendation for visiting the Canadian side. Make sure you have your passport/enhanced license.
I’d also add that you don’t want to miss a trip back to the falls after dark.
The Maid of the Mist is also generally popular if you don’t mind getting wet.

4

In Buffalo: spend some time in the Elmwood Village and Allentown neighborhoods. They’re amazingly vibrant neighborhoods for a Rust Belt city, with no shortage of shops, restaurants, coffeehouses, and the like. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, one of the nation’s leading museums specializing in modern art, is at the north end of Elmwood Village; it’s filled with iconic works by Warhol, Pollock, Lichtenstein, Rothko, Gauguin and the like. Admission is free in Friday night.

Also, in North Buffalo, the area along Hertel Avenue between Delaware Avenue and Parker Avenue has been branded “Little Italy”, even though it’s really a melting pot of Italian-Americans, immigrants from the Middle East, Jewish holdouts, and young professionals that can’t afford to live in Elmwood Village. Lots of Italian restaurants and antique stores along Hertel.

Forget the “historic” Broadway Market, no matter what the brochures and guidebooks say. It’s on life support, and the surrounding neighborhood is quite rough.

Early October: daytime temperatures will peak in the low 60s, and fall foliage will be at its peak. Good walking-around weather. Snow doesn’t normally hit Buffalo until November, but weather in Buffalo is notoriously predictable.

Buffalo’s a very safe city, as long as you stay west of Main Street when you’re in the city limits.

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Albright-Knox is indeed a world-class museum if you like modern art.

There’s a little museum in the house that held Theodore Roosevelt’s inaugural after the McKinley assassination that is much more fascinating than you’d expect.

In the Allentown area there is an unusual restaurant called Samples. All the dishes are smaller than appetizers so you can sample several dishes in a single meal. If your MiL is like most older people, the giant-sized portions of most restaurants just don’t work well for her. And you don’t have to worry about leftovers while you’re traveling. Because they’re so small they are ridiculously cheap for high-end food. They also do a multi-course tasting menu with miniature versions of Buffalo staples like beef on wick. It’s a block away from a neat little used bookstore if you like that.

There is literally nothing in the American Niagara Falls to recommend, unless your MiL is into outlet malls. They have one.

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If you want to go to the place where Buffalo wings were invented, go to the Anchor Bar.

If you want GOOD wings, go to Duff’s.

If you want the other food that Buffalo is known for, stop at Schwabl’s and get a Beef on Weck.

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Are there any nice scenic drives to recommend? My MIL is suprisingly happy to just sit in the back looking out the window while I drive (and I’m happy driving).

She’s Japanese (well, so’s my wife but this isn’t similarly and issue) and doesn’t like eating at Japanese restaurants since she eats it at home all the time but I’ll keep that recommendation for potential future personal use.

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One interesting place is the Lockport cave tour. It takes you down along the Erie Canal and then up inside one of the old tunnels that local factories used for water power.

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One nice scenic route is to go north up Route 18 to Youngstown where it then turns east and follows along Lake Ontario. You can take it to Olcott, which is a scenic little tourist town, and then come back down Routes 78 and 31, which will take you back to Niagara Falls.

One thing I should probably point out is that the city of Niagara Falls is not a place to visit outside of the falls themselves. Other than the tourist areas, the city is an old industrial town where all the factories have closed. It’s symbolic that the second most famous location in the area is a toxic waste dump.

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If you come to the Canadian side, the drives in the Niagara Peninsula region are very scenic.

This is also the heart of Ontario wine country, with many first class vineyards and wineries to visit.

It is also a rich historical area - many battles from the War of 1812 were fought in this area.

The Shaw Festival will still be going until October 30th, if you would enjoy some excellent theatre.

The Welland Canal is a fascinating drive, particularly the lock at Thorold, where you get to watch large ships ‘climb’ a mountain…

Niagara Falls, ON itself is brash and tawdry, with a certain carny charm to it.

I’ll heartily second whoever recommended the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo.

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Thanks for all these.

Spending a lot of time in Canada is certainly not a problem if that is where the good stuff is.

Was the motel Marilyn Monroe stayed at in Niagara a real hotel? Does it still exist (I doubt I’d seek it out, it just occurred to me to be curious)?

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Slowly I turned…

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If you want GREAT wings, walk a few blocks west from the Anchor Bar to Gabriel’s Gate.

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On the road between Niagara Falls and Niagara-On-The-Lake there’s a nice butterfly house that I enjoyed visiting. I wasn’t in town for the Shaw festival suggested by Le Ministre de l’au-delà but I thought Niagara-On-The-Lake was quite pleasant.

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I’ve never been there–will have to try it the next time I go…which might not be for a while, sadly.

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If you’re into architecture there’s the Darwin Martin House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces. It’s currently undergoing renovation so some parts of the house are off limits.

There’s also Graycliff, another FLLW house. It’s located in Derby, a short trip south of Buffalo.

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shakes fist Now I have to wait for the next Niagara thread! Hmph!

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Bolding mine. You said yourself in the cheap real estate thread that Kaisertown and Lovejoy are decent, and they are. [/butthurt] They have nothing to offer tourists, however. I would not say everything west of Main is safe, either. Not by a long shot. Aside from all the awesome stuff everyone else has mentioned, Fort Niagara is worth the trip to Youngstown for sure, and walking along the breakwall under the Peace Bridge is good fun. The Albright-Knox used to be free every Friday, now it’s just the first Friday of the month, but it’s cheap to get in and very worth it. If you’re going to the Canadian side, the cable car over the Whirlpool is jaw-droppingly amazing as long as you aren’t afraid of heights. If you’re gamblers, there’s a casino on both sides of the border. I went once but was bored to tears, as I’m not a gambler.

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Gabriel’s Gate also does a good (maybe not the best, but GOOD) beef on weck, so it’s a good choice to knock out both wings and beef on weck.

For drives, there’s the Seaway Trail. (If you liked Cell Guy’s Frank Lloyd Wright suggestion, you can take this route down to Graycliff.)

I might get drummed off the SDMB for suggesting this, but there is a weird historic community of spiritualists in Lilydale, which is popular with my mother’s set. For those of us who don’t buy into the woo woo of it all, it’s still somewhat interesting in terms of the history of spiritualism. Lilydale is in Chautauqua County (go me, I spelled that right on the first try!), home of the original Chautauqua Institute which is pretty to stroll around in.

If you’re into Arts & Crafts and antiques, the Roycroft Campus is in East Aurora, NY, and that is pleasant, plus they have a cute Main Street, with Vidler’s, an old-fashioned five and dime store.

When you said spry, I don’t know how spry exactly you mean, but if she’s very spry you could check out Kayaking in Buffalo harbor which is more fun than it sounds.

If you like jazz and like going to unusual music venues, there is the Buffalo Colored Musicians Club (warning - web site has sound, and the calendar of events is out of date so you’d have to call).

Free tours of Buffalo’s City Hall are held daily at noon.

Maybe I am a huge dork, but in Niagara Falls itself, they used to offer a tour of parts of the power plant which was incredible, but I can’t find it online now so perhaps it’s no longer available (I will keep looking, but if you come across it, it is definitely interesting).