Next month, Ms. Railer and I, along with three other couples, are going to spend several days in the Niagara Falls/Toronto area. We’re flying into Buffalo on October 7, spending two nights in an AirBnB in Niagara Falls, NY, then four nights in an AirBNB in Oakville, Ontario, before leaving on the 13th. I’m the only one who has seen the Falls (when I was 10), so we’re going to do a touristy 4-hour tour from the American side. We’re also going to do some sightseeing along the Erie Canal and locks in Lockport.
Otherwise, we are looking for things to see and do. We’ll want to spend a day in Toronto, and will probably go to the top of the CN Tower. We’d be open to any place in Toronto that’s worth a visit, and of course recommendations for good restaurants are welcome as well.
Our first night in Ontario is October 9, which is the last night that the fireworks show takes place over the Falls. We’d like to see that show, and so are looking for spots from where to watch it. We are thinking about having dinner that evening in one of the ‘FallsView’ restaurants. Is it worth it to eat at one of those places? (They all appear to be a bit on the pricey side.) Or is there someplace we can park and then walk to a good viewing area?
We’re also hoping that the second week of October will be a good time for leaf peeping. Is this true? If so, can somebody recommend a scenic drive and/or nearby provincial or national park that would be good for this activity?
I was there just a couple years ago. There’s a very nice state park, but other than that the American side of the Falls is kind of a dump.
Lockport has the locks, which are kinda cool, and a small visitor’s center/museum, but I don’t remember much else there.
I found a small carrousel museum in North Tonawanda that I liked. Might be worth an hour or so if you’re interested in craft/history/woodcarving sort of things.
Whenever I am in the Buffalo area I go to the Botanical Gardens in Lackawanna, partly out of nostalgia for when I went there as a child, partly just to gaze at the sheer immensity of their collection. There are several wings jam packed with different plants. There are not a whole lot of interpretive signs rather than just a species label, but there are some signs as well as some nice fountains, arrangements, and stairways to see the larger items. Fairly cheap to get it. There are some flower beds and trees outside but I am not as familiar with them since the indoor conservatory part is the focus of my trips.
Staying in Oakville might be a little inconvenient for seeing things in Toronto, but there are lots of nice scenic areas in the areas west.
Rattlesnake Point is one of my favourites (you can see lots of nice fall colours from the cliffs there). There’s also the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington and there are some nice trails in Hamilton too (noted for its waterfalls, not just its steel industry).
This is 100% correct. I took the family to the falls in August, and the American side didn’t look appealing, at all. It was very run down. You get a much better view of all the falls from the Canadian side, and a lot more choices for places to eat, etc. As for the fireworks, you can see them just about anywhere you are near the falls. They go off about half way between the two falls. We found a park bench and had a great view. Be sure to go on the Maid of the Mist or the Hornblower (Canadian equivalent). Very touristy, but totally worth it.
How about cash? Should we plan to take Canadian money with us? If so, how much per person? (I’m assuming our credit cards will work okay while we’re in Canada.)
I’m just concluding a 10-day trip to Ottawa. I arrived with $20 Canadian and I’m leaving with $10.20.
If you get as far east as Kingston (a charming college town), take a boat tour of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River. I assume there are also boat tours from the New York side around Alexandria Bay.
Also, restaurants seem to only take debit cards now. Forgotten the exact reason, but I think it was service charge fees from the credit card companies.
And Canadians have a great best practice. They bring the point of sale device to your table, and you swipe the credit card or debit card yourself. None of this taking your card to the back to swipe, and steal the secret number printed on the back of the card. Someone had to explain that to me when I kept pulling out a card for the wait staff and they appeared to ignore me.
Any restaurants in Toronto that don’t take credit cards would be in a very small minority (as far as I know). I think the last time I went to a restaurant that had restrictions on taking credit cards was 15 years ago.
That was my experience in August. These were all Chinese restaurants, and I didn’t insist on paying with a credit card. But the policy posted at the entry way and on several of the tables/menus was “apologies but we only take debit cards.”
That’s the policy in some places where their profit margin is lower than usual. There’s a convenience store near me like that. But this is a very small minority of businesses.
It’s common at Chinese restaurants, especially those with a majority Asian customer base, but not otherwise. Our usual dumpling place downtown and a Hakka place near my office are the only places I regularly go that do not take credit cards.
