Loading ...Ontario Niagara Canada USA Travel
. Niagara Falls Ontario is located just across the river from Niagara Falls New York with the great waterfall situated right between these twin cities. The Canadian side offers the best views of Niagara Falls and has a very different character than its counterpart in the USA. Niagara Falls Ontario is much more commercialized and tourist oriented than Niagara Falls New York. On the Canadian-side, the escarpment overlooking the falls has a beautiful park with well-manicured gardens, but just behind that, the hill is covered with high-rise hotels, casinos and numerous tourist attractions. The adjacent streets are filled with museums, souvenir shops, gaming arcades, restaurants, clubs and tourist attractions of all kinds. If you don’t mind all of the commercialism, Niagara Falls Ontario offers more to see and more to do than Niagara Falls New York.
The main attraction in Niagara Falls is naturally the waterfall, and the Canadian view is magnificent. A rock escarpment adjacent to the falls provides a wonderful viewing platform with panoramic views of the Horseshoe Falls as well as the smaller American Falls. This shelf of rock several hundred meters wide and a kilometer long has been converted into the beautiful Victoria Park. Niagara Parkway which becomes River Road through the park can become quite congested with gawking sightseers during the popular tourist season. The best way to fully view the falls is to park your car and explore it afoot. Plan on seeing it in early morning or late afternoon when a gleaming rainbow shines incessantly in the mists, and see it at night when the colored spotlights create an illuminated spectacle.
The main border crossing between Niagara Falls New York and Niagara Falls Ontario is via the Rainbow Bridge that spans the Niagara River Gorge just a few hundred meters below the falls. Unfortunately, this bridge can become quite congested especially on weekends during the summer vacation season and traffic may back up several kilometers forcing you to wait an hour or more to cross. With a bit of foresight, you can avoid the annoying delays.
You can cross the Niagara River into Canada on the Peace Bridge in Buffalo New York approximately 25 miles south of the falls. Once you reach the Canadian side of the border, you can either take a quick trip along the Queen Elizabeth Highway to Niagara Falls, or you can take the scenic drive along the Niagara River Parkway. As an alternate, you can cross the river and enter Canada at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge about 5 miles north of the falls, then take the spectacularly scenic Niagara River Parkway along the Niagara Gorge to the falls.
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