Although I grew up on the West Coast, I’d seen Niagara Falls once. Back in 1992, I made a quick stopover on a road trip in New York. I only had about an hour to make the detour, but I vividly remember walking to the edge of the viewing area with a throng of other people. There was a tremendous amount of mist and a huge volume of water going over the falls. And it was all pretty impressive.
Years later, when the topic of Niagara Falls would come up, someone would invariably ask, “Which side did you see them from, the American side or the Canadian side?” When I admitted the American side, that person would smugly announce, “Oh, they’re sooo much better from Canada.”
I’m not sure why this irritated me so much. Maybe I felt like I’d missed out on what I was “supposed” to see when I was at Niagara Falls that first time. Or perhaps, I was just annoyed that the person making the comment felt so much more cosmopolitan than me. They’d traveled across the border to see the falls – but, c’mon, Canada doesn’t even stamp your passport, so it hardly counts as international travel, right?
Nevertheless, this comment must have stuck with me through the years. And when Keith and I discussed stopping in Niagara Falls, I insisted we do so from Ontario. I desperately wanted to see what made the falls so much better from Canada.
Visiting Niagara Falls (take two)
Our primary reason for visiting the falls this time around was so Finn could see them. Much like the Grand Canyon, they are a natural wonder that every American child grows up hearing about. Plus, there’s also those fantastic stories about daredevils crossing the falls on a tightrope or going over them in a barrel. All of which is incredibly appealing to an 11 year old boy.
Niagara Falls is actually the name of three separate waterfalls along the US and Canadian border.
Horseshoe Falls (all that mist from the water hitting the river below gives you a hint of just how much water is actually coming down)
The Horseshoe Falls are the biggest of the three. And it’s probably the waterfall most people picture in their mind when they think of Niagara Falls. It straddles the border between the two countries and, you guessed it, it’s shaped like a horseshoe. The volume of water from the Niagara River going over this waterfall each minute is more than you can possibly imagine.
The American Falls are just a little further down the cliffs and a more linear shaped falls. While it only gets about 10% of the water flowing through the Niagara River, it’s still a spectacular sight. Finally, there’s the Bridal Veil Falls, immediately adjacent to the American Falls. It’s a separate waterfall because there’s an island in the river that separates it from the American Falls. But from afar, they almost appear to be a continuation of the same falls.
The American Falls (with the smaller Bridal Veil Falls on the far right side)
Seeing the Falls
Now I understand why the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is a better vantage point. When you visit on the American side, the river is spilling over the falls. You get the close up view of the tremendous power of water, and you feel the mist soaking you.
However, from Canada, you are across from the falls and can walk downriver to change your perspective. You may not get the experience of getting completely soaked as you look at them, but the trade-off is getting to look across at the Horseshoe and American Falls at the same time.
It’s the difference between holding your face an inch from a picture and pulling it back a foot and looking at it. Both views give you a unique perspective, but the bigger picture is usually far more enjoyable.
And don’t worry, you still get wet on the Canadian side. It’s just a more manageable “I’ll dry off in a few minutes” kind of wet.
Two Americans posing in front of the American Falls
What to do after seeing the falls
If your trip to Niagara Falls won’t feel complete until you are wearing a brightly colored poncho and soaking wet, there are a few options to get you there while in Canada.
You can take a boat ride to the base of the falls. Or there’s the Journey behind the Falls tour, which takes you down an 15-story elevator and through a tunnel out to a viewing platform at the base of the Horseshoe Falls.
Once you see the falls and take about 1,000 amateur photos, you can walk along a paved promenade that runs above the river to dry off.
Afterward, we recommend you drive west toward Hamilton on the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). That stretch of Ontario is the Niagara wine region. Each exit on the QEW seems to boast dozens of vineyards or wineries, though the largest cluster of them seems to be near exit 68.
We chose to stop at the Rosewood Estates Winery because they’re a vineyard and apiary. They produce their own wine, mead (honey wine), and honey. So, while Keith and I were doing the wine tasting, Finn got to enjoy a honey tasting. It was a success, and we left with several bottles of wine, a bottle of Gewütztraminer Pyment mead, and a jar of smoked honey.
Of course their logo is a honey bee!