Day 2: Niagara Falls and Toronto Road Trip

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Floral Showhouse, Power Station and Tunnel, Goat Island, Observation Tower, Crow’s Nest, Journey Behind the Falls, Clifton Hill,

View of Horseshoe Falls from the observation deck of the Tunnel at the Power Station, Niagara Falls, Canada

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Floral Showhouse • Power Station and Tunnel • Goat Island • Observation Tower • Crow’s Nest • Journey Behind the Falls • Clifton Hill

Before I talk about what we did this day, I’ll share some information on parking in Niagara Falls, Canada. There are private parking spots available that you can search for online that appear to possibly offer the best deals, there is parking at Clifton Hill’s parking lot which is very conveniently located to many attractions, and “daily parking passes are available for $30.97 + HST online as an add-on option only, allowing re-entry to most Niagara Parks lots for one calendar day,” (as of 2024) plus some other parking options that are listed in this link.

Another option is to stay at a lodging place within walking distance to many of the sites and you can take WEGO to get around. The Niagara Falls attractions pass we bought was called Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Plus; it had many sites included as well as 48 hours included use of WEGO, Niagara Falls, Canada’s “hop-on, hop-off visitor transportation system that connects all Niagara Parks locations to your hotel as well as other Niagara Falls tourism areas.” We found WEGO to not be entirely reliable, which may have been due to road construction that was taking place at the time.

Because the online schedule for WEGO was not accurate due to construction on at least one of the streets in the area (which we didn’t know at the time), for our first morning we waited and waited for the bus but it never came. Finally we decided to walk to where we were headed – the Floral Showhouse.

As we were walking we came across the Falls Incline Railway, which was the most convenient way for us to get from the higher elevation area of Niagara Falls to the lower elevation area where the falls are; it takes just two minutes to ride in either direction. Because it was included in our Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Plus we decided to take it down to the area below. The ride down provides a nice view of Horseshoe Falls below.

After riding the Falls Incline Railway we walked along the walkway next to the part of the Niagara River where the water flows shortly before falling down Horseshoe Falls. It’s interesting to see the fast moving water as it heads to the falls and it’s also beautiful to see – the color of the Niagara River is a striking bluish green. We walked by the front of the historic Niagara Parks Power Station, which I’ll talk about a little later for this day’s story.

FLORAL SHOWHOUSE

We had finally reached the Floral Showhouse. It was included in the Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Plus, and I’m glad we didn’t pay separate admission for it because it was a let down. The Floral Showhouse has different floral exhibits throughout the year; the floral show that was taking place when we visited was the annual Hydrangrea Show.

There is a small enclosed area next to the admissions area that has water with some turtles and flowers around the sides.

There were only maybe three or four small greenhouses that were attached to each other – it wasn’t very extensive. While the flowers were pretty (hydrangeas aren’t one of my favorite flowers, but I like them), the Floral Showhouse wouldn’t have been worth a separate admission fee, IMO. It took us eight minutes to tour all of the greenhouse areas and we didn’t feel rushed.

There was also an area outside to tour that’s part of the Floral Showhouse admission that has birdhouses and a small walking trail with some water areas which took us about five minutes to tour.

NIAGARA PARKS POWER STATION AND THE TUNNEL

From the Floral Showhouse we walked to the historic Niagara Parks Power Station. Admission to tour this was included with the Niagara Falls Adventure Pass Plus we purchased and it also included admission to the Tunnel which is located at the Niagara Parks Power Station.

We did the Tunnel before we toured the power station. We both enjoyed it. They take you down 180 feet in an elevator with windows that allow you to see lit up areas of the underground mechanisms of the power station. Once you get to the bottom and get off the elevator you arrive in the 2,200 foot long tunnel, which is where the water used to flow out from the power station back into the Niagara River. They’ve placed signs along the way on the walls for you to read that explain interesting facts about the power plant. There are also some benches along the way for people to rest on as well an informative video that’s projected onto part of the tunnel’s wall.

The Tunnel is dark but lit so that it’s not too dark. It smells damp and old inside. The best part is what’s at the end of the tunnel – an outside viewing platform next to the Niagara River with great views of both the Horseshoe Falls and the American Falls. This area is where the water used to be dumped back into the Niagara River when the power station was still in use.

There is no way of standing on the viewing platform without getting the mist from Horseshoe Falls blowing onto you. But we came prepared for that! Before our trip my husband ordered full body rain suits for each of us as well as rubber covers to place over our shoes to protect us from the Niagara Falls water getting us too wet. However, they do provide free ponchos to use so that’s an option as well. It was cool the day we were there and the wind was blowing and we didn’t want our clothing to get too wet, so we opted to wear our extra protection we brought with us. We spent about 25 minutes in all on the Tunnel experience from the time we got on the elevator above ground at the beginning until we got off the elevator back at the above ground area.

The tour of the Niagara Parks Power Station is self-guided and they give you an audio tour device when you enter in case you want to hear about the things along the tour. It was interesting, but we didn’t spend as much time touring as some people were doing. We spent about fifteen minutes touring the Power Station.

Next we headed over to Rainbow Bridge to walk across to the New York side of Niagara Falls. While the Canadian side has much better views of the falls and a lot more attractions (most for a fee), the New York side has some nice things to see and do as well, most of which are free, including views of the falls that are unique to the New York side.

To cross Rainbow Bridge by foot the fee is “$1.00 US or Canadian funds and is collected when leaving Canada. Tip– bring four quarters for the turnstile.” You go through U.S. customs after you have paid the fee to cross the bridge. Make sure you have the required document(s) to enter the U.S. and to return to Canada. Crossing the bridge by vehicle “costs $5.00 in US funds or $6.50 Canadian funds and is collected when departing the USA. Cash or credit cards are accepted.” (These prices are as of 2024)

In all it took us about 17 minutes to cross the bridge by foot and get through customs (there was a short line at customs), and that included us taking time to enjoy the view from the bridge and taking photos. There are fantastic views from Rainbow International Bridge.

After crossing Rainbow International Bridge we visited the Welcome Center, which wasn’t very welcoming. The man working there seemed to not enjoy his job and he offered no helpful information for our time in the area when we asked if he had any.

Click here for a downloadable map of Niagara Falls State Park that includes Goat Island.

Click here for a link to a chart that provides walking times between the sites in Niagara Falls State Park.

Niagara Falls State Park has a guided Niagara Falls Trolley that ”gives passengers an overview of the park and offers historical anecdotes, little-known facts and tips for checking out the park’s most popular attractions.”

Click here for parking information for Niagara Falls New York.

From the Welcome Center we crossed Prospect Street and walked down Old Falls Street to get lunch. This street has many restaurants and food trucks which offer a wide variety of foods.

We had plans to eat at two food trucks. The first was Nepali Khaja Ghar, which offers, obviously, Nepali food. We ordered paneer stir fry noodles extra spicy and it was pretty good. The price was $12.99. The portion size was decent as was the spice level, and the man working at the food truck was friendly. The wait after ordering the food was maybe five minutes. There are a few tables on the sidewalk near and next to the food truck.

The next place we had plans to eat at was The Silo Food Truck, which, according to Google maps, was about a two minute walk from Nepali Khaja Ghar. We searched for maybe 15 minutes for The Silo Food Truck but unfortunately it was no longer there. We were hoping to try their Haystack sandwich. They have a restaurant called the The Silo, but that wasn’t practical to walk to.

We checked out other food trucks and decided to try food from Dosa Hut, which offers Indian Street Food. It’s a food truck located on the right side of Rainbow Blvd when you make a right onto Rainbow Blvd when walking up Old Falls Street away from the Falls. We ordered the butter chicken combo which has butter chicken, dal, vegetable curry, rice and pita for $12.99. It was decent, but we’ve had much better. They have a few tables available outside, but they were busy and they were all taken, so we walked back down Old Falls Street and found a table there to eat at.

GOAT ISLAND

Next we headed to Goat Island. We’re both so glad we visited Goat Island; it’s free to visit and it offers unique views of all three of the falls in addition to great views of the swift moving, gorgeous, bluish-green water as it’s headed toward the falls. It took less than 15 minutes to get from the corner of Old Falls Street and Prospect Street to Goat Island, and that included stopping to take a couple of photos.

To walk to Goat Island you walk on a bridge that has nice views of the rapids heading towards the falls, and you also cross over Green Island.

After crossing the bridge we made a right turn and headed toward Luna Island, with a few stops on the way to take photos of the beautiful views along the way.

Luna Island is a tiny island located between Bridal Veil Falls (the smallest of the three falls and the one located in the middle of the three falls) and American Falls. The views from this island are really cool as you can stand very close to American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. As you look down you can see Cave of the Winds and other sites in the area.

From Luna Island we walked back over the bridge that connects Luna Island to Goat Island and walked along the path that connects Bridal Veil Falls to Horseshoe Falls (Horseshoe Falls is the largest and most recognizable of the three falls.) The views along this walkway are very nice. Along the way is a gift shop, a restaurant and restrooms on the left side.

We noticed that people were getting very wet from the winds blowing the water from Horseshoe Falls so we put our rain suits and rubber shoe covers back on before we headed down to the lower viewing areas. A man was laughing at us and telling us that we didn’t need to wear those because we couldn’t get wet from the falls from any of the viewing areas (as he was saying that we could see people walking by with wet hair and clothing.) A couple of minutes later the wind started blowing really strongly for a few minutes. Guess who the only dry people were on that cool day – the man who was laughing at us definitely wasn’t one of them. A few people told us they wished they were covered up like we were as they walked around with their squishy, wet shoes and cold, wet clothing and wet hair. We would rather look funny for a few minutes and be warm and dry than be cold and wet for the next few hours.

The viewing area closest to Horseshoe Falls from Goat Island is Terrapin Point and it provides a very close, dramatic perspective of Horseshoe Falls, but the best view is from the Canada side.

From Terrapin Point we headed along the path toward Three Sisters Islands. On the way you can see the swift rapids as they head toward Horseshoe Falls. On the way we also saw some pretty, small birds and a geese family that consisted of a mom, a dad and at least fourteen goslings – so adorable!

There are three bridges that connect the three small islands of Three Sisters Islands to each other and Goat Island. The views from these islands and their bridges were worth the short walk (about twelve minutes in all) around Three Sisters Islands.

Then we walked back to Goat Island and continued on the path toward the pedestrian bridge that connects Goat Island to the rest of Niagara Falls State Park. In all we spent about one hour and fifty five minutes walking around Goat Island, Luna Island and Three Sisters Islands from the time we crossed the bridge to Goat Island to the time we crossed back over the bridge.

Next we walked to Prospect Point.

The Prospect Point viewing area offers great views of American Falls as well as the rapids rushing toward the falls. You also get great views of the Crow’s Nest, the Observation Tower and the Maid of the Mist boarding area in addition to other great views.

NIAGARA FALLS STATE PARK OBSERVATION TOWER

Then we walked to Niagara Falls State Park Observation Tower. This observation tower is free to visit. During my research for our trip I had read on a blog that you have to buy a ticket for $1.25 per person which gives you access to the observation tower and the elevator that takes you down to the boarding site for the Maid of the Mist boat tour and the Crow’s Nest. We could not find a place to purchase the tickets. We walked around the gift shop next to the observation tower and finally asked a gift shop employee where we could purchase the tickets for the tower and the elevator. She said they’re both free so they don’t require a ticket. And she was right – no ticket was required for either.

The Niagara Falls State Park Observation Tower has great views of all three falls and other great views including of the water as it swiftly moves away from the falls toward Lake Ontario.

CROW’S NEST

Next we took the elevator down so that we could walk the Crow’s Nest path. This was such a fun, cool thing to do. But before walking over there we put our rain suits and rubber shoe covers on again. Almost everyone who visits the Crow’s Nest has their free rain poncho on from their Maid of the Mist boat tour which is a very short walk away.

The Crow’s Nest is a path of stairs that provide great views of American Falls and the path takes you really close to the falls. Be careful because the steps are slippery due to the constant spray of water blowing on them from American Falls. There are two places where people especially like to have their photo taken on this path and if you want to do the same be prepared to wait in a line to take a selfie (or have another tourist take a photo of you with your camera.) We were there in May and it wasn’t super busy, but there was wait of a few minutes for each of those areas.

In all we spent about thirty two minutes from the time we exited the elevator until the time we got back to the elevator after walking the Crow’s Nest, and that included the time to put on and remove our rain suits and rubber shoe covers and somewhat shake them dry. We both really enjoyed visiting the Crow’s Nest.

After getting off the elevator we noticed the ticket booth for the Maid of the Mist boat tours. It had a sign that said tickets to ride the elevator are $1.25 per person. Well, the employee said it’s free to ride, and it was, so that was strange to see.

In all we spent just over four hours on the New York side of Niagara Falls. We didn’t do everything, like the Maid of the Mist boat tour (because we had tickets for the Hornblower boat tour on the Canada side for the following day) and Cave of the Winds, but we thoroughly enjoyed what we experienced during our time on the New York side. A big plus was that everything we did, besides food and drink and the cost to cross Rainbow Bridge from Canada, was free. We like free.

It took about twenty minutes to cross Rainbow Bridge and get through customs, which included enjoying and photographing the views from the bridge. In all, from the time we walked onto Rainbow Bridge earlier in the day to leave Canada until we walked off the bridge in Canada we spent just under four hours and forty five minutes, and we packed a lot in (including lunch) in that short amount of time without feeling rushed at all. If you are on the Canada side and have what’s required to visit the New York side while at Niagara Falls, I highly recommend crossing the bridge and enjoying at least the free things the New York side offers.

Next we headed to Smoke’s Poutinerie for dinner. It took us about thirty minutes to get there from Rainbow International Bridge, but we walked at a leisurely pace and checked out a few restaurants and The Fudge Factory on the way.

The Fudge Factory had a special (which from what I’ve seen is often if not always available) for fudge slices – $8.49/slice and if you buy 3 slices you get one slice free. They let you sample fudge flavors so you know what you like before you buy. We ended up getting 4 slices. My husband isn’t a fan of fudge and it was too much fudge for me, so much of it went to waste. Plus, I like to make homemade fudge, so it’s cheaper and yummier for me to make my own fudge. But it was fun to nibble on during our vacation.

You can watch people making fresh fudge at The Fudge Factory. They have a lot more than fudge though, including a few different types of candy apples, lots of flavors of Taffy Town saltwater taffy sold in tubes (Taffy Town is the best, IMO), Jelly Bellies, and lots of other types of candy as well as stuffed toys.

We finally made it to Smoke’s Poutinerie, which is located on Victoria Ave, a street that has lots of restaurants offering several different types of cuisines.

Smoke’s Poutinerie had a four out of five star rating on Google and TripAdvisor and a slightly lower rating on Yelp. We went in hoping we would enjoy it, but with somewhat low expectations. We ended up being really happy with our food there. It was tasty, the portion was generous and the price was decent. We would go again if we encounter one of their locations in the future.

We ordered the regular sized portion of the pulled pork poutine. The cost was $15.99. We both ate until we were full and we had a decent amount left over. It looks like a small container, but it’s packed in there and filling. I’ve never had poutine before that has such melty cheese curds; either way is fine with me.

From Smoke’s Poutinerie we walked to Oakes Garden Theatre. There is a nice Japanese Garden with a pond to visit as well as nicely landscaped hedges and other attractive features in addition to the nice looking amphitheatre. The views of the falls from Oakes Garden Theatre are nice too. Oakes Garden Theatre was free to visit.

We were hoping to hear the bells being played at the Carillon Tower, which is located at the Canadian entrance of the Rainbow International Bridge on Falls Avenue, and near Oakes Garden Theatre, but we didn’t hear them even though the schedule said they would be playing at the time we were there.

From Oakes Garden Theatre we crossed the street and walked along the area overlooking the water and enjoyed the views on our way to Journey Behind the Falls. On the way we crossed the street to see Nikola Tesla Plaza, which was not interesting.

Then we checked out Table Rock Centre and the area around it, which offers a marketplace with various places to eat, a large gift shop and some great views of the falls.

JOURNEY BEHIND THE FALLS

Inside of Table Rock Centre is the entrance to Journey Behind the Falls. I had timed it so that we would be on the Journey Behind the Falls observation deck during sunset.

Journey Behind the Falls offers unique views of the falls. After an elevator takes you down, you walk through a tunnel then you walk down a corridor that leads you to two different viewing portals that offer you views of the back of Horseshoe Falls. They have cut through the rock to provide these views. It gets more slippery the closer you get to the falls as you walk toward the portals behind the falls, so be careful if you do this, but it’s interesting to experience that view and to hear the roar of the falls.

We put on our rain suits and rubber shoe covers again for this experience, and we were so glad we did. There weren’t a lot other people there, but most of the ones who were there said they wished they had thought of doing the same thing.

Then we walked to the observation deck, which offers close views of Horseshoe Falls. We took a few photos, but because it was so misty and cold, we decided to not wait for sunset.

From there we headed toward Clifton Hill, again enjoying the views along the way.

CLIFTON HILL

Clifton Hill is great for kids and is brightly lit and lively at night. They offer a Fun Pass for a few of the attractions at Clifton Hill, but we didn’t have enough time to enjoy the attractions. We did enjoy walking around and seeing what was there, which includes rides, a wax museum, miniature golf, lots of restaurants and more.

We decided to get a funnel cake with powdered sugar, strawberries and whipped cream. It was soooo yummy!

It was getting late (for us) and we were tired after walking most of the day, so we headed back to our motel. We decided to take the WEGO bus to our motel, but that turned out to be a huge waste of time. We waited and waited for the bus to come, but it wasn’t on schedule. So after waiting in the cold for about forty five minutes, we decided to walk to our motel. So annoying. They need to update their website to show an accurate schedule so that their visitors don’t waste their time standing in the cold like we did.

We got back to our room and we each had a Canadian beer we had purchased the night before from the liquor store. They were good beers.

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