What to See in Niagara Falls - Top Sights and Attractions

Canyon in Ontario, Canada. Niagara Gorge is an 11 km long canyon carved by the Niagara River along the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of New York and the Canadian province of Ontario. It begins at the base of Niagara Falls and ends downriver at the edge of the geological formation known as the Niagara Escarpment near Queenston, Ontario, where the falls originated about 12,500 years ago. The position of the falls has receded upstream toward Lake Erie because of the falling waters' slow erosion of the riverbed's hard Lockport dolomite, combined with rapid erosion of the relatively soft layers beneath it. This erosion has created the gorge.

The force of the river current in the gorge is one of the most powerful in the world; because of the dangers this presents, kayaking the gorge has generally been prohibited. On multiple occasions, the rapids of the gorge have claimed the lives of people attempting to run them. However, on isolated occasions, world-class experts have been permitted to navigate the stretch. Tourists can traverse the rapids of the Niagara Gorge on commercial tours in rugged jetboats, which are based at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, at Lewiston, New York, at Youngstown, New York, and in midsummer at Niagara Glen Nature Centre on the Niagara Parkway in Ontario.^[4]

Enduring seasonal theme park and aquarium. Marineland, is a themed zoo and amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. The park has performing marine animal shows, sea mammal and land animal exhibits, and amusement rides. It keeps dolphins, sea lions, an orca, and beluga whales. The park also keeps bears, deer, and other land animals. It was founded and operated by John Holer, a Slovenian immigrant, from 1961 until his death in 2018. It is privately owned-and-operated by his family.

The park's keeping of sea mammals is controversial, and the park is involved in several lawsuits related to the practice. The keeping of the sea mammals is opposed by animal rights activists and Marineland has been the site of numerous animal rights demonstrations.^[8]

Tourist attraction in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory is a butterfly house operated by the Niagara Parks Commission in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It is located approximately 9 kilometres north of Niagara Falls on the grounds of the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, which is 40 hectares in size.

The conservatory was opened in December 1996 with a gift shop, 200-seat theater/auditorium room, and a climate-controlled greenhouse. The conservatory has over 2,000 tropical butterflies from over 60 different species. The conservatory glass dome is 1,022 square metres (11,000 sq ft) in size with 180 metres (590 ft) of paths inside the greenhouse portion, which has a wide variety of foliage. The conservatory can accommodate up to 300 visitors per hour. Since captive butterflies usually have a life span of 2–4 weeks, the conservatory imports up to 3,000 butterflies per month from world butterfly farms in Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Philippines, and Australia. Special netting along the inside of the glass dome keeps the butterflies from getting stuck to it and from dying from hypothermia. Butterfly food plants at the conservatory such as Lantana, Cuphea, Zinnia, Ixora, Liatris, and Pentas are replaced every 2–3 weeks because caterpillars have large appetites.

Visitors who want the butterflies to land on them should wear bright clothes, move slowly, and wear perfume or cologne. Eurasian quails, turtles, goldfish, toads, and beetles help keep the insect population in balance. The Emergence area allows visitors to view the butterfly life cycle and produces over 45,000 butterflies annually.

The species of butterfly at the conservatory include the banded orange, blue morpho, common Mormon, cydno longwing, Doris longwing, Gulf fritillary, Julia, Low's swallowtail, monarch, mosaic, owl, red lacewing, Sara longwing, and small postman.^[9]

Museum in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Criminals Hall of Fame Wax Museum was a wax museum on 5751 Victoria Avenue in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. One of many wax museums in the region, it was located at the top of Clifton Hill. The museum featured forty wax statues of notorious criminals, from mobsters to serial killers. The museum was created in 1977 and closed late 2014.

In 2002, columnist Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette characterized the museum as "a cheesy little monument to brutality," while in 2005, the same paper's Dennis Roddy called it "a garish little exhibit." In 2003, the Boston Herald dubbed it "tacky." In 2010, Doug Kirby's roadsideamerica.com noted in its review that the museum had "more gore than most horror wax museums and better lighting, too," which it took as "a good indication that this attraction is drawing enough of a crowd to pay its electric bill."^[11]

Street in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Clifton Hill is one of the major tourist promenades in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The street, close to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River, leads from River Road on the Niagara Parkway to intersect with Victoria Avenue, and contains a number of gift shops, wax museums, haunted houses, video arcades, restaurants, hotels and themed attractions. It is a major amusement area and centre for night life, particularly for families and teenagers.

Properties on Clifton Hill are bought, sold and renamed frequently. The street is dominated by two primary property owners: the Harry Oakes Company (HOCO) and the Niagara Clifton Group.

Comfort Inn, also part of Clifton Hill, closed in 2015 and was later demolished as part of a major development that included the Niagara Speedway go-kart track, an extension of the Great Canadian Midway video arcade, a zombie-themed 4D ride, multiple snack stands, and a Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum expansion. The expansion began in early 2016 and was completed in the summer of 2018.^[12]

Tourist information center in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The Table Rock Welcome Centre is a retail and observation complex located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada at the brink of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, several hundred feet south of the former rock formation which bears its name. The complex consists of two buildings connected by an indoor pedestrian mall and anchored by "The Grand Hall", a multi-level indoor observation complex, completed in 2008.

The north building, originally constructed in 1926, houses a first-floor retail store and the Welcome Centre, Niagara's Fury, a whitewater simulation, plus the ticket offices for the tunnels Journey Behind the Falls attraction. The upper level contains multiple specialty stores, and an additional outdoor observation plaza. The south building, constructed in 1974, has a first-floor fast food snack bar, additional retail space, and a second-floor, semi-formal restaurant overlooking the Horseshoe Falls and the upper Niagara River.

Owned and operated by the Niagara Parks Commission, Table Rock Centre provides the best direct path from the Horseshoe Falls observation area to the Falls Incline Railway (courtesy of a new bridge constructed in 2008 spanning the Niagara Parkway), which transports passengers to the Fallsview Tourist Area above the Niagara Escarpment.^[13]

Casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Casino Niagara is a commercial casino located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It opened on December 9, 1996, on the site of the former Maple Leaf Village amusement park. With a prime location beside Clifton Hill, it was originally conceived as a temporary facility until Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort opened but has remained open as a permanent facility. It is the second Casino to open in Ontario, and the first to feature electronic Roulette. Casino Niagara has over 1,300 slots and over 40 table games, as well as sports betting. Due to Covid-19, the casino had been closed during 2020, reopening date still not to be determined. Apart from the pandemic, the casino has been operating for 25 years.^[19]

Tower in Niagara Falls, Canada. The Casino Tower, formerly known as the Oneida Tower and Kodak Tower, is a 355-feet-tall open steel tower in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Designed by the architect Alan R. Moody, it was built in a matter of six months by Frankel Steel Company of Toronto in the busy tourist season of 1964.

In 1974, the Oneida Tower became known as the Niagara Tower and Plaza Limited. In 1985, this tower became the centre piece of the Maple Leaf Village Shopping Complex under the name of "Kodak Tower".

The tower received a new look to reflect its more upscale surroundings, although there is no public access. It is now simply known as the "Casino Tower", and is being used as a large sign for the casino.^[20]