Niagara Falls

The river at the falls is not for swimming. The bathing is on Lake Erie, about half an hour south, where Crystal Beach and the shores around Port Colborne have soft sand, shallow water and, by late summer, water of around 23°C. Lake Ontario beaches at Port Dalhousie are closer to the wine country but cooler. The season runs from about July to early September, and outside it the lakes are cold. Families on a summer stay can make a pleasant afternoon of it, but nobody chooses Niagara Falls for a beach vacation.

Eating in the town itself is mostly practical: chain restaurants, family diners and steakhouses along Clifton Hill and the hotel strip above the falls, with a handful of restaurants with dining rooms looking over the gorge, where you pay for the view. There is no local cuisine to speak of.

The better eating and drinking lies just north, in the Niagara wine country along the escarpment and lakeshore. Winery restaurants serve seasonal Ontario produce, fruit stands sell peaches and cherries in summer, and the region's icewine and cool-climate Riesling and Chardonnay are worth tasting. A visitor who cares about food does better to plan meals around the wineries than around the town.

Niagara Falls is about the falls, and almost nothing else in the town is a sight in its own right. What heritage there is concerns power and war. The early hydroelectric stations along the river tell the story of harnessing the falls, and at Queenston Heights, at the northern end of the parkway, Brock's Monument and the battlefield recall the War of 1812, alongside the Laura Secord Homestead in the village below. The Lundy's Lane battlefield sits inside the town. Clifton Hill is spectacle rather than heritage, with wax museums, haunted houses and neon. Visitors who want history and architecture find more of it in the old towns nearby.

Evenings revolve around the falls lit up in colour and, in summer, fireworks over the gorge. After that the action is in the two casinos and their lounges, and on Clifton Hill, where sports bars, pubs and a few dance floors keep going into the night in summer. It is a resort strip rather than a scene: crowds of couples, groups and families, little in the way of cocktail bars or clubs with any character, and much quieter in winter.

The Horseshoe Falls are the reason to come: a curve of water dropping over 50m with a roar and spray you feel from the promenade. Boats push into the mist at the foot of the falls, tunnels lead behind the curtain of water, and the view changes with the light, the season and the ice that builds up in a hard winter.

Below the falls the river runs through a deep gorge. The Niagara Glen has rocky trails down to the rapids, and the Whirlpool is a dramatic bend where the current turns back on itself. A paved recreation trail follows the river for its whole length, lovely by bike, and the Bruce Trail starts at Queenston to run along the escarpment. Beyond that the country is gentle orchards and vineyards rather than wild.

The best day out is the closest. Niagara-on-the-Lake, about twenty minutes north along the river parkway, is a well-kept nineteenth-century town of clapboard houses, gardens and the reconstructed Fort George, surrounded by the wineries of the Niagara Peninsula, which can fill a day of tastings on their own.

Toronto is about an hour and a half away by car or train, a full city for a day of museums and neighbourhoods. Across the border, Buffalo is half an hour away with fine early skyscrapers and Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and Old Fort Niagara guards the river mouth on the American side; the crossing needs a passport. St Catharines and Hamilton are closer but less compelling.

This is a town that runs on family vacations, and children usually remember the falls themselves best: the boats that push into the spray at the foot of the Horseshoe Falls and the tunnels that lead behind the falling water. Clifton Hill is a strip made for younger visitors, with an observation wheel, mini golf, arcades, haunted houses and wax museums. The butterfly conservatory and the indoor bird aviary are quieter, and indoor water parks in the resort hotels help in winter and on wet days.

What it lacks is a major zoo, aquarium or theme park, so a few days covers most of it. The tourist area is compact and easy to manage with a pushchair, hotels are used to children, and the riverside parkland gives them room to run. Much of it is loud and commercial, though, and the paid attractions add up quickly.

The core of a visit is small: the promenade along the falls, the hotels on the bluff above and Clifton Hill are all within walking distance, linked by a short funicular, the Falls Incline Railway. Visitor buses run along the river parkway to the gorge, the Whirlpool and Queenston, and trains and coaches connect with Toronto. Beyond that the town spreads out along motel strips and highways, buses thin out in winter, and touring the wineries is far easier with a car, a bike in good weather, or an organised tour.

Shopping in the tourist area is souvenirs: maple syrup, fridge magnets, rain ponchos and Canadiana on Clifton Hill and in the hotel arcades. The more useful shopping is at the large outlet centres on the edge of town and towards Niagara-on-the-Lake, where Canadian and American brands sell at discount, and Americans cross the border for them. Icewine from the nearby wineries is the one local product worth taking home. Independent boutiques are few, and found mainly in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Prices depend on where you stay and when. Hotels with a view of the falls are expensive in summer and on long weekends, while motels along the outer strips, and almost everything in winter, cost far less. Eating out is ordinary chain-restaurant territory, and the paid attractions, from the boats to Clifton Hill, add up quickly for a family. The falls themselves cost nothing to watch from the promenade, which helps.

The town's own offer is casino entertainment: touring comedians, tribute shows and veteran bands in the casino theatres, plus magic and dinner shows aimed at visitors. The serious draw is twenty minutes away. The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake runs a long season from spring into late autumn, with a repertory company performing classic and modern plays across several theatres, and it is reason enough for theatre lovers to plan a stay. Classical music and opera mean a trip to Toronto.

There is no bathing culture here. Wellness means the spas in the big hotels above the falls and in the inns of the wine country, where a massage after a day of tastings is a popular pairing. The town itself is loud and busy in summer, though quiet winter weekends and the slower pace of Niagara-on-the-Lake make it easier to unwind.