What to do in Buffalo? Yes, we are going there voluntarily. Please feel free to include the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in your answer. Furthermore, how long does the drive take, crossing the border from one place to the other?
As always, I thank you in advance for your assistance.
http://www.niagaraonthelake.com/
http://www.shawfest.com/
http://www.relaischateaux.com/en/search-book/hotel-restaurant/langdon/
Plus some other interesting towns in the area I can’t recall- it was a number of years ago.
You have to go on the boat under the falls and watch “Niagara” before you go..
As you’d expect crossing back to the U.S. takes much longer than the other way. My car was searched and had to spend at least 20 minutes waiting in their office. Including the line it could’ve been 45 minutes or more but I imagine it’s very much YMMV.
Still definitely worth it. Taking the boat up to the falls is a must. There are also a variety of boardwalk-style attractions that were quite quiet when I was there peak of the season a few years ago.
Aren’t there some notable Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Buffalo?
Well, there’s a bespoke hatter, Gary White, at 1318 Broadway Street. ( http://www.custom-hatter.com/ ) He might be interesting to visit if you want a hat or even just to see hat making equipment. I admit that this seems unlikely to be a useful recommendation.
I’ve always thought that the old Buffalo Central Terminal, a partly ruined, but still impressive art deco rail station, would be an interesting place to visit, although you’d really need to be able to attend one of their schedule tours. ( http://buffalocentralterminal.org/ )
You ought to try Duff’s.
http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/3253/duffs
The word on elite street is that the best wings and beef on weck in the area is at Bar Bill in East Aurora. I haven’t been yet though. (Only lived here a year.) Anchor Bar has the history but that’s it by all accounts…the best wings in Buffalo proper are at Duffs, at least according to the plebs. There are many festivals in the area. If you want to eat without walls they’re the place to go. When is your visit? May be able to steer you in the right direction. (This weekend there is a a wine and culinary festival in Lewiston, on the north side of NIagara Falls where I live, that should be pretty good.)
The Canadian side of the falls has better views and is aesthetically pleasing, but it is almost 100% tourist trap fare as far as food goes. (There is a very nice little town about 20 miles north of Niagara Falls, ON called ‘Niagara on the Lake’…it’s pretty nice, and they have a Shaw Festival going on that might be fun to check out.) On the NY side Wine on Third isn’t bad, but NF, NY is one of the most dysfunctional cities I’m aware of in the US. The best views from the US side are from Goat Island. A ride on the Maid of the Mist is part of the complete Niagara Falls experience.
Buffalo has it’s charms, but making it compete with the kind of cities you’re used to could be rough. The small towns in the area like Niagara on the Lake (ON) and Lewiston (NY) can compete with the best of them, however. Just depends what you’re looking for.
Walk around downtown, say Main St., at “rush hour.” Eery. Vividly shows how hollowed out an major American city can become.
You should definitely go to goat island on the US side. This is the niagara river just before the falls. Quite thrilling to hear and see all that water flow by.
You should definitely go to goat island on the US side. This is the niagara river just before the falls. Quite thrilling to hear and see all that water flow by.
Drive 90 minutes “the other way” to Chautauqua, NY and the Chautauqua Institution — http://www.ciweb.org (Not for the food, ok …) “An American Utopia”
Niagara-On-The-Lake, despite many recommendations, did nearly nothing for me (besides being pretty).
The Copacabana churrascaria on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls is one of the better ones I’ve ever been to.
I hear goat island on the US side is good. Thrilling, even.
You should check out the Bills football stadium and view all of their Super Bowl trophies…
Buffalo is a glorified parking lot. Should’ve come to Rochester!
If you have a free evening and are around before the 15th of August, give this a try:
http://www.shakespeareindelawarepark.org/
Managed to catch “Much Ado About Nothing” and was completely charmed.
Also, in the same neighborhood, you’ll find the Darwin Martin house –
http://www.darwinmartinhouse.org/
I think it’s the only one of FLW’s Buffalo commissions that’s open to the public (could be wrong, though).
I try to hit Albright Knox whenever I go back, as well.
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Downtown’s a very interesting tour if you are interested in architecture – One of Louis Sullivan’s earlier works, the Guaranty Building – is still standing, for example. City Hall is an amazing deco building and you can still walk around the outdoor balcony.
If you want a nice little trip, I believe someone mentioned East Aurora – it’s about a 30 min drive to the west of Buffalo and is the home of the Roycroft campus – birthplace of the American Arts and Crafts movement.
http://www.roycroftcampuscorporation.com/
(Outside of that, there’s at least one FLW house that you can tour. The town’s small, but very picturesque.)
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Food wise? Lots of places on the Elmwood Ave strip (Between Albright Knox and downtown). I don’t go out much to eat there, as I’m usually with family, so don’t have much to recommend aside from maybe Frank and Theresa’s for wings (Duffs if you’re in UB’s Amherst Campus territory), any of the clam shacks along Niagara Street (// to the Youngman part of the expressway – I think that’s the I190?)or Charlie the Butcher’s for beef on weck.
http://www.charliethebutcher.com/
If you go out to the restaurant on Wehrle Drive in Cheektowaga, you’re liable to run into the eponymous Charlie. He’s a really nice guy. Last time I was there, he was baking cookies.
Anyway, hopefully this helps. Enjoy your visit!
Having grown up there, I’ll second Charlie the Butcher’s and Duff’s (although the Anchor Bar has the historical significance).
Albright Knox (near the Elmwood area that is good to walk through) and the Darwin Martin House are probably the best places to visit in the city — if you’re in the Elmwood area on a Thursday, there’s typically a free outdoor concert.
Finally, my advice on the border would be to go to Niagara Falls and take the pedestrian bridge to walk over the border unless there’s a reason you would need a car. Getting from Canada back to the US can involve a brutal wait.
Enjoy your visit!
here are my thoughts on the Canadian side:
Forget Fort Erie and Niagara Falls, go to Niagara-on-the-lake. It’s a bit crowded with tourists, but the food is good and it’s much less annoying than Niagara Falls itself. The drive along the Niagara river on the Canadian side is quite nice – about 25 min between Niagara Falls and N-o-t-L. In Niagara-on-the-Lake, the best place to east is probably Escabeche in the Prince of Wales Hotel., but beware of the $$$$$. Where ever you go, stick with local Canadian wines. Roadside fruit stands are generally very reliable and tasty.
Avoid most restaurants in Niagara Falls. The only reasonable place I’ve ever found there is Japanese Restaurant Yukiguni.
Is everybody forgetting the true Buffalo sandwich, beef on weck? Not bad at Schwabl’s in West Seneca.
Border wait times can vary widely. I’ve been through in 5 mins and in 90 minutes. There are several websites that post near-live wait times, eg: apps.cbp.gov/bwt/
And you have several options (Peace bridge, rainbow bridge, whirlpool bridge and Lewiston). I usually use Peace bridge.
And don’t forget your passport.
Do yourself a favor and find some Zweigle’s or Hoffman’s hotdogs.
“Niagara-On-The-Lake, despite many recommendations, did nearly nothing for me (besides being pretty).”
Yeah, I had that same problem with the Mona Lisa.
Spend two hours stuck in line trying to cross back into the U.S. getting ever more irate at mindless bureaucratic stupidity and pointless ‘security theater’. Contrast this with effortless, checkpoint-free driving between European countries and feel viscerally how much less free and open a place the U.S. has become.
Chicken wing soup: http://www.buffaloroadhousegrill.com/
Cheeseburger soup: http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/3309/grovers-bar-grill
Buffalo is where Grover Cleveland, the only president to have two
non-consecutive terms and one of the few Democrats between 1861 (Lincoln)
and 1933 (FDR), came from. I don’t know if you would be interested in Cleveland
places and exhibits but I imagine the city has them.
Go shooting with my cousin.
Yes, the art museum is good, but I don’t go to enough others to compare.
You will need either a passport or a NEXUS card to cross at the border. Crossing into Canada usually requires less time and hassle than the return trip. Questions on the American side may seem intrusive and irritating. This is deliberate, and nothing personal.
The possible border crossings are the Peace Bridge (at Buffalo), the Rainbow Bridge (at Niagara Falls) and the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge. You will need to bring your passport with you. Questions returning may be intrusive. Delays are usually shorter outbound than returning. They can be as short as five minutes, but as long as three hours on certain holidays. The wait time on the American side is tracked by the USCBP; the wait time on the Canadian side is tracked by the CBSA. Frequently, the Fort Erie bridge is the best of the available bridges.
Skip the city proper of Niagara Falls on both sides unless you have a specific destination to visit. Niagara Falls on the Canadian side features many strip clubs, some of which must surely be of high caliber, and many quaint motels featuring 1950s avant garde aesthetics. The use of marijuana is generally tolerated in Canada, although sometimes the law is enforced.
The best way to visit the Falls is probably to park upstream on the Canadian side on Burning Spring Hill (a road) west of Duffern Island, and then walk up to and along the Niagara Parkway until you arrive at the main viewing platform at Victoria Park. The walk is about 20 minutes or so. The architectural aspriations of the Toronto Power Station (1906) might be of interest, a style fairly characteristic of Ontario at the time.
In Buffalo, eat the ‘dry’ wings. The Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, now the H.H. Richardson Complex, may only be viewed from the outside, but is classic example of a Kirkbride Plan psychiatric hospital.
Fort Niagara (1678,1688,1726), on the American side, is really quite nice, one of the more substantial fortifications built in North America. It was the site of major combat between French and British forces during the French and Indian War [or Seven Years War] (1754[1756]-1763).
I can provide more detailed information about the Canadian side of the Niagara River, as this is the region in which I live.
Due to the moderating effect of the two Great Lakes, and the further protection of the Niagara Escarpment, the Canadian Niagara area is home to a significant amount of soft fruit production. There’s also corn, soy (of less immediate interest as fresh produce), the usual vegetative suspects, and many flowers grown by the descendants of Dutch immigrants for the international market. Crops are coming along about two weeks early this year, and should remain generally good unless there’s a sudden lengthy bout of rainfall. Apricots have been okay, and plums, and the cherries might be worth trying, as the sour ones in the pie I had last night seemed remarkably flavourful.
There is also is a well established ‘cold climate’ viniculture in the Niagara Region, more advanced than on the American side. You ought talk to interested parties about which vintages are worth trying. There is well established wine tourism, tasting tours, of which I personally know little. Of greatest general note are probably the Baco Noir, (native to North America and rootstock everywhere) some vintages of which may rival the Pinot Noirs of Burgundy over their short lives; and, of course, the ice wine, quite excellent as a desert wine.
The British Methodist Episcopal church (1855), in downtown Saint Catharines, was a major terminus of the Underground Railroad. It remains in use, and is a social centre for Saint Catharines’ original black population, which is now a minority compared to the West Indian population. In the Google Street View here you can see the church to your right, as well as the town’s largest mosque beyond the Sunoco station in the distance. Of note is the blue-painted plaque beside the church: throughout Niagara, the design signifies that it contains information of historical significance. Scrolling around the panorama will give one a feel for the town.
If one is interested in the logistical history of North America, the 4th Welland Canal in Canada is easy to visit (although fences now restrict access to the actual locks), and can be fun, if one likes to see large rusty ships looming above one. ‘Lakers’, inland shipping, can be distinguished by their well developed forecastle, and lack of substantial superstructure above the engine at the rear. The galley door in the side of the hull, if open, is sometimes a source of ice cream treats thrown to sufficiently excited onlookers. Some portions of the prior three canals have been preserved, and in Buffalo, the Erie Canal (which leads down towards the Eastern Seaboard) is still existant. I have heard it said (although cannot find a reference) that Buffalo was once the busiest port in the world.
Brock University is notable in that it has developed as a ‘regional’ university, with a high-proportion of local, first generation university graduates. It has a successful business faculty, and a more modest social sciences faculty. Dr. Calvin Hayes of appears to have an interest in Austrian economics.
Feel free to contact me for further information if you like. If I don’t know, I’ll ask someone.
To see the Falls, go to Goat Island:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Goat+Island,+Niagara+Falls,+NY&sll=42.781744,-73.692063&sspn=0.029923,0.055189&g=goat+island,+new+york&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Goat+Island,+Niagara+Falls,+Niagara,+New+York+14303&ll=43.079766,-79.071865&spn=0.014889,0.043945&t=h&z=15
For wings: Elmo’s, which is just up the road from Duff’s on Millersport Highway. I’m from Buffalo and many of my friends swear that these are the best wings around. It’s a nondescript bar in a strip mall.
Albright Knox Art Gallery, and Elmwood Ave. between the gallery and downtown is pretty lively.
I also enjoyed the Burchfield Penney Art Center, which is near the Albright Knox, but focused, I believe, on Western New York art.
Lots of nice architecture downtown, and around the city: City Hall; Guaranty building; state asylum designed by H.H. Richardson, which is close to the art galleries; Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings; and so on.
Lots of nice towns outside Buffalo in the Western New York region: Lewiston, Chautauqua, Ellicottville, and there is that famous community of psychics, Lily Dale, which sounds like something you’d be into…
There are some events at the waterfront downtown: http://www.buffaloplace.com/home
If you’re in town on a Friday, you’ll want to get a fish fry. Always get the beer battered.
There’s a few recs here for Niagara on the Lake – it’s pretty and there are nice places to eat, but the real benefit is the Shaw Festival there. You have to go!
Albright Knox is cool too.
Definitely Duff’s. Delaware Park is nice, as are the homes in the surrounding area.
You can drive by all five Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the space of a morning, then go to the Albright-Knox art museum and City Hall in the afternoon. The museum is fantastic for an afternoon.
Tyler,
If it weren’t for the winters, I’d move back to Buffalo in a second…cheap good ethnic food, housing that after a decade in the DC metro area is practically free, and good schools. So things you should do/eat while there:
1. Wings. We just call them wings in Buffalo. There is a debate between those at Anchor Bar (where they were invented) and Duffs. Duffs is a suburban pretender. Stick with Anchor Bar (Gabriel’s Gate is good too) and have them with some Genesse Cream Ale. Terrible beer but the classic dinner.
2. Albright-Knox Gallery. This is the big art museum of many in Buffalo. It contains one of the best collections of Modern Art in the US. It is certainly worth a morning.
3. Darwin-Martin House. Frank Lloyd Wright built many houses in the Parkside neighborhood and this was the grandest. It is open for tours and has a new visitor center designed by a student at UB.
4. Parkside Candy. This is an old time soda shop that has original decor from the turn of the century. They had 2 locations but only 1 remains. The location that closed was where the scenes in The Natural in the soda shop were filmed. Has ice cream, sandwiches, and a local favorite, sponge candy.
4. Lone Star Fajita Grill. I guarantee no one else will tell you about this place. I’m not sure it is authentic in any way, but the food is outstanding despite the rundown shabby appearance….think Ruan Thai. Get guacamole, fajitas, and cinnamon crisps. I NEVER miss a trip here when I am home. My wife thinks they are the best fajitas she has ever had.
5. Charlie the Butcher. Beef on weck. Can’t leave Buffalo w/o trying it. Also good for sausages of various types. Buffalo has large Polish, German, and Italian communities originally and later an influx of Puerto Ricans and others of Latino origins.
6. Shakespeare in the Park. When I was in high school we would go sometimes every Thursday-Sunday night to see the same play for 2 weeks or however long the run was. A nice evening out.
7. Ulrichs. So I said Buffalo had German roots. Go here for German food and beer. http://www.ulrichstavern.net/index.php?page=dinner Really great food. Not sure of any specifically Polish restaurants and the Italian ones are not good for dinner though sandwiches are good here: http://www.marcosbuffalo.com/menu.php?type=2&id=1
8. Ted’s Hot Dogs. Nothing like them. They are charcoal grilled and natural casings. The one food I ALWAYS get at Wegmans in Fairfax is Sahlen’s (the kind they serve here).
9. Balistreri’s Bakery. Not sure if it is there anymore…in an alley but a great traditional Italian bakery. Get the pizza (real Sicilian with a thick crust and minimal cheese). 307 Niagara St Buffalo, NY 14201
10. Dicamillo’s. In Lewiston…a nice town up near Niagara Falls on the Niagara gorge. River views are beautiful and they have this bakery. Pizelles are always a good way to go here.
11. Premier Gourmet. Surprisingly good selection. I found Vosges Ice Cream here long before I ever saw it anywhere else. Great smoked fish. The wine store part is one of the best wine stores I have ever been to (I used to be a wine consultant) and their high end collection is comparable to some of the best in the US.
A lot of people say Niagara on the Lake. Very pretty, food is bad and expensive. If you hit wineries try Strewn…better icewine than Inniskillin which regularly scores 90+ in the big publications.
Enjoy!
Dance by the light of the moon with Buffalo gals–if you can get them to come out.
I grew up outside of Buffalo and still go back to visit family from time to time. Here are some of my favorite memories:
Enjoy….
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
Fear Factory (a haunted house on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls)
You might think this is crazy, but we were bored and gave it a try, expecting complete cheesiness– it’s incredible, a completely psychologically disorienting experience. And it’s actually scary.
You can’t miss the Canadian ballet.
)
(See urbandictionary
If you’re a railfan, of which you show no evidence of being, there are tons of disused railbeds to explore in the Buffalo area. Was there a month ago; bicycled on the Clarence-Akron Pathways rail-trail.
I’ve been there a couple of times. What is most memorable to us is the falls themselves and the river a bit upstream and downstream. Absolutely do the boat ride. Maybe the cable ride over the whirlpool. Do the tunnel under the falls and the stairs alongside the falls. The best view and the best ‘stuff’ are at the falls on the Canadian side, but the park on the US side is worth a little time to get near ‘the top’. I would do those if time is limited. They cannot be found anywhere else.
Historic places along the river(including the fort) also cannot be found anywhere else and they are interesting and memorable, but for many or most people they are the interesting and very-nice-but-less-spectacular memories. Anyone with an appreciation of history should do these if they have more than a day. Most of the recommendations above re these look pretty good. NOTL is great.
As for the Canadian side of town, other than at the falls, it’s just another ‘resort’ town with “Ripley’s”, etc. Drive through just to see… Stop if you have a desire/need to have a memory that you participated in the tackiness.
Of the four bridges to Canada–Peace, Rainbow, Whirlpool, Lewiston-Queenston–take either the Peace Bridge, if you are in Buffalo, or the Rainbow, if you are in Niagara Falls. The LQ has lots of trucks and usually a long delay. The Whirlpool is only for people with a NEXUS pass (for frequent border crossers), which is too bad because it is built where a bridge used by the Underground Railroad used to be.
Another driving tip: watch out for the south Grand Island bridge, which is a part of the 190 that you would normally take from Buffalo to Niagara Falls. There’s heavy construction there and it can get very backed up. You might want to think about going around the island to get to Niagara Falls.
By the way, are you making an public appearances in Western New York?
What DesiAvenger says. The Canadian side of the falls is quite well known to private equity, bankers and finance types for this reason. Probably a good place to meet Russian immigrants too.
Niagara Falls, NY is indeed a sad little town (a bartender there told me they don’t really have enough of a tax base to be an official city, but nobody wants to downgrade them to town because it’s like adding insult to injury). However, Niagara Falls State Park is wonderful.
I heartily agree with the recommendations to go to Goat Island. It’s not just in the river, it’s right on the edge of the falls, in between the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. Best place to see them from the top, and to experience the river.
First, go to the park on the near side and look at the American Falls from the top. Then cross over to Goat Island on foot (there is a bridge for pedestrians and another bridge for cars). It’s good-sized and nice for walking. Doing the tour on foot gives you a better sense of the place, its size and scale, and lets you listen to the water the whole time. I get a big kick out of listening to water, and the rapids here are really loud, and then of course it just keeps getting louder as you get close to the falls. On Goat Island, you can walk next to the river and next to the little streams that depart from the river. Go out to Luna Island, which is a little place where you can stand right next to the American Falls–now you are on the other side from where you started at the main park on the shore. The different perspectives help you appreciate the scale of the place. Then walk across Goat Island to the Horseshoe Falls, where there is another huge park, one above the falls and one right next to it. You can watch the water go right over the edge, and see way across the entirety of the falls.
You can also walk on a path upstream along the river here and see yet more perspectives. There is a little set of three islands you can walk to and walk out on, with cute little stone bridges. From here, you’re closer to the center of the river, and there are big standing waves that help you realize the true nature of these rapids. (They are not as small as they look!)
There is a pretty good restaurant on Goat Island, with terrific views of the falls from pretty much any table, and fairly decent food. (Top of the Falls, I think it’s called.)
There is a very nice hotel right near the park, called the Red Coach Inn. Definitely the class of Niagara Falls. Old-fashioned place with fabulous suites that cost less than the regular rooms in most of the chain hotels there. The one- and two-bedroom suites have lovely living rooms, generous bedrooms and baths, and full-sized kitchens. Turns out the place was apartments for a while, that’s why it is so well appointed. Lots of antiques and nice old furniture. This place has a restaurant with a nice old wooden bar and a pretty patio that’s a very nice spot for lunch. The food isn’t very good, as seems to be the case in this entire region, but the atmosphere is great.
Definitely ride on the Maid of the Mist boat. It gets crowded on weekends in the summer, so try to go on a weekday or on an early boat.
The river downstream from the falls is interesting, you can drive north along it and there are several little parks, one near the Whirlpool which is fun to see. There is also a jet boat that goes up to the Whirlpool, for thrill-seekers (my friends did this; I assume it is relatively expensive).
If you have more time, you might enjoy taking route 18 along Lake Ontario. It runs along close to the lake for quite a while, and gives you a real sense of the scale of things there. Quite an amazing horizon. It’s different from a regular lake, but it’s also different from the ocean. There are nice picnic areas along the lake, and that area is where you can find some wineries (I haven’t done that yet) and also nice little farm stands, as mentioned by others.
Another interesting thing in this region is the Erie Canal, which runs close to route 18 and can be visited at various spots. You can see the locks and of course you can ride in a boat that goes through the locks.
I have always wanted to go to Buffalo/Niagara Falls and I was hoping this post would finally motivate me, but reading the comments I’ve lost all interest.
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