Looking for a little information on Niagara Falls

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

There's a slight chance that I may head over to Ontario for a family event. If I do, they want to go to Niagara Falls. I just now learned the Falls is accessible from Canada.

How does this work? Are there areas of the Falls that are only accessible from one side of the border or the other? Or is the whole area a sort of "demilitarized zone" that has both nations freely mingling about?

As you can tell, I know nothing about Niagara Falls so I'm just trying to understand a bit more.

Thanks

[Lazarus]

As I recall, there are viewing areas in both Canada and the US.....Don't slip!

[evan1968]

There is the Canadian Falls and the American Falls. The Canadian Falls are much better and are accessed only from the Canadian side and the American Falls from the American side. Honestly, Niagara Falls NY is a dump, you want the Canadian Falls. To cross the border you will need a passport or a enhanced license. Most border states have them.

I'm about a hour away from there and have been to the falls, no lie, about 50x.

[Redlands Okie]

Has little to do with current info but about 40 years ago the Canadian slide was also the better visit.

[John Bridge]

Canadian side is indeed a better viewpoint, and as I recall, there is a bridge upon which one can cross from one country to the other. And I agree that the town on the American side is a dump.

[Jim Farrell Tiler]

i have been there and agree the Canadian side is better

[jadnashua]

If you go, consider trying to stay after sunset...they light up the falls with colored lights. Depending on how long you're there, you can take a boat ride to the base of the falls. They issue you a raincoat and you'll need it! If you stand in the back of the boat, after they edge the front up to the falls, they turn around, and the back has a better view for longer. There's also a ride down towards a huge whirlpool downstream that's kind of interesting. A shorter tourist thing is to walk down and behind the falls.

There's an observation tower on the Canadian side.

There's also a power plant tour you can take further downstream (north) of the falls on the US side. Interesting tidbit...they take water from above the falls through a tunnel and store a lot of it in a reservoir for the hydroelectric plant. Late at night, they can almost divert the entire flow of the river, but leave it running for the tourists during the day.

THere's a small island in the river that divides the falls into several. The falls keep moving back towards Lake Erie as they erode the cap stone layer at the falls. Another 10K years or so, and it will be miles further south, if not all the way to Lake Erie.

If you access the river canyon after the falls further downstream, there's a lot of fossils in the limestone layers.

I grew up in a suburb of Rochester, NY, and we went to the falls on average once or twice a year.

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

After all of this, I don't think I'm going to end up going but I appreciate the help. Pretty much all of my knowledge of Niagara Falls before this was derived from Looney Tunes.

[Jim Farrell Tiler]

that will be how most americans find out about the rest of the world

[John Bridge]

Originally Posted by Jim

that will be how most americans find out about the rest of the world

Jim, you seem to have a somewhat deprecating view of Americans. We may be a bit self-centered at times, but we are not ignorant!

Well, not totally, anyway.

[Tiger Mountain Tile Inc]

I'll have you know that what I know about New Zealand didn't come from Looney Tunes... came from The Hobbit.