Niagara Falls Travel Forum

Hi all. We would like to have some ideas. We are for some weeks in the usa in July. We plan to spend some days around Boston and more north. The idea is to go 5 days to the north. So we want to drive one day halfway from Boston to Niagara falls then spend the night at a nice place. The arrive at the falls. Look around some hours. The drive into Canada some hours find a nice place to stay a day and then return to Boston. We have rental cars. We do not wanna sleep at the Niagara waterfalls. Does anyone have ideas how to fill the trip. We are with 2 families and both families have teenage Children.

Many thanks,

Ron Ploeg
The Netherlands

Personally I'd do it the other way around. I'd go up through New Hampshire and Vermont to Montreal (309 miles). Then drive in Canada down toward Toronto. Since Montreal to Toronto is almost 600 miles stop short of Toronto and stay along Lake Eire somewhere. The next day you can visit Niagara which is very close to Toronto, and you could go back to Boston via the Finger Lake region in New York State (400 miles to Geneva NY and 359 from there to Boston.

But that's four days of pretty constant driving.

Boston to Montreal - 498 km
Montreal to along Lake Eire - 485 km
Lake Eire to Geneva NY - 643 km
Geneva NY to Boston - 578 km

The problem is that driving to Niagara Falls from Boston, you go through upstate NY and that's not a very touristy area.

GrandmaR certainly knows her geography stuff better than me but I can tell you that we did a similar trip - New York to Niagara last year and stopped near to Ithaca in the Finger Lakes region. We stayed at a great place out in the wilds, The Log Country Inn- which would be absolutely briliant for your two families if it is on your proposed route. See my Ithaca page for more details and web address - you can even see our photo on the website along with many other visitors there.

Yes Davesut that would be ideal. My husband just doesn't like to retrace his steps so whenever I plan a trip, I try to avoid backtracking.

I agree that the Finger Lakes is really worth visiting on your way to Niagara Falls. We did this trip last September when we drove from Niagara Falls to Portsmouth New Hampshire. We did it in two days. In Niagara Falls, a real cool thing to do is go on the Maid of the Mist where you go very near the Falls and get to wear a bright yellow raincoat to protect you from the water spray from the Falls. A really nice side trip from the Falls is the lovely town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. It's full of lovely shops and restaurants.

Ok . Here is something similar to what has been sugested above.

DAY # 1
Boston to Ithica and the Finger Lakes area(560, KM)

Day # 2
Ithica to Niagara on the Lake Ontario. ( 290 km).
Cross the border at Fort Erie and drive down the
Parkway (ie.along the west side of the river) to the Falls.)
Stay over night at Niagara on The Lake

Day # 3
Niagara in the Lake to Kingston and or the 1000 Islands
( 390 km)

Day # 4 / Day # 5
To Boston through Montreal or through northern Vermont and New Hampshire.
( 700 km total ).

All comfortable drives .

Because of the bends in the river, the view of the falls from the Canadian side is much better than from the American. And I think there are better facilities all-round on the Canadian side.

When making your reservation for a rental car, be sure to check if you can drive it across the border into Canada. Otherwise you may have trouble with your vacation planning.

Wow I have to thank you all for the really usefull advices. I have to see if its allowed to cross the border by our rental car. I did not ask it. I have some more questions.

Is it necessary to book a hotel or lodge in advance. Or is the north not so crowdy? Davesute recommended a lodge near the finger lake region (Ithaca) Very nice but the policy is to stay at least 2 nights. Does anyone has suggestions for places like this.

What can be nice to do in Montreal?

Is there anyone with more ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Ron

I had a look at the website and it says minimum two nights for a weekend stay in-season. It may be worth enquiring if you are traveling during the week

hi:

i would like to respond to 2 parts of your more recent questions:

1. july will be too busy and too touristy month north of the border. try reserving a motel in advance. it is only in Mississauga, a city of 700,000, 150 kms from niagara and on your way to toronto (22 kms short of it) that you may be able to check into motels without advance booking.

2. the 3 top attractions that i recommend are (1) Mont Royal, (2) Bio dome and (3) Old montreal and old port. for deatils check out:

http://gocanada.about.com/od/montreal/tp/montrealattract.htm

i hope this helps.

If you are looking for Beautiful scenery try Muskoka, especially Algonquin Park.
Kingston, Ottawa and Quebec have alot of historical sites. Old Quebec City is one of the oldest in North America.

There are some beautiful gardens near Niagara -- Place called Hamilton. I can't just off the top of my head remember the name, (sorry, I'm tired!) But I have some information on this on my home page under Hamilton travel page. They are unbelivable for those interested in truly natural beauty.

The Science Museum in Toronto is kind of neat...It's been years since I've been, so you may want to ask about it.