Niagara Falls Travel Forum

Hi!

I am planning my trip to Niagara in September and just need a little bit of help. I am flying in to Buffalo and getting a bus or shuttle to the Canadian side of the falls, after my 2 night stay I am going to take the train to New York.

What I need your help with is I dont know if it is better to board the train on the Canadian side and sit for 2 hours while customs do their thing or if there is a bus which I can take to the American side and catch the train from there?

The other option I wondered about is either taking a bus back to Buffalo and getting the train from there as there are more departures? or staying in Buffalo and visiting the falls for the day?

I am travelling on my own and would like to do things as cheap as possible so going to be staying in hostels and they are the same cost if I stay in either location.

One final question! The Empire Service and Lake Shore Limited trains are cheaper than the Maple Leaf service why is that?

Thanks for your help!

ciao!!! i stayed at Niagara falls 4 years ago, i stayed on the canadian side, i think it's sufficent to stay there 1 day, because the city isn't so interesting... really i didn't like so much as a city, but the falls are so nice specially with a sunny day, because the colour of the water is wonderful!!! absolutely u have to catch the ship which take u in the middle of the falls, and make sure to cover your-self so well, otherwise u get off completely wet!!!
about the train to New york, i remember the waiting for the train is soooo long, i took a train from canadian side to Toronto, and i waited it 2 hours before the departure, cause the custom's procedure,so i don't know on whatside is better to take it, on the either sie i think u hvae to wait so long cause the custom....
anyway have a nice trip!!!
ciao !!
Luca

Hi Julia.
May I suggest you take the bus from Buffalo to New York? it takes far less time than the train, and was around $75 the last time a friend made the trip. Do some searches on the internet there are a couple of companies that make the trip and there are many departure times throughout the day.
As the op says the city of Niagara Falls is not that great but the falls are beautiful. If you do some research you should be able to find out if the fireworks will still be set off over the falls in September. This is a spectacular place to see fireworks, I think they are best viewed from Goat Island on the US side.
I also suggest that a day trip to Toronto would be nicer than spending a second day at the Falls. However if you like wine you could take a wine tour the second day. The maid of the mist is the boat tour to the bottom of the falls.. It really is awesome.

As mentioned already, the Falls are spectacular but there's nothing special about the city. The pathway along the Niagara Parkway by the falls and river is very scenic; there are some paths going down the gorge to the river at various locations, and you can hike for miles (if so inclined).

The Niagara Parkway is the road between Niagara Falls town and Niagara-on-the-Lake, a very pretty but touristy theatre town. The following link should help with transportation along some of the Niagara Parkway (not as far as N-o-t-L tho') and explains the various places of interest. The Parkway also extends in the other direction from NF but is not so scenic.

http://www.niagaraparks.com/nfgg/peoplemover.php

If you cycle or rollerblade you may want to investigate hiring equipment and travel the Parkway paths beyond Queenston Heights where it seems the 'Peoplemover' stops and loops back to NF.

Sorry, can't help you with the trains ... I believe coach travel would be more efficient. You might want to avoid being in NF on the weekend preceding and including Monday, Sept 1 as it is the (Cdn.) Labour Day long weekend and the place will be more packed that usual.

... btw, Sept 1 is also a holiday weekend (Labor Day) in the U.S.

Hi all,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have looked in to the bus as suggested but greyhound takes just as long as the train, I also googled it but the only company that came up was one called GotoBus and they dont depart untill 8pm which would make a very late arrival in to new york which I dont really want. Are there any other companies which you can suggest?

Because I will be arriving late and departing fairly early I will only really have 1 full day at the falls which sounds enough luckily from what you have all said!

Am thinking I'll probably stay in Buffalo and just get the bus to the falls which apparently costs about $2.50 each way.

Thanks again

I suppose the advantage of Bus is the number of options as opposed to the train.
Good point made by previous poster about the fact it is a long weekend. That border crossing is a nightmare to drive across most weekends and worse on long weekends but if you are simply walking from the US side over for the day it should not be a problem.

Thank you for the link to the buses but the journey takes just over 8 hours which is what most of the trains take too and I'd rather be on a train for that duration rather than a bus.
I am not there over labour day weekend luckily, my visit falls over the last weekend in September so thats one less thing to worry about!!

Thanks again for all your help!