New York to Niagara Falls

[Ifyouhavetoask99]

Planning a holiday to NYC next year - I’d love to see Niagara Falls from the side of Canada. I know you can cross a bridge from NYC - but getting to that bridge looks like a bus journey of 6-7 hrs from where we will be based in NYC.

I’ve seen another option of the Maple Leaf Train - 12 hrs but passing some amazing views etc.

Anyone with any experience or tips please?

I drove from NYC to Niagara years ago. I think it was 8+ hours. Yes it was beautiful but also quite frightening through the mountains.
It was very much worth it and I would probably do it again. This was back when I lived in the US though. I think if I was flying from the UK, then realistically you'd want 2 or more weeks, ideally 3 so you get to appreciate NYC, NY state and Niagara.

Flight or train to Toronto then do it as a day trip from there.

Would visit the falls from Toronto as the best views of Niagara Falls and Rainbow Falls is on the Canadian side of the border.

I’ve only been to Niagara Falls from Buffalo, which is a hop and a skip.
I’m afraid NYC to the Falls would take several hours - but it’s sooo worth it.
Definitely go to the Canadian side.

We drove a few years ago. My dad, brother and I (brother was a teenager, I was in my 20s). It was an 8h drive from NYC to Niagara and back. Dad and I shared the driving. Once you get there, crossing the border to the canada side is easy. But its a long day, you'd probably want to spend the night up there. I'd consider flying to buffalo and then taking the bus. Or taking the train.

Thanks for replies ! We are going for around 3 weeks and hoping to see Washington too. I think we will do the train to Toronto - I’m glad I asked 🇺🇸

Theres a couple of falls at Niagara OP.
The horseshoe falls, which you can get right next to on the Canadian side and close to on the USA side. But also the American falls which you see best from the US side and also the boats.
There’s also a walkway ( not in the winter ) next to the American falls where at one point you can put yourself under the fall of water. Ponchos are supplied!

We walked from the USA side over Rainbow bridge to the Canadian side and back. Went late September, no queuing at Passport office.

I got the train from NYC to Niagara (Canadian side). It took ten hours to do the 400 mile trip. So slow! Also once you got out of the city, the scenery, whilst beautiful, was exactly the same for the whole journey.

Never again. Sorry.

We started our trip in Washington took train to NYC then flew to Toronto and onto Niagra from there, stayed a few nights in each place, really enjoyed Toronto and flew back to UK from there.

Niagara-on-the-Lake is a beautiful town nearby if you want to explore the wider area.

I’ve done it. If you can make it to Buffalo, you’re practically there and it’s genuinely no hassle, nicer than flying. Consider Greyhound/Flixbus too.

Don’t forget you do need visa/visa waiver for each country individually if you want to cross.

Interesting take. We did the same (train from NYC to Niagara). It was a decent length journey (9 hours) but not loads longer than the drive would have been. It cost a LOT less than hiring a car (which was plan A) and after 5 days in New York we were all absolutely shattered and were quite happy to just sit on the train for most of a day, watching downloaded tv or listening to music/podcasts.

We were so pleased we did it, it was a nice journey and an opportunity to recharge the batteries. Also train travel is so much more comfortable over there. Big seats with plenty of space etc. the train was busy but not overcrowded

Cost wise I think it was $250 for four of us, when the car would have been about $800 as it was a one way trip

Agree the train was supremely comfortable.

The border check took forever as well which is probably what tipped me into wishing we'd flown. Although we'd have regretted not doing it I think. I know, I'm so contrary!

(It probably didn't help that I was a smoker and was gagging for a cigarette by the time we were allowed off 😁)

I’d fly nyc to Toronto , super quick flight about 1.5hrs , have a night or too in Toronto (amazing city I live here ) then hire a car and drive , do niagara on the lake - super pretty little town and then Niagara Falls

Do not fly NY to Toronto on Air Canada!
We did last year and did not know of the chaos of this route (strikes!)
We ended up rerouted to Pittsburgh then back to Newark then Toronto!

We are thinking of doing this trip next year with our 4 older teenage kids. Is the scenery between NYC and Niagara interesting? We were planning on hiring a vehicle and driving but not if it's hours of same scenery...

The train is great. Very comfortable and not expensive. It’s not quite 12 hours though. And I’d recommend staying somewhere like Secaucus rather then Niagara.

The main highway route is not super interesting, although I suppose there are multiple route options. But if you can spare a day or two to stop along the way, there are some really lovely areas in the finger lakes area.

We just drove this year from near JFK, up the Hudson Valley to collect DD from where she was working at a summer camp, then via the Catskills to upper NY then over and across to Niagara via Lake Ontario. I always switch off the toll option on directions to try to ensure we see a bit more of the country than just motorways.

Even so, there are a LOT of trees and, given the time of year, a huge amount of corn fields - hardly saw any other crop. We purposely drove up to Sodus Point so we could visit the lake and we found that Route 101 didn't show much of the lake itself which was a bit of a disappointment.

We chose not to stay in Niagara (so were about ~35 mins away) or drive over to Canada as didn't want to pay extra for the visa/border hassle with hire car. The Canadian side did look like it was a lot livelier, with an Eye/Ferris Wheel and lots of neon lights. There didn't seem to be much happening in Niagara on the US side. By accident, we found a lovely town, Lewiston, which is north of Niagara, when we went to find somewhere for dinner before heading back to Niagara to see the night light show. We did the Maid of the Mist tour during the day so felt we got to see the Falls quite well. I can't imagine doing this in the winter though - we had the ponchos on which kept us mostly dry but feet were soaked.

It is a long drive, no getting around it. Driving out of and back into JFK was by far the worse part of our trip though.

Internal flight to Buffalo is easy

Yes, you can take very scenic routes through the mountain ranges which is spectacular. You might even see black bears along the way!

Fly to Toronto and train from there. We did a day trip and only had time to see the Canadian side due to boarder queues, but that's the best side anyway. We actually did it in reverse, flew London to Toronto, few days there + Niagara falls then flew to New York, then back to London from there. The immigration officer in Toronto (when going to US you clear immigration before getting on the plane) did have to call his colleague over as he couldn't work out how to handle someone who had neither a Canadian or US passport, but otherwise it was stress free. It was also 10 years ago so hopefully not much has changed.