Niagara Falls

Why Niagara Falls works

Niagara Falls comprises three waterfalls straddling the Canada-US border — the crescent-shaped Horseshoe Falls, by far the largest and most powerful, along with the smaller American and Bridal Veil Falls — through which roughly 2,800 cubic metres of water pass every second at peak summer flow, drawn from the Great Lakes' vast watershed. The Canadian side offers the superior view, looking directly across at the curved face of Horseshoe Falls rather than the American side's more oblique angle, and the Niagara Parks Commission has kept the immediate riverfront largely free of high-rise development, unlike the more built-up Canadian city blocks just behind it. Hornblower Niagara Cruises (the Canadian successor to the historic Maid of the Mist) takes boats directly into the base of the falls' spray zone, provided ponchos doing little against the resulting soaking — a rite of passage for most first-time visitors. The Journey Behind the Falls tunnels through bedrock to viewing portals directly behind the curtain of falling water, while the Skylon Tower's revolving restaurant offers an elevated dinner view. At night, the falls are illuminated in changing colours, and fireworks displays run through summer weekends. Beyond the falls themselves, the Niagara Parkway runs alongside the Niagara River gorge toward Niagara-on-the-Lake, a preserved 19th-century town amid Ontario's wine region, known for its ice wine produced from grapes frozen on the vine.

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