Niagara Falls Travel Guide: Toronto to Niagara Road Trip

Niagara Falls, consists of the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side, is a Natural Wonder of the World is one of Canada’s premiere tourist destinations.  I went when I was a child but knew I had to return with my own family on our recent trip to Toronto.  Niagara Falls is about two hours from Toronto, so we decided to rent a car and go there for a night.  How was the drive, what would we do there, would it live up to expectations and where would we stay?  Find out below.

🚗 The Drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls

We were staying in downtown Toronto, so we picked up our rental car from the Hertz downtown location in the morning and returned it at the airport two days later before our flight home. For the two-day rental with a toddler seat, it cost about $250 CAD.

We didn’t purchase extra insurance because it’s much cheaper through Autopac, our insurance provider back home ($40 for 3 days minimum). All in all, the rental wasn’t too costly and was well worth it for the flexibility.

After picking up the car, we headed toward Niagara Falls, taking a slightly longer scenic route so we could pass through Niagara-on-the-Lake, often known as Canada’s prettiest town. Since we left early, traffic wasn’t bad, and driving on the Toronto highways was smooth. You don’t need to take the notorious 401 to get there.

🌿 Scenic Stop in Niagara-on-the-Lake

It took us about an hour and a half to reach Niagara-on-the-Lake, where we stopped for lunch and a walk around town.  The town is famous for its charming streets, historic buildings, relaxed atmosphere and Ice wine (a sweet dessert wine made from grapes frozen on the vine. There are plenty of wineries along the way, but it was a chilly day so we decided to skip them and explore the town instead.

Without stopping at wineries, there are still several places in town to try ice wine. The streets are lined with gift shops, cafes, and restaurants, and the whole area has a very colonial, historic feel. There’s also a lot of history here dating back to the 1700s, including its time as a British Loyalist settlement and later involvement in the War of 1812.

We stopped at a small shop on the main street to try some Ice Wine. It was a bit pricey at $25 for three small tasting glasses. The wine was sweet and definitely something you sip slowly — you wouldn’t want too much of it. It was worth trying, but I skipped buying a bottle to bring home.

🏛️ Lunch at Canada’s Oldest Pub: The Olde Angel Inn

When I saw that the charming looking Olde Angel Inn and found it was Canada’s oldest pub with plenty of history, that’s where we decided would be the perfect place for lunch. The Olde Angel Inn was established in 1789 but had to be rebuilt in 1815 after being burned down during the War of 1812. During the war, a loyalist captain was killed by American soldiers in the cellar, and legend says his ghost still haunts the inn. Because of that story, the British flag still hangs above the pub, alongside the Canadian and American flags. Inside, it feels very historic and full of character.

The outside of the pub is cool looking and historic, and inside it feels even more historic.  The pub serves a mix of beers and English-style food. We ordered fish and chips, bangers and mash, and a steak and ale pie. The food was good, but not the same level as England. Still, it was a great lunch in a really cool historic setting. 

🚗 Final Stretch to Niagara Falls

From there, it was about a 20-minute drive to Niagara Falls. We took the scenic route, which added a few extra minutes and drove along the lake, passing beautiful large homes and quiet waterfront views. Because it was early spring, the scenery wasn’t at its best yet, but you can easily imagine how beautiful it would be in summer when everything is green and in full bloom.

🌊Niagara Falls Views

We got to Niagara Falls and it was just like I remembered; haunted houses, arcades, cheesy themed restaurants and the American and Horse Shoe Falls were the same, except this time partially frozen.  One difference was the number of hotels and casinos, I think there were many new ones compared to twenty years ago when I visited. 

We drove along the falls and headed to the Fallsview district, which is the tourist district with big hotels, casinos and of course views of the falls.  We stayed at the Niagara Falls Marrriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa which has a nice view of the falls.  We paid a bit extra for the room with a view and although the view isn’t spectacular, it was nice to wake up and look out your windows to Horse Shoe Falls.

The falls themselves are quite magnificent, albeit hard to capture on photo due to the overwhelming mist because of the high volume of water and pressure tumbling 50 meters down the falls.  The American Falls aren’t as nice, but it’s still cool to see them in the same panoramic view as Horse Shoe, or the Canadian falls.

And just like I remembered, at nighttime the falls are lit up.  Sometimes the falls are red, sometimes blue, green or even rainbow colours.  Like many of the other tourists, instead of paying for parking and walking, we illegally parked our car on the road at several spots, turned on the hazards and got out for a few photos.  And unless you are extremely far away, you’ll get wet from the mist so beware.  After taking some nighttime photos of the lit up falls we headed back to our room.  It was nice to go to bed and look out the window to the glowing falls. 

Besides viewing the falls, there are plenty of activities to do like the tunnels below the falls and the Maid of the Mist.  Since it was early spring the Maid of the Mist wasn’t running yet; but it is something I’d recommend.  I still remember being in a boat, getting soaked and being so close to the falls when I was a kid.  We didn’t go into the tunnels either, but the next morning we parked and walked alongside the falls.  Besides parking, this is free to do, and you can walk right beside the edge of the cliff.  You’ll get soaked but the close up views and hearing the thunderous roar of the falls is quite amazing.

🎡 Colton Hill and Celebrity Sightings

The close-up views of the falls come from the Fallsview district, but there is of course Colton Hill where all of the action is.  At the bottom of the street is a viewpoint offering panoramic views of both falls and the street itself is famous for the gimmicky attractions of Niagara.  Some people think it is overrated but we had a lot of fun walking around Colton Hill.  There are wax museums, haunted houses, themed restaurants, arcades, mini-golf, a Ferris Wheel and much more.  After a few days it would get old, but you could probably spend two days (and a lot of money) enjoying the many attractions on the street.

We only had one night in Niagara, so we checked in,  relaxed in our hotel for a very short period and headed off because we didn’t want to waste any time.  We started out at the viewpoint, took in the views and took some photos.  Sure enough, after a few minutes I noticed a family there and an inconspicuous figure with a hat down low on his face.  I knew he looked familiar… it was “Pope” from Animal Kingdom, otherwise known as Shawn Hatosy who was also in Chicago PD and HBO’s The Pitt.  He was taking a selfie with his family so I offered to take their photo.  He said sure, I took their photo, got a photo with him, exchanged pleasantries and let him enjoy his family vacation in Canada.  Funny enough, the next morning we saw him in our hotel lobby, I gave him a head nod and made sure I didn’t bring any unwanted attention to him.

After viewing the falls and my celebrity photo we headed up the street.  There were many activities we’d have liked to do, but because of time and money we only chose a few.  We started off with the Ferris Wheel which gave even better views of the falls.  After the Ferris Wheel, we were hungry; I wanted to go the themed Rainforest Café, but we settled for Boston Pizza.  Our daughter wanted to play games and the Boston Pizza was attached to a massive arcade.  I ordered a beer and we headed out to play games while we waited for our pizza.  After our slightly better than average pizza we played a few more games and headed out to enjoy Colton Hill at night. 

We wandered around and headed into the Movieland Wax Museum.  It was a fun activity.  I would have liked to do a haunted house but our daughter is too young and I didn’t want to terrify her like I was when I went 20 years ago… I still remember contemplating hitting the panic button (like the 170, 000 others) as I went through Nightmares Fear Factory which has to be one of the scariest haunted houses in the world.

Despite being cold, we grabbed some ice cream, walked around a bit more and called it a night.  The next morning is when we decided to head up close to the falls before heading back to Toronto.