We visited Niagara Falls as part of Big Trip #5 in August 2026. 

Crossing into Niagara Falls, Ontario marked our first time taking the Airstream to Canada! Not our first time visiting Canada while Airstreaming–that was when we popped across from Sault Ste Marie, Michigan to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario on Big Trip #1, but the Airstream didn’t go with us then. So this crossing felt like a big deal, plus is was Tilly’s first time out of the US, as far as we know.

Driving the Airstream through the border from New York into Ontario was completely uneventful. After about a seven-minute wait, we had to show an official our passports and answer some basic questions, but never got asked for Tilly’s rabies certificate and vaccination paperwork. Note that to bring your American dog back into the US from Canada, you need to fill out a form, and your dog must be at least six months old, microchipped, and appear in good health.

Niagara Falls is actually two separate cities flanking three neighboring falls: the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls in Niagara Falls, NY, and Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, ON. The Canada side is supposed to be less cheesy and have better views of the falls. I’m glad we went because the falls are a cultural icon, and we had a lovely hike and good beer, but we probably didn’t need two nights there.

Campground

We stayed at Niagara Falls KOA Holiday, pretty conveniently located to downtown Niagara Falls, ON, and the falls, with a grocery store and pet supplies store a block away. We had full hookups and a strong Starlink connection, but our site was narrow and muddy and mosquito-y. The KOA had lots of amenities like playgrounds and a bouncy thing and a pool, none of which we used.

Exploring

I visited Niagara Falls as a child, and my main memory of the visit was the Maid of the Mist boat tour that takes you up close to the base of the falls to really experience their power. It’s neat but incredibly touristy, and J was not into trying it out, and I didn’t try too hard to convince him otherwise. That’s a New York-side activity anyway; we focused on Canadian options.

The tourist attraction–we had to do one falls tourism thing–that most appealed to me was the Niagara Parks Power Station. The power station, decommissioned in 2006 and opened as a museum in 2021–pulled water from the Niagara River above the Canadian falls into penstocks (vertical tubes); the falling water spun massive turbines which drove vertical drive shafts connected to generators on the main floor to make electricity. At the bottom of the penstocks, the water was channeled back into the river below the falls through a tailrace tunnel.

The Power Station is part science exhibition, part history museum on the main generator floor, and part adventure down below: a glass elevator descends 180 feet through the bedrock below the station along the penstocks and drops you at the entrance to the tailrace tunnel through which you can walk out to a great view of the Canadian falls. It was a unique way to experience Niagara Falls, and not crowded at all on the evening we visited.

Hiking

Niagara Gorge is (probably?) our last gorge for this trip, after Rickett’s Glen, Watkins Glen, and Letchworth Gorge, and they share a common history. Roughly 500 million years ago, the area where these gorges are presently found was underwater. Sediment eroding from higher elevations settled into this sea and the layers were compressed into sedimentary rocks: sandstone, shale, limestone (from sea creatures), and salt. The most recent ice age started around 2.5 million years ago, when glaciers gouged out the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes. Around 20,000 years ago, as the glaciers began melting, the runoff sought out the softer sedimentary rocks and the water flow eventually carved out the gorges we see today. (sources: USGS, NY State Museum, Museum of the Earth, PA DNCR)

So yes, we sought out Niagara Gorge for hiking. Niagara Glen, a super cool, but steep and slick in spots, four-mile hike along the river upstream of the falls, is only 15 minutes from the KOA. You get lots of beautiful river views, with cliffs and rapids and surprisingly turquoise water, but also jet boats and a gondola thing and a Great Wolf Lodge. We loved the hike and thought the touristy stuff was hilarious rather than irritating. Note that we hiked on a rainy weekday, so those amusing sightings might not be so funny on a busier summer day.

If we’d done another hike/dog walk, we’d have gone to Dufferin Islands, a convenient oasis of walking paths and green space in the river, created with fill from construction of a power station in the early 1900s.

Had we stayed on the New York side, we would have checked out Devil’s Hole State Park, and possibly Old Fort Niagara.

Eating and Drinking

As usual, I’ll do the food talk and J the beer talk. The most important food/beverage note, in my opinion, which I’ll lead with, is that I did not get to try a BeaverTail pastry, and I will have no other opportunity to do so on this trip. 🙁

We ate dinner at a revolving restaurant! It was so kitschy and fun, and the service was great, and the food was… meh. The revolution takes an hour, and we got incredible views over the river and falls… and the parking lots on the other side of the restaurant. Parking at Skylon Tower was $15, but we left the truck there after dinner to walk along the river to the Power Station, so it seemed worth it.

Before leaving town, we picked up a few dishes from Kaashi, a highly-rated Indian restaurant near the KOA. We’ve been thrilled with the prevalence of Indian restaurants in Ontario so far (as I write this, we only have two more Canadian stops) and so far the Kaashi food has been our favorite Indian food.

Breweries

There are 11 breweries on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. J had identified two that he wanted to visit, both north of downtown about about 15 minutes from the KOA: Counterpart Brewing and The Grist. 

As of this writing (we’re 2.5 weeks in, halfway through our Ontario stops), Counterpart Brewing has been our favorite brewery of the trip, despite the fact that there were no seats at the bar and they only offer table service. We went there our first night and then back the next afternoon to pick up cans for our fridge. They have 12 beers on tap, mostly hazy IPAs, but also a guava lemon sour with lemon zest, vanilla and lactose for L. Their food menu also looked amazing and we regret not eating a meal there. The patio is dog-friendly, but it was rainy so we left Tilly at home.

The Grist – Craft Brewery and Kitchen is just north of Counterpart, on the edge of historic Niagara on the Lake, which we would have liked to explore. It’s a beautiful dining room with a handful of quite specific beers on draft, like an Earl Gray Tea Stout. We ate dinner at the bar, and the food was fine, but J didn’t love his IPA.

We also didn’t love the beer at Niagara Brewing, where we made a brief stop before dinner on our second night. The tap room is tucked inside the Fallsview Casino mall, which seemed an appropriate location for their meh beers. 

While we were in Niagara, our next campground on Bruce Peninsula informed us that our reservation was canceled due to aggressive bear activity. It’s always an adventure!