3 Tips for Visiting Niagara Falls State Park

Recently on a road trip of the lower 48 my husband and I decided to go a bit out of our way to see the one and only Niagara Falls! We were on the New York side but would love to go to the Canadian side next time! Maybe it is because I didn’t do enough research, but man I wish we would have done some things differently!

That being said, we absolutely loved this park and all the activities available! I 100% will go back again and encourage you to check it out if you are in the area.

Here are the things I wish I had known before our first time visiting!

Plan for Long Lines

Listen, I knew Niagara Falls would be busy. But we got there 45 minutes before it actually opened for ticket sales and the line was already almost 100 people long! So you need to plan to get there early and also plan for the time to stand in line.

While we heard they usually don’t totally sell out of tickets for the Maid of the Mist or Cave of the Winds the time slots certainly filled up quickly and you may end up having to wait hours to actually get to the attraction of your choice.

My advice is to pick the one you most want to do and get in line for it an hour before ticket sales open! Once you have your ticket you can explore the park until your scheduled time or go get in line for the other attraction.

We were lucky enough to get on the first Maid of the Mist boat because we were 45 minutes early but people that arrived when the park opened we heard were scheduled for 1pm before they could get into any attractions!

Dress Accordingly!

You can visit Niagara Falls year round so you may want to dress strictly for the weather. But keep in mind, you WILL get wet. There is no getting around it. Even just standing at the view point you can feel a mist.

If you do either of the two attractions mentioned you will get soaked. My hair was dripping wet & I didn’t have a brush and my husbands tennis shoes were sopping! We absolutely would have dressed differently had we been thinking ahead!

Luckily because of our road trip we had a change of clothes and everything we needed back at the car but it would have been nice to have brought it with us so we didn’t have to walk back to the lot we were in.

Walk to ALL the View Points!

Unfortunately when we went, the pedestrian bridge to Canada was closed so we only got to see it for the US side of Niagara. But I am so glad we had enough time to walk around to all of the different view points!

Many people we spoke to just stopped at Prospect Point and did not go much farther. We decided to walk around to Goat Island and Luna Island and the views were so worth it!

Extra advice

Those were for sure the 3 main things I wish I had known before but here are a few additional tips I have!

Bring a picnic style lunch to avoid park priced food because you will get hungry! We were there a few hours and I am glad we had sandwiches in the car.

If you plan to go to the Canadian side, make sure to have your passport! I wasn’t sure we would need them since it is all the same park but you definitely to have to show it when walking across the pedestrian bridge.

Finally, if you are bringing your nice camera, be prepared to protect it from the mist! I didn’t have all my gear so I left mine in the car and I’m glad I did because it was wet out there!