First
off, it has to be said: The falls themselves are spectacular. The
surrounding area, however, is a disgrace. How can I say such a thing?
Well, let’s start with the megahotels, the waterpark, and the
run-down go-kart track – and much more besides – which can all be
found within a kilometer of the falls.
Unfortunately,
none of my acquaintances who viewed the falls from the American side
– not the Canadian side – felt inclined to use the word
‘spectacular’, and in fact, they hardly got a glimpse of the falls
themselves. The solution? View these horseshoe-shaped falls from the
The Canadian side, though it’s true that even there you’ll have to
put up with a good amount of ugly tourist ‘development’.
---------------------------------
“At first I thought all these people were here for the falls, but in a couple of hours, I saw more of the place, and began to realize that at most a quarter of visitors are actually interested in seeing the waterfall itself. I don’t know what it’s like in summer, because there must be a lot more tourists. (When I visited there weren’t even any boats on the Niagara River, for instance, so I couldn’t take a boat trip – one more reason to come back.) This is also one of the major crossing points between the United States and Canada, but it really surprised me how few people actually seemed interested in admiring the falls themselves, and how many went instead to the Palace of Miracles or Movieland. I soon forgot about this, though, because in spite of the skyscrapers and parks full of rotating, flashing lights, I couldn’t take my eyes off the Niagara Falls themselves. From the Canadian side, you can see both the Niagara Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, which is apparently a spectacular panorama. It may be more beautiful from the Canadian viewpoint, but I didn’t see Niagara from the other side. 😊 (2018)
