What to Do, Where to Stay and What to Eat in Niagara Falls

My husband, daughter and I recently had the amazing opportunity to visit Niagara Falls. I had been when I was little but not since and wanted to experience the falls for myself. After Easter, my family and I drove to Niagara to stay a couple of days.

We stayed at the DoubleTree Fallsview Resort &Spa by Hilton- Niagara Falls which was incredible. It was so clean, the room was awesome and the staff was very kind. We were given a suite to stay in which made it so much easier with Adalyn when she went to bed early. We just set her up in her pack and play, shut the door and enjoyed the evening in our room.

Our room had the view of the American Falls which was awesome to look out and see. The bed was super comfy and the room was spacious.

One of the main things to note that is different from most hotels is the pool. They actually had two pools which were both saltwater pools. One is for kids and the other is adults only for swimming laps. I am not much of a swimmer but actually swam some laps and it felt great! They also have an awesome hot tub which I spent a lot of time in.

Adalyn loved swimming in the pool and I loved being able to take her to a pool while it is still cold outside. They also had a great gym which I hit up first thing in the morning and Troy hit up during naptime. They have quite a variety of equipment.

We loved our stay at the DoubleTree and would definitely stay there again. It is one of the best hotels that I've been to.

The first thing that we did in Niagara Falls was go to Bird Kingdom. This was a backup plan for us and we went because it was pouring rain. I am so glad that we went because it ended up being one of our favorite parts of the trip. 

There were birds everywhere and Adalyn loved it. She even learned how to say bird there! There were also other animals such as turtles, bats, bunnies, etc. I was shocked when this one bird said "hi" to us!

We spent maybe 45 minutes- an hour there and really enjoyed it. There are three levels with all different things to see. It was awesome!

We were lucky to get tickets to some attractions at Clifton Hill which is kind of like an outdoor amusement park. We got to go on a ghost ride (we took Adalyn on this but I kind of regret doing so- it was pretty scary so I would recommend not taking kids until they are like 5 or over). We got to go on the Skywheel which is a luxury ferris wheel that is heated that lets you have awesome views of the falls.

We also got to walk through a wax museum which was my first time doing this. Troy especially liked seeing some of his favorite movie characters such as Indiana Jones and characters from Star Wars. My favorite part was called Wizards Golf. You get to go through this awesome 18-hole mini golf course that is all neon and everything is viewed under black lights. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Troy and I had not played mini-golf for 9 years and had so much fun doing so!

Of course, the best part of the trip was seeing the falls! We got to go to Journey Behind the Falls which lets you literally go behind the falls. It was really neat to see this. Luckily, we went early because we heard that there was quite a wait later on.

We also went to the Butterfly Conservatory which was awesome for Adalyn. A butterfly even landed on her bow. She loved seeing them all around her!

I never knew that Niagara Falls had so many wineries! They were everywhere once you left the main downtown area. We got to do a wine tasting at Peller and Trius wineries. Adalyn even got to sample some of their grape juice from a wine glass (for the love of god, no worries, I did not give my 1 year old real wine). This was fun and relaxing to see the beautiful views driving to the winery.

We also had a bunch of fun just walking along the falls. Troy and I love nature and love to explore by walking all around and loved walking by the beautiful falls.

I will start with my favorite meal which was located right by our hotel. It is an Indian restaurant called Passage to India. The food was delicious and I could go for some right now. We got the buffet and everything was great. I loved that Adalyn got to try a variety of spices in the Indian food. My favorites was the raita and the butter chicken. I want one of these near our house!!

We got to talking with the manager there who was so kind and helpful. She actually has her master's in nutrition and worked in food science!! I love it. The best part was that she took us in the back of the restaurant and showed us how they make naan bread by putting it directly on the clay oven. It was one of the coolest things that I have seen. It makes eating naan even more delicious than it already was.

We also had a couple of meals at Boston Pizza which is located within Clifton Hill. They had quite a variety of a menu which I loved. The first time, I ordered Adalyn chicken fingers with veggies, me a Brussels sprouts, bacon and kale salad and Troy ordered a pizza cheeseburger. We all were happy with our meals.

The next meal, we decided to go with pizza and salad and ordered the butter chicken pizza, spicy perogy which was kind of like a loaded baked potato and a Mediterranean salad. This was so delicious! I want to recreate this all at home. 

We went to breakfast at Buchanans both days which is right at the hotel. One day, they had an a la carte menu that we could order from and the next day, it was a buffet. I loved the opportunity to eat at both. I loved the caprese eggs benedict and a fresh fruit plate with Greek yogurt and homemade granola. Adalyn loved it too!

We also grabbed some coffees and doughnuts at Tim Horton's and ate leftovers in the hotel room for one lunch since Adalyn was napping.

Our trip was nearly perfect in Niagara Falls and we left happy and talking about planning our next trip there! We did not want to leave. Definitely signs of a great trip.

*Thanks to the DoubleTree hotel, Passage to India, Clifton Hill and Niagara Parks for hosting us. We had an awesome time and will be back!