Niagara Falls on a Budget

A long, Canadian Holiday Weekend during high season. On a budget.

Dear Jane,

Can you visit the iconic touristy Niagara Falls during high season on budget? And during a Canadian holiday? You can, and if you’re a morning person you’re going to have a better experience.

Ever a fan of transparency, I present to you my budget which includes some extras that I hadn’t originally planned for when I booked my tickets and accommodation. This was a personal trip that was briefly paused for a work meeting with Rainbow Air Helicopter Tours, and I received a gift of leftover Canadian cash from my aunt and uncle who had had their own recent adventure in Canada.

Here Are The Numbers

You can see that I wasn’t able to stick to my budget, but only when over by $11.25.

Trains

Planes, trains, and buses will get you to Niagara Falls. I opted to ride the rails.

I took the Maple Leaf Amtrak from Moynihan Station in New York City to Niagara Falls, NY. The round trip cost was $136, and I purchased about two and a half months before departure. Roundtrip flights between New York City and Buffalo can range between $120-$500 roundtrip. The bus from the airport to Niagara Falls is $4 per round trip.

For high season travel, Amtrak offered the best monetary savings. The real cost was time: going up to Niagara Falls was about 10 hours, and coming back was 11 hours, with an hour and a half “layover” in Albany. In addition to being budget conscious, I did want to add an American long-distance train trip to my experiences.

Amtrak also offers the option to get off at Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, which is just across a bridge from the New York stop, but takes additional time to get to. In the US, before boarding the train, there is an additional check-in process, and between the Niagara Falls stops, there is an immigration process.

If you want to fly, you’ll land at Buffalo Niagara Falls International Airport and take a bus to Niagara Falls. There is a Niagara Falls International Airport, but flights are extremely limited. From New York City, it’s about an hour and a half flight depending on the airport you depart from.

Accommodations

I stayed in an Airbnb, run by a strict local school teacher, for $123.25. This was the most affordable option for me and probably the nicest accommodations you’ll find in Niagara Falls, NY. The reviews for hotels in the area are pretty bad, and cost about the same per evening as my entire stay in the Airbnb. The options on the Canadian side were also expensive.

Activities & Transportation

I ended up doing more than I had initially planned. This entire trip was built around creating the best 100th birthday present I could for my Abuela. So I knew I would be budgeting for the border crossing, and I planned to do a lot of walking and hiking in Niagara Falls State Park. The border costs $1 per crossing, and the state park is free to visit.

GPSmyCity gifted me a three-year membership, and I was excited to use it for the first time on this trip. The app features self-guided walking tours created by travelers for travelers, and has a number of travel articles as well as walks. Each of the walks comes with a downloadable offline map. I explored Clifton Hill on the Canadian side, and highly recommend that walk at night. You do not need to pay for a membership to see walking routes.

There are a lot of things you can do in Niagara Falls that cost money, but there are also a lot of beautiful walks and hiking trails you can enjoy, and I’d originally planned to do a bit more hiking than I had.

Now, I do have some recommendations if you do have a bigger budget than I did.

American-side Splurge

American Splurge: Rainbow Air. The big splurge would be the 10 minute helicopter ride. It’s $175/$180 per adult. If that’s out of budget, they have Niagara Virtual, a VR Parasailing game and experience. Tickets are $26.

Canadian-side Splurge

Niagara Parks Adventure Pass. $68 CAD. Niagara Parks offers several different pass options in the summer. In the winter, there’s one pass and it’s a bit more inclusive due to the number of attractions that close for winter.

With the Adventure Pass I chose, I had access to Journey Behind the Falls, Whirlpool Aerocar, and the White Water Walk. Journey Behind the Falls is included with all pass options, and then each level of pass allows you to pick a specific number of other attractions. When I purchased my pass at the Table Rock Welcome Centre, I had to choose my entry times for each attraction. Remember that Canadian holiday? That made finding entry times difficult. My pass also included 24-hours of unlimited rides on the WEGO bus service.

Thank you to my aunt and uncle for sponsoring my Canadian activities.

Insurance

This trip wasn’t a significant investment, compared to my international trips, so I made sure to use my Chase Sapphire Preferred (that’s a referral link) card for my Airbnb in case I needed the insurance benefit, and opted for the Flex Fare on Amtrak. The Flex Fares are a little more expensive, but you can cancel up until your departure time.

Not included in the budget, but let’s talk about them.

Food

As always, I don’t budget food into my travels because I eat when I’m not traveling. For this short trip, I spent a total of $94 on food, $32 of which was purchased with the Canadian cash. This includes food purchased for, and during, my 10- and 11-hour train rides. Notably, I did not purchase food from the café car on Amtrak. One of the things I haven’t experimented too much with, outside of Japan, is leaving my stuff unattended. And I didn’t want to risk giving up my window seat.

On the way to Niagara I purchased food in Moynihan station. On the way back to New York, my train wasn’t as early, so I had time to grab breakfast in town and brought some of the free snacks from my Airbnb. I also went to a restaurant during the “layover” in Albany, as all passengers were kicked off the train.

All of (both) Niagara Falls is a giant tourist trap, so if you budget for food, you should prepare for high prices. I ate as cheaply as possible, and except for that restaurant in Albany, everything was fast food or fast casual. Niagara Falls, NY has a culinary school in town, and they have their own coffee shop and and upscale restaurant, which provide you with a couple of great options at reasonable prices. The granola bars, fruit, and free water bottles from my Airbnb played a big role in my savings during this trip.

A note for Canadian cash:

Canada no longer produces and distributes pennies, and you’ll see a rounding system in place on your receipts because pricing and tax math don’t work out to not need pennies.

Souvenirs

There are plenty of overpriced magnets and t-shirts to go around on both sides of the Falls. I spent $3.21 on a few postcards at Bloomin’ Onion (yes, that’s the name of the store), a souvenir shop, across the street (ish) from the Niagara Civil War Monument.

Conclusion

Civil Holiday, the Monday I arrived in Niagara Falls, made everything a bit more crowded and I’m sure increased the high season pricing. That said, visiting during this time is definitely doable on a smaller budget. If you’re into hiking, you’ll have an easier time with your budget, though I recommend planning for a touristy experience if you can. The falls are very powerful and getting up close and personal is pretty incredible.

<3 Katherine