I have visited Niagara Falls a couple times now, but on a more recent trip with our kids on a nice summer day, we decided to take a Niagara Falls boat cruise on the Maid of the Mist.

We used Google Maps to navigate our way to Niagara Falls.  Keep in mind this was the New York side of the falls.  There is a fairly large parking lot there, and I believe we parked in Visitor Center Parking Lot #1.  If you don’t have a car, there are plenty of ways to get around by booking a tour.

We followed the paths to where you pay for the boat ride, bought our tickets, and headed down to the boat.  We got one of the last boats of the day.  (Note – after the tour, you can walk close to the falls, where you see the people in blue in the photo below).

You are given a plastic cover to wear, which is convenient, and it fits over bags and backpacks, so we didn’t have to worry about getting our stuff wet.

The weather was nice and warm, so I didn’t mind getting blasted with mist from the falls during the boat tour.

After we were done with the boat tour, we walked over the bridge to where the tour is for Cave of the Winds.

This was a decent walk from Maid of the Mist, and according to Google maps it is 0.6 miles, or about a 12 minute walk.  It was an easy walk, but probably a little longer than we expected, and we were rushing to make the last tour, so it was a little stressful especially being at the end of the day and trying to rush tired kids.

After walking a ways, we reached the entrance to the tour of the Cave of the Winds.  It was the last tour of the day on an August weeknight, and there were very few people on our tour.

First, we watched a movie about the history of the falls.

Then, we were provided with non-slip sandals to wear instead of our regular shoes.  We walked through tunnels to get to the “caves”.

Unfortunately, the “caves” on the US side of the falls aren’t exactly caves – just platforms where you can get splashed by the falls.

You can walk on a series of decks, getting closer to the water.  The closest is the “Hurricane Deck”, where you can get pelted with water.

After we were done with the tour, we walked to a nearby pizza shop for dinner, and then went to the fireworks display at 10pm.

(See my blog post about the fireworks show here).

Niagara Falls Fireworks