Where to stay in Niagara Falls: the best areas and hotels

Fallsview Boulevard runs along the top of the escarpment directly above the Horseshoe Falls, and the hotels here are built for one purpose. Rooms on the falls side have floor-to-ceiling views of the water, the mist and, after dark, the coloured illuminations, and in summer the fireworks too.

This is the smartest part of town. The big-name hotels have spas, indoor pools and restaurants that make the most of the panorama, and the Fallsview Casino and its concert hall are next door. An incline railway carries you down the hill to Table Rock, right at the brink, in a couple of minutes. Pay the extra for a falls-view room. You did not come all this way to look at a car park.

Clifton Hill is Niagara's fairground: a steep street of arcades, haunted houses, a giant observation wheel, mini golf and fast food, lit up like a pinball machine. Children adore it. At the bottom lies Queen Victoria Park, the green ribbon that runs along the gorge, and the dock for the boat cruises that sail into the spray.

Staying here puts you closest to the American Falls and within a flat walk of almost everything. The grander hotels face the falls across the park, one with direct access to a large indoor water park; up the hill there are cheerful, budget-friendly places, some with heart-shaped whirlpool baths for the honeymooners Niagara has always attracted. It is noisy and brash. For most families, that is the point.

Lundy's Lane is the long road that runs west from the falls, and it is where sensible budgets go to stretch. The hotels here are a mile or more from the brink, so nobody is charging for a view, and what you get instead is lower prices, easy parking and more room.

It is a mixed strip of simple motels with outdoor pools, resort-style hotels built around indoor tropical courtyards, and one family resort with its own indoor water park and spa. Restaurants and shops line the road, and buses run down to the falls, so you can leave the car behind for the day.

Below the falls the river squeezes into a deep gorge and races north through the Whirlpool Rapids. The Niagara Parkway follows it all the way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a famously scenic drive past lookouts, gardens and the Butterfly Conservatory.

About 5 km north of the falls stands one of the region’s biggest draws for children: a lodge-themed resort with a sprawling indoor water park, where a stay includes two days of slides and wave pools. Other hotels in this part of town sit near the gorge, the outlet shops and the highway, and suit anyone arriving by car. You are a short drive or bus ride from the falls, not a stroll.

Where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, about a 15 to 20-minute drive north of the falls, sits one of the best-preserved nineteenth-century towns in Canada. Niagara-on-the-Lake is all clapboard houses, flower baskets and horse-drawn carriages, with a main street of independent shops and restaurants and the Shaw Festival filling its theatres from spring to autumn.

All around are the vineyards of the Niagara Peninsula, famous for icewine, and most visitors spend at least a day cycling or driving between tasting rooms. Places to stay are small and romantic: boutique inns with fireplaces in the rooms, historic houses with verandas and gardens, and a spa resort among the vines. Stay here and visit the falls for the day; many people end up preferring it that way round.