Niagara Frontier

The Niagara Frontier region of New York State consists of 5 counties near the Great Lakes of Erie and Ontario, just across the Niagara River from the Canadian province of Ontario and its Niagara Peninsula region. Buffalo, the state's second-largest city, and Niagara Falls, the "honeymoon capital of the world", are the major destinations in the Niagara Frontier, but the eastern areas of the region also offer educational and recreational attractions, focusing on history, agriculture, industry, and the local waterways.



Cities

 * – The Niagara Frontier's population center with stunning historical architecture.
 * – home to North America's most famous waterfall.
 * – The Gaslight Village
 * – home to North America's most famous waterfall.
 * – The Gaslight Village
 * – home to North America's most famous waterfall.
 * – The Gaslight Village
 * – home to North America's most famous waterfall.
 * – The Gaslight Village

Other destinations

 * — the roller coaster capital of New York also boasts a campground, hotel, and performing arts center.
 * — the Grand Canyon of the east, with three beautiful waterfalls.

Talk
English is widely spoken. Spanish is spoken by many on Buffalo's West Side along with Bengali, Karen, Arabic, Somali, and others.

Get in
Buffalo Airport Shuttle offers service from the  to anywhere in Western New York and Southern Ontario.

Get around
The most populated areas are served by a number of highways, including Interstate 90, coming in from directly east of Buffalo, running along the eastern edge of the city, and turning southwest towards Erie, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, as well as its related loops: 190 from Buffalo to the edge of Lake Ontario, 290 through the northern suburbs, 990 through Amherst. The 33 runs from downtown Buffalo and connects to the 90, and continues past the airport before reverting to a regular two-lane road. The 400 provides access from the 90 to the southern suburbs, such as West Seneca, Elma, and East Aurora. The 219 goes directly south from the 90 to Springville, where it becomes a regular road as well.

The area is connected to Canada by way of three crossing points. The Peace Bridge runs between Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario. 20 miles (32 km) north along the river (and just beyond the Falls) is the Rainbow Bridge, providing access between Niagara Falls, New York and Niagara Falls, Ontario. Another five miles to the north is the Queenston-Lewiston bridge. After the Queenston-Lewiston bridge, there are no more crossing points along the last 8 miles of the river.

See
Niagara Falls. Though less than half the height of Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls), and just under half as wide as Iguazú, Niagara is the world's largest waterfall by average annual flow rate. The Falls can be viewed from the top, at Goat Island (parking fee about $10), or from the bottom on the Maid of the Mist boat ride (late May-early Nov, adult $19, child $12 as og 2019). Goat Island offers a 1.5-mile (2.75-km) stroll along the edge of the island, including a pedestrian bridge to the Three Sisters Islands, right in the middle of the Niagara River, just 2000 feet (600 m) from the Falls.

Whirpool State Park and Devil's Hole State Park. 2 miles north of the Falls are two connected parks downriver. The rapids are still very intense at this point in the river, and the whirlpools make the river flow backwards in some areas. For a better vantage, take one of the two stone stairways to descend some 250 feet (75 m) into the gorge. The 400-step climb back out can be quite tiring. Free.

Buy
Sales tax in Erie County is 8.75%; in all other Niagara Frontier counties, it's 8%.

Eat
For a detailed rundown of regional cuisine, see Buffalo.

Local chains
Locations of most national chain restaurants can be found in Western New York. But since you're here, you should take the opportunity to try one of the local chains that have won the loyalty of Western New Yorkers and become staples of their cuisine.



Pizza
There are two distinct local styles of pizza. The vast majority of pizzerias in the area serve Buffalo-style pizza, which features a crust that's a good deal more substantial than New York thin-crust but not nearly as much so as Chicago deep-dish — appropriately enough given its location near the midpoint between those two cities — with a slightly nutty flavor and an airy sponginess that struggles to support the heaping mass of toppings that generally get piled on. Cheese comes in a thick, gooey layer that spreads out almost to the edge of the crust, the sauce has a noticeably sweet tinge, and pepperoni is invariably of the "cup and char" variety: smaller and more thickly sliced than elsewhere, they curl up into a bowl shape as they cook, blackened on the edges and with a pool of hot grease in the middle.

Meanwhile, the much more obscure Niagara Falls-style pizza sports a crust that's thin like New York pizza but with the same pillowy consistency and nutty flavor of the Buffalo style, with a sauce that's subtly seasoned with oregano and with only the faintest tinge of sweetness. The cheese is thin and sparse — generally there's just enough to fully cover the crust — with pepperoni baked underneath and any other toppings (generally there are none) on top. Niagara Falls pizza is cooked in a square pan and always sliced into squares.

Below are listed some of the more well-known local pizza chains:



Drink
New York State has a rather late last call. Bars are allowed to stay open as late as 4AM, though in practice most close earlier (1 or 2AM are more typical), especially on slow nights.

Buffalo and the surrounding areas have no shortage of drinking establishments, and you should be able to find multiple watering holes within staggering distance in any moderately-populated area in the region. A 2005 survey by Scarborough Research found that 50 percent of legal-aged Buffalo residents have consumed a beer in the past month, ranking the city at 4th in the United States by that measure (Milwaukee being the top consumer, at 54 percent). Buffalo also has the interesting distinction of being the only major U.S. market in which an imported beer is the most widely consumed (Labatt Blue, which has its U.S. headquarters in the city).

Go next
See the nearby Finger Lakes Region.