Niagara Falls State Park, Niagara, Newyork

We reached Niagara falls around noon time, it was long weekend so it was bit crowded. We went to the whirlpool jet ski first. Per ticket its around 56 dollars, but money is worth spent. This one is like a speed boat shown below, which takes you for a splash around the river. more details here in this site http://www.whirlpooljet.com/. The speed boat can carry around 30-40 people at one go and can travel up to the speed of 55 miles per hour. Its one of the most thrilling experiences I had in my entire travel life.


After the jet ski experience we went to the Niagara Falls state park. The main two must see attractions there is the Maid of the Mist tour and the Cave the Winds tour.
There are other minor attractions all around like Discovery center and Aquarium etc.
"Maid of the mist" is a tour (11 dollars per person with kids under five going for free) where you will be taken to both the American side of the falls( called American falls) and towards the Canadian Falls called the Horse shoe falls. Its a breath taking experience which is beyond any word can describe.

Here is the view of the American Falls



Here is the view of Canadian Falls called the horse shoe falls.




By evening you can enjoy the color lit Niagara Falls. Also they have fireworks in and around that region which also adds a sparkle to the entire experience.

There is a queue for getting into the "Maid of the mist" and "Cave of the winds" tour. So its better to be inside the park by early morning. or else you will have problems finding a nearby parking spot. If you arrive early then first you could get into Maid of the mist tour. The boat will take you near the falls. Then get into the Cave of the winds tour where you can stand directly near the water fall on wooden stands they had put nearby the water fall.

Non citizens visiting the region should be very careful moving around in the car since Canada border is nearby, you may by accident get into Canada. As there is no big marker showing up the boundaries, there are cases where someone will get stuck at the border without having Canadian Visa and without having proper documents for reentry to US. So those who are having single entry visa's or say work visa in US like H1B or L1 should be extremely careful while travelling around the region. This is applicable to all those visitors coming from Michigan or Chicago area by drive since the GPS route will show a route thru Canada, thru the BlueWater bridge. This route may take you to Niagara and reduce the journey time by 3 hours, but all the immigration headaches are associated with that. If you can take 3 hrs extra travel time then its better coming to Cleveland, Ohio and then from there to Niagara.

Here is the route that we took we traveled from Holland Michigan to Niagara thru Ohio.


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