It’s that time of year again! When the travel bug hits, the weather is finally nice out and you have that urge to get outside and do something. But there’s one thing holding you back… $$$$!! It’s time to visit Niagara on the Lake.
I get it. I can’t count the number of trips I have researched, but the one thing holding me back is the price tag. I can totally relate! That’s why my friends and I decided to pick a trip closer to home this spring, and visit Niagara on the Lake for a weekend.
I have outlined the 5 places to visit in Niagara on the Lake in this blog post. If you ever find yourself in the NOTL area, be sure to check out these awesome spots!
Stop 1: Queen Street Shopping
Queen Street seems to be the main street of the “downtown” area in Niagara on the Lake. This street is full of cute, quaint stores, cozy cafes, and chill restaurants that gave out a summer vibe. It was fun to walk around in this area and do a little window shopping holding a hot cup of Canadian coffee. I really appreciated that there seemed to be no chain stores/restaurants (minus a small Starbucks). It was great to be able to support local businesses while visiting.
Stop 2: Balzac's Coffee
Such a perfect cafĂ©! The staff were super friendly and the coffee and food were perfect for a morning pick-me-up. They had a lot of options on the menu in terms of drinks to get. Balzac’s has vegan and gluten free options available too. The atmosphere here was so instagram-able even down to the tiles on the floor – we had to take some pics! We actually started both our mornings here because we loved it so much.
Stop 3: White Water Walk
We found this hike online a few weeks before the trip and it was definitely worth the stop. This hike cost us about $13 each for access to the trail, but that included a free parking pass. It took us about 40 minutes to complete the hike. On a summer day, I can definitely see this taking about an hour. This hike has a boardwalk that goes right over the Niagara River at some points (which was raging!!). There are signs you can read along the way that give some insight to the environment and history of the area.
Stop 4: Niagara Glen Hike
The Niagara Glen Hike has kilometers of trails to explore. You can choose whether you walk to walk through dense forest, explore the trail along the river, or visit some fishing or rock climbing spots. There were tons of climbers out when we were there! This would be a perfect location for a summer picnic as well. Just remember to take your garbage out 🙂Â
Stop 5: Winery Tour!
Stop 5, and my personal fave (though it is a tough choice) is all the wineries in the Niagara on the Lake area. There are hundreds it seems! It makes sense to organize your winery tour in advance, unless you have a designated driver. I would recommend booking through another company anyway so that you don’t have to do the organization or pay for anything additional on the day of.
We organized a biking tour through Zoom Leisure Bikes and they were such a pleasure to rent from! They were very accommodating when we asked if we could switch our booking to the next day because of the weather. We booked the “Self-Guided Biking Winery Tour”. We got a map that took us to 5 different stops where wine tastings were included. This tour also included free ice cream, a bottle of water, and 2 different snacks for the road. All of that was about $70, and the bikes were comfy and in incredibly good shape. They also had the option to pick up our purchased bottles of wine so that we didn’t have to carry them on the bikes. It was effortless, and that really made the trip memorable!
Overall, it was an amazing girls weekend on a budget. If you are looking for a short, relatively inexpensive trip, I would definitely recommend NOTL!Â
Have you been to this location before? Let me know what I missed! I will definitely be back.
