Standing on the edge of a turbulent Lake Ontario where it’s fed by the Niagara River, simply breathing in feels more comfortable. The air moves through me more slowly; late fall afternoons up north have that effect on me. Traipsing alone in a park, between half barren trees an hour before the sun goes down, it seems almost impossible that Niagara Falls and the tens of millions of people who visit it every year are just a half hour down the road.
Type the word “Niagara” into a Google search bar and it autocompletes with the word “Falls” so quickly that the search engine itself seems to be cutting you off, keeping you from asking if there is anything else to do in this part of the world. But as big as the Falls are, they’re just one corner of the map in the Niagara region—not to mention one fraction of the natural attractions. The peninsula on the Canadian side of the falls, just a quick 90-minute drive southeast of Toronto, offers hundreds of miles of dirt, road, and water for the traveler who longs to be outdoors.
With so many paths and sparsely trafficked back roads, the best way to see Niagara may be on a bicycle. This is a place where forest gives way to farmland and returns to forest again in a short morning ride. There’s no reason to keep the ride short, though. Anchor yourself in the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake on the far east side of the region, home to stuck-in-time Victorian inns and B&Bs, then set out on The Greater Niagara Circle Route. It wraps the entire eastern third of the peninsula, between the Niagara River to the east and the Welland Canal, which runs along the city of St. Catharines, to the west. Much of the 87-mile route is dedicated to bikes and serves up long stretches with Great Lakes views along Ontario and Erie.
If you really want to enjoy everything Niagara has to offer, though, you may want to skip the long trek and opt for a leisurely peddle through the vineyards. Niagara is wine country, after all, and the Niagara Wine Route is an easy place to zip down on two wheels. Grab a touring bike from Zoom Leisure ($30/day) in Niagara-on-the-Lake, and within 10 minutes you’ll be flanked by the lake on one side and acres of grapevines on the other, occasionally punctuated by a tasting room ready to welcome you in. With an early start and an ambitious pace, you could hit more than half a dozen by mid-afternoon, with plenty of time to shower before dinner.
If you don’t want to spend all day on a bike, two feet are as good as two wheels. Trails begin along the Niagara River a short walking distance from Niagara-on-the-Lake’s downtown, eventually running along cliffs that provide dramatic views of the increasingly agitated water. Ten miles upstream, the paths at Niagara Glen bring you through a gorge carved out by the river more than ten thousand years ago. The ancient water coalesces here into the powerful Niagara Whirlpool, which, despite the thunderous noise it creates, is oddly peaceful if you visit later in the fall when your fellow hikers are fewer and further between.
While Niagara Falls gets most of the waterfall cred in this part of the world, there are more private, if more modest, falls to be found for those willing to venture a bit further inland. South of the wine route and half an hour west of the river—beyond the outskirts of St. Catharines—wooded parks and preserves dot the area, near enough to each other you could visit two in an afternoon. Quiet hikes here lead you to spots like Rockway, Balls Falls, and Louth Falls, where the water rushing over the rocks feels like it belongs to you.
In the warmer months the water is calling. Wide expanses of sand are in fairly short supply, and the lake doesn’t get so balmy you’d want to splash for too long, so this isn’t so much a lounge-on-the-beach sort of place. But calm weather and longer days bring paddle boards and kayaks onto Lake Ontario. A sunrise paddle from Queenston Heights, near the Whirlpool, downriver to Niagara-on-the-Lake via Niagara Kayak ($50/two hours), will leave you ready for a day at the wineries. At sunset, paddle board trips from Paddle Niagara let you catch the last jags of orange and pink in the sky while you stay on the water, lighting it up with LED paddles if you remain into the night ($40).
Niagara is kind of a sneaky place to come for an active trip. It’s easy to spend your entire time going from winery to restaurant and back again, sinking deeper into your chair at each stop. But the outdoor beauty of the region is hiding right in front of you everywhere you go. So come, stand at the water’s edge and breathe in. See if it doesn’t feel easier.