Niagara Falls Helicopter Ride, Boat Cruise and Skylon Tower Combo

Helicopter flight over Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls helicopter ride is the part of the day most travellers remember. It lifts off from the heliport beside the Niagara Parkway, a few kilometres downstream of the falls, and follows the gorge upstream over the swirling Whirlpool and the Rainbow Bridge before circling the American Falls and the great curve of the Horseshoe Falls. From the air you see everything at once: the river rushing over the crest, the mist rising from the basin and the boats far below.

The flight itself is short, around twelve minutes, but the viewing is continuous and every seat has a window. Flights operate in daylight and only when the weather allows, so our guide checks conditions on the morning of the tour and reorders the stops if needed. If the flight cannot operate at all, we tell you before departure and adjust the programme. A Niagara Falls helicopter tour is a popular search for a reason: no other viewpoint shows the Horseshoe Falls as a complete circle.

Boat cruise to the base of the Horseshoe Falls

The Niagara Falls boat cruise leaves from the landing at the foot of Clifton Hill on the Canadian shore. You receive a poncho at boarding, which you will need: the boat passes the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, then pushes into the basin of the Horseshoe Falls, where the spray falls like rain and the roar of the water drowns conversation. The voyage lasts about twenty minutes and is the closest anyone can get to the falls without getting into the river.

The cruise runs from May to December, when the river is free of ice. From January to April this stop is replaced by an indoor flight-simulation ride in the same building, which recreates the view from above the falls with motion seats and wind effects. The boat is open-deck, so wear shoes with grip and keep cameras in a waterproof pocket; the mist drenches everyone on the bow, which is also where the best photos are taken.

Journey Behind the Falls

Journey Behind the Falls starts inside the Table Rock Centre, right beside the crest of the Horseshoe Falls. An elevator drops you about 38 metres through the bedrock to tunnels that were first cut in the nineteenth century. Two portals open directly behind the sheet of falling water, so you stand a few metres from the back of the Horseshoe Falls as it thunders past, and a lower observation deck brings you to the base of the falls, level with the boats in the basin.

Most visitors spend thirty to forty-five minutes here. The tunnels are open year-round, although the lower outdoor deck may close in winter when ice builds up. Ponchos are handed out because the spray on the deck is heavy. For anyone searching for Journey Behind the Falls tickets, admission is included in this tour and our guide takes you straight in with the group, which saves time at the busiest hours around midday.

Skylon Tower observation deck

Skylon Tower has stood above the Canadian side of the falls since 1965. Exterior glass elevators, known locally as the yellow bugs, climb the outside of the tower in under a minute to an observation deck about 236 metres above the base of the falls. Both the indoor and the outdoor decks wrap all the way round, so you look down on the Horseshoe Falls, across to the American Falls and the city of Niagara Falls, New York, and on a clear day as far as the Toronto skyline across Lake Ontario.

The Skylon Tower observation deck is the natural finale of a Niagara Falls tour because it puts the helicopter view, the boat landing and the Table Rock Centre into one picture. Admission is included and there is no time limit on the deck; most groups spend about half an hour. The best light for photographs is in the afternoon, when the sun is behind you and the mist shows as a white plume over the Horseshoe Falls.

Table Rock, the Niagara Parkway and Clifton Hill

Between the stops you travel along the Niagara Parkway, the landscaped road that runs beside the river on the Canadian side. Table Rock is the viewpoint at the very edge of the Horseshoe Falls, where a railing separates you from water moving at the speed of a train, and it is free to walk along at any time. The parkway gardens, the Rainbow Bridge to the United States and the lower gorge are all visible from the vehicle, and our guide explains how the falls formed and how they continue to erode upstream.

Clifton Hill, the street of attractions climbing away from the falls, is where the group has time to buy lunch at your own expense; the choice ranges from quick food to sit-down restaurants, and many places list halal-friendly or vegetarian options. The whole tour lasts about five hours door to door, which leaves the evening free to return on foot for the illumination of the falls, which needs no ticket and is visible from the parkway.