St Catherines Museum & Welland Canals Centre

Niagara Peninsula

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For an up-close look at the canal, the Welland Canals Centre at Lock 3, just outside St Catharines, has a viewing platform close enough to almost let you touch the building-size ships as they wait for water levels to rise or fall. Ships sail through from April to December only. Check the ships’ schedules online (www.greatlakes-seaway.com) to plan your visit accordingly.

Also here is the St Catharines Museum, with displays on canal construction, the Underground Railroad and town history, plus a lacrosse hall of fame.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Aerial of Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls. 546768265 aerial, amazing, american, awesome, beautiful, beauty, blue, boats, bridge, canada, canadian, color, drop, fall, flow, helicopter view, horseshoe, landmark, landscape, light, maid, majestic, mist, natural, nature, new, niagara, north, ontario, outdoors, park, power, powerful, rainbow, rapids, river, rock, rocky, scenic, sky, spectacular, speed, stunning, toronto, tour, tourism, travel, view, water, waterfall

    Horseshoe Falls

    8.06 MILES

    The centerpiece of any visit here are the Horseshoe Falls. Named after their 670m curved shape, they have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North…

  • Martin House Complex

    Martin House Complex

    23.16 MILES

    This 15,000-sq-ft house, completed in 1905, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his friend and patron Darwin D Martin. Representing Wright's Prairie…

  • Albright-Knox Art Gallery

    Albright-Knox Art Gallery

    22.3 MILES

    The gallery's superb collection, which ranges from Degas and Picasso to Ruscha, Rauschenberg and other abstract expressionists, occupies a neoclassical…

  • Buffalo City Hall

    Buffalo City Hall

    24.46 MILES

    This 32-story art deco masterpiece, opened in 1931 and beautifully detailed inside and out, towers over downtown. It's worth joining the free tour at noon…

  • Skylon Tower

    Skylon Tower

    7.55 MILES

    The Skylon Tower is a 158m concrete spire with yellow pill-shaped elevators crawling up and down the tower's neck to the top. The interior itself is dated…

  • Tawse Winery

    Tawse Winery

    10.98 MILES

    An elegant tasting room on a gorgeous landscaped vineyard that integrates organic and biodynamic farming to eliminate the use of insecticides, fungicides…

  • Cave of the Winds

    Cave of the Winds

    7.96 MILES

    On the northern corner of Goat Island, don a souvenir rain poncho and sandals (provided) and take an elevator down to walkways just 25ft from the crashing…

  • Creekside Estate Winery

    Creekside Estate Winery

    7 MILES

    Stop at this hipster-ish winery, where you can tour the crush pad and underground cellars. Afterwards, enjoy a picnic lunch in the vineyard, blanket and…

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Nearby Niagara Peninsula attractions

2. Trius Winery at Hillebrand

6.69 MILES

Mass-market wines are the name of the game here. Hourly introductory tours and tasting-bar presentations are good if you’re new to the wine scene.

3. Niagara Falls History Museum

6.92 MILES

A complete change of pace from the sights near the falls, this museum uses multi-media displays and artifacts to explore the history of Niagara Falls. The…

4. Whirlpool State Park

7 MILES

This park, 3 miles north of the falls, sits just above a sharp bend in the Niagara River – a bend that creates a giant whirlpool easily visible from your…

5. Creekside Estate Winery

7 MILES

Stop at this hipster-ish winery, where you can tour the crush pad and underground cellars. Afterwards, enjoy a picnic lunch in the vineyard, blanket and…

6. Riverbrink Art Museum

7.02 MILES

A country home turned art museum, Riverbrink has well-curated exhibits of fine and decorative works of art, with a focus on Canadian historical pieces…

7. Niagara Glen Nature Reserve

7.04 MILES

About 8km north of the falls is this exceptional reserve, where you can get a sense of what the area was like pre-Europeans. There are 4km of walking…

8. Mackenzie Printery & Newspaper Museum

7.12 MILES

This ivy-covered museum was where the esteemed William Lyon Mackenzie once edited the hell-raising Colonial Advocate. Geek out over the Louis Roy Press,…