Niagara Parks Power Station

The Niagara Parks Power Station is the attraction that changed how people see Niagara, because it tells the other half of the story: not just the beauty of the falls but the power. Completed in 1905 just upstream of the Horseshoe Falls, it was the first major hydroelectric plant on the Canadian side, a grand Beaux-Arts hall full of enormous generators that turned the river into electricity for more than a century before it was retired. Niagara Parks restored it and opened it as an attraction, and the machine hall is now one of the most impressive interiors in the region: long rows of original generators under a high ceiling, with exhibits explaining how alternating current, the river and the men who dug the works created the modern electric age. The Tunnel is the reason to go. Workers once dug a tailrace tunnel through the rock with pickaxes, shovels, dynamite and lantern light to carry spent water from the turbines back to the river below the falls. Today an elevator takes you down about 180 feet, and you walk the 2,200-foot tunnel to a viewing platform at the water's edge, at the foot of the gorge, looking up at the Horseshoe Falls from river level. It is a dramatic, slightly eerie walk, and the platform view is one of the best on the Canadian side. The attraction is open year-round and daily, though access to the tunnel platform can be limited in bad weather. By night, the Power Station runs Currents: Niagara's Power Transformed, an interactive sound-and-light show projected across the machine hall, and the evening experience adds an illuminated platform view of the falls. Regular admission is in the thirty-Canadian-dollar range, with premium guided tours costing more. Our link goes to the Tiqets venue, which sells day entry with an audio guide and evening entry with the light show.

Niagara's history in the twentieth century is a history of electricity. The Niagara River drops about fifty metres over the falls, and the engineers of the 1890s realized that diverting part of its flow through turbines could light cities far away. The pioneering work of Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse on alternating current was proven here, and on the Canadian side a series of great generating stations followed. The Canadian Niagara Power Company's station, now the Niagara Parks Power Station, was finished in 1905 and ran until 2006. When Niagara Parks reopened it to visitors, it became an instant favorite, and the tunnel and riverside platform that followed turned it into one of the falls' must-dos.

How to visit: the station sits on the Niagara Parkway just south of Table Rock, an easy walk from Journey Behind the Falls and the Fallsview hotels. Start in the generator hall, where the scale of the original equipment is the first surprise, and take time with the exhibits on how the plant worked and the people who built it. Then take the elevator down to the tunnel. The walk is long, cool and slightly damp, so wear comfortable shoes and bring a layer in summer. At the end, the platform opens onto the river below the falls; spray can reach it depending on the wind. Allow ninety minutes to two hours for the full visit. The evening light show is a separate timed admission, with evening hours on some days of the week; check the schedule, and combine it with the nightly illumination of the falls.

Why it is a winter winner: the station is sheltered, warm, open every day, and the tunnel gives you a river-level view of the falls when the boats are not running. Families find the machinery and the tunnel walk thrilling; history buffs could spend a whole afternoon with the exhibits. If you are choosing between this and Journey Behind the Falls, do both on the same morning; they are a few minutes apart, they tell complementary stories, and bundles are sold that combine them. Leave time afterward for the walk along the brink back toward Table Rock.