Planning for Niagara Falls, NY trip from Potomac,MD

[aganguly01]

Hello Everybody,
Looking for some advice.I am planning for road trip from Potomac,MD to Niagara Falls, NY and back.Will be driving with my wife and my 4 yrs old daughter.Drive hours looks to be 7 hrs.
Input requested:

1) Places to stay if i take break on the way ?How is the road conditions.Can 7 hrs with family possible to do it in one go.Overnight driving makes sense ?
2) Places to see in Niagara Falls.Any hotel recommendations would be great help.
3) How many days i should consider for the entire trip.
Thanks in advance,
Arnab

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

Potomac MD to Niagara Falls is 387 miles. You will be lucky to make that in 7 hours. I would count on 8-9, depending on traffic levels and how many stretch breaks your 4-year-old requires. This is doable in one day with the child. Stop every couple of hours either at a rest area along the way, or find some city parks (almost all towns and cities have one), or even just a fast-food place with a little playground inside. (That's what we did when traveling a couple of months ago with our grandsons, barely 5 years old and 18 months old.)

In Niagara Falls, you will be limited on some of the attractions because they don't allow children under 7. You'll have to forego Cave of the Winds and Maid of the Mist, for instance. But there are lots of places to walk. If your trip is more than 4 weeks away, you could go to the Niagara Falls website and order a tourism booklet. There are museums, fun zones, and of course just walking on Goat's Island and some of the other places to see different views of the Falls and to hear its thunderous noise.

Another thing to note: if you have a passport or an enhanced driver's license, you can cross into Canada to see the Canadian side of the Falls. Otherwise, you are limited to what you can see from the US side.

I'm sorry, no hotel recommendations at this point. What I do when I'm planning a trip is to study reviews of places that meet our requirements, on Google and TripAdvisor websites.

You need at least two days to drive the loop trip, up and back. How long you stay there will depend on what you want to see and do.


Donna

[AZBuck]

I agree that you can probably make this drive in a single day (each way) if you take your time and have some rest breaks along the way. The route is fairly scenic in itself: I-270/I-70/I-99/US-219 basically cut across the Appalachians. And you'd only need a couple of short stops to break the drive up into three 2+ hr stretches. A quick look suggests Raystown Lake Recreation Area and Kinzua Bridge State Park as possible, but not the only, stops. While in the Niagara Falls area, other sites besides the Falls that you and your family might enjoy include (in the US): Old Fort Niagara State State Historic Site, Devil's Hole State Park, and Buckhorn Island State Park. And (in Canada): Niagara-on-the-Lake, Fort George National Historic Site, and the St. Catharine's Museum & Welland Canals Centre.

AZBuck

[aganguly01]

Thanks Donna for all the details.

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Thanks AZBuck for all the details