Touring Buffalo, New York: Visitor Sightseeing Tips
Buffalo, New York is an unlikely place for a vacation. However, once you get past its reputation as a gritty Rust Belt city, you start appreciate this often overlooked Great Lakes city.
Buffalo is just miles away from one of the natural wonders of the world, Niagara Falls. No visitor to Buffalo should miss the chance to visit Niagara Falls, but to avoid crowds and parking problems, you should schedule a visit before June or after September. Consider a winter visit. While bracingly cold, Niagara Falls during the combines its usual power with stark, white beauty rarely seen by most tourists. An extra set of thermals is recommended for this visit, but it’s well worth braving the cold.
It was this proximity to Niagara Falls that was one of the factors that helped Buffalo to grow into a boom town. Echoes of these former prosperous times remain today in Buffalo’s extensive Olmsted Park and Parkway Systems, the huge waterfront, and its extensive collection of architectural gems.
The parks host many scheduled activities such as festivals and concerts in addition to being a great place to relax. Many visitors are also drawn to the parks to see Olmsted’s impressive vision for urban design. Before visiting be sure to check for any scheduled park events.
For those interested in architecture, Buffalo has a lot of that to offer you as a visitor. From neighbourhoods full of Victorian mansions and Arts and Crafts bungalows to numerous national landmarks such as Kleinhans Music Hall and the numerous Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, Buffalo’s architectural legacy is just a drive away. There is really too much to list, so either research in advance or take part in one of the many architectural tours offered around the city.
The waterfront is another attraction for both the tourist and the resident alike. Here you can take tours of permanently moored ships, enjoy a concert, embark on a boat cruise, or just watch the waves roll in from Lake Erie. There’s an observation deck that gives great views of the city and into Canada. This area is under constant development in recent years, so as well as checking for seasonal availability of attractions, you should check for new activities as well as closures due to construction.
Buffalo has an active night life with last call at 4 a.m. There are many venues scattered throughout the city that offer a range of musical shows, but perhaps one of the most popular musical events is the Thursdays in the Park free concert series during the summer. Local, national, and international acts perform downtown every Thursday evening, but be prepared to show up early as it can get crowded, especially during popular acts.
If you plan to visit Buffalo in June, try to make it to the Allentown Art Festival. This two day event showcases area artists’ best work and offers one of a kind products for sale. Although this is the city’s most well known festival, there are many scheduled throughout the year in various neighbourhoods throughout the city.
A visit to Buffalo wouldn’t be complete without trying some of the food. Buffalo wings definitely don’t come from flying bison, but were developed by Buffalo residents. There are competing stories, but it’s generally accepted that they were first made at the Anchor Bar on Main Street in Buffalo by the Bellisimo family in the 1960s. You can still order them there, although many native Buffalonians will tell you that their favourite wings come from somewhere else.
A good way to start a conversation with a local is to ask them who makes the best wings in town. If you ask 20 Buffalonians, you will likely get 20 different answers. But in the process of finding out their opinion, you will be exposed to one of the other little known Buffalo treasures: the people. One of Buffalo’s nicknames is “The City of Good Neighbours”, and there’s good reason for that. The people tend to be down to Earth, friendly, and proud of their local fare. Do not be surprised if you don’t make a few friends during your visit.
After you’ve asked about wings (and beef on weck and fish fries while you’re at it), you should ask Buffalonians of a certain age where they were during the Blizzard of ’77. After they tell their blizzard story, they will probably give you anecdotes about more recent storms. They may even be able to point out the damage still visible from the Friday the 13th Storm in October of 2006.
This isn’t to say that Buffalo usually has horrible weather. Really it doesn’t. The lakes help keep the temperatures warmer in the winter than other Northern cities and help bring breezes during the warm summers. It’s only when these lakes brew up what’s called a “lake effect storm” does Buffalo get some of the bad weather for which it is renowned. But these storms come rarely with heavy snows only coming a couple of times a winter. The really heavy storms which make the national news are perhaps once or twice in a decade events. So don’t avoid Buffalo on account of the weather.
Buffalo offers the tourist a special chance at visiting a small city rich in history and surrounded by natural beauty. It also is a very reasonably priced destination, so many people who might not be able to afford vacations in some of the more popular destinations might find Buffalo with in reach.
