Journey Behind the Falls — Attraction in Niagara Falls

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5/5 - Must-Do Niagara Experience! We had an unforgettable time at Journey Behind the Falls, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Niagara Falls! This isn’t just a regular viewpoint—it’s an immersive experience that lets you stand just feet away from the thundering Horseshoe Falls, even go behind the waterfall through historic tunnels carved over 130 years ago. You can literally feel the power of 2,800 cubic meters of water crashing down per second—it’s breathtaking.

💡 Unknown fact: Many people don’t realize that the tunnels behind the falls were originally dug by hand and are over 130 years old! When you walk through them, you’re walking through a piece of Canadian engineering history. And in winter, these tunnels give a rare icy, magical view of the frozen falls!

🕐 Best time to visit:

Early morning (before 11 AM) or later in the evening (after 5 PM) tends to be less crowded.

Spring and Fall are ideal for cooler weather and thinner crowds.

Summer is vibrant with full flow and longer days, but expect more tourists.

🎟️ Take the Niagara Parks Pass – Totally Worth It! We bought the Niagara Parks Power Pass, and it was absolutely worth every dollar. It not only gave us access to Journey Behind the Falls but also included several top attractions with great value.

✅ Attractions included in the Niagara Parks Pass (as of our visit):

Journey Behind the Falls

Niagara's Fury – a 4D cinematic experience explaining how the falls were formed

White Water Walk – a beautiful boardwalk beside Class 6 rapids

Butterfly Conservatory – home to over 2,000 tropical butterflies in a lush rainforest setting

Floral Showhouse – a hidden gem filled with exotic plants and floral displays

WEGO Bus Pass – unlimited hop-on-hop-off shuttle across all Niagara attractions

Niagara Power Station & Tunnel (for upgraded passes)

🎉 Seasonal Events to Look Out For:

Winter Festival of Lights (Nov to Jan): Magical lights across the parks, plus the icy falls view is just stunning.

Fireworks Shows (summer weekends): Nighttime fireworks over the falls—absolutely dreamy!

Floral Bloom Season (May–June): Beautiful displays at the Floral Clock and gardens.

Butterfly Conservatory peak (early spring): Perfect time for families with kids.

👨‍👩‍👧 Family-friendly tip: The entire experience is stroller-friendly. Our toddler was amazed by the thunder of the falls and loved the Butterfly Conservatory.

🌟 Overall: If you're planning a visit to Niagara Falls, don’t just stop at the viewpoint. Journey Behind the Falls + Niagara Parks Pass gives you a full, immersive, and unforgettable experience. Whether you're a nature lover, a photographer, a family traveler, or just curious, this is a perfect and well-organized way to explore the natural and cultural...

If you have ever wondered what it would feel like to stand behind one of the world’s greatest natural wonders and think, Wow, this is… it?, welcome to the Journey Behind the Falls.

It starts with a “scheduled time” (ours: 5:00 PM), which apparently means you are scheduled to start queueing. First line: about 100 people in the main lobby. Second line: the stairwell. Third line: a large holding room packed with 100+ more people, corralled by those retractable straps like cattle. Fourth line: another large room, this time with the option to wear your newly acquired poncho and sweat under it for another 20+ minutes. But you can see the elevator! All told, it took a little over an hour of shuffling through human traffic before we even reached the “experience.”

Once you are finally underground, you get two options:

The outside platform, which is fine because it actually lets you see the falls.

The famous “behind the falls” tunnels: two holes in the wall, each about 8×8 feet, guard-railed, and 15–20 feet from the water. No sweeping panorama, just a roaring, blurry sheet of white noise. And yes, there are more lines—about 12 minutes each—just to stand at these holes for your big moment.

When you are ready to leave, surprise, there is another line. But before you can escape, they funnel you through the mandatory gift shop detour, the long way of course. Long enough to make sure you have time to impulse-buy a fridge magnet commemorating the hour you spent in queues. The whole thing is set up like a theme park ride without the ride.

This is a national park, but on the Canadian side it often feels like the mission is to extract maximum dollars per square foot of tourist rather than give you the falls in all their glory. The American side offers stunning outdoor views, free-flowing space, and actual interaction with the landscape. Canada’s Horseshoe Falls might be the postcard shot, but this attraction wrings every last drop of romance out of it.

For balance, the Tesla power station night-time light show and underground tunnel was epic, and the butterfly conservatory and surrounding park were great.

Come for Niagara Falls. Skip the...

What a busy spot. Be prepared to stand around and wait for a long time!

When we finally got in, only to wait again in another line, the first thing you see is a spot to have your picture taken. My party did not wish to have our picture taken because it's nothing but a money grab. The girl working was so rude (girl with dreadlocks - for your future reference). She did not like that we said no and demanded we tell her how many people were in our party, stating they needed to know for "numbers". We told her and her partner and they did nothing with the information. That experience made us not want to be there, but we proceeded to wait in line, again. After waiting a while, the line moved and we were given ponchos. We thought we were in the clear, but no, we had to wait again. We finally got stuffed in an elevator and went down to the tunnel and waited again in another line. It was hot, dark, damp, and loud down there. People are extremely inconsiderate. Lots of howling and animal noises so people could hear their echo. When we finally got to the end of the line, we reached an opening in the tunnel (behind the falls). All you do is stand behind a fence, look out and take a picture. There is noone there to control the line or how long you spend at the fence, nor is there anyone there making sure people are safe. You have to be considerate of others and take your picture and go.

When you leave there, you can line up again to view the other hole in the tunnel (same thing), or go to the observation deck. The observation deck was cool. You get a really good view of the falls. It's very misty and you will get wet despite wearing a poncho. Again, there was no one there to ensure the guests' safety.

The experience was ok. A lot of waiting. You definitely need patience for...