Nature's Splendor Tour
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Start off your day with a stop at the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens, featuring a tri-domed “Crystal Palace” conservatory set in a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park. - Visit the Buffalo Zoo to see the new M&T Bank Rainforest Falls exhibit. The exhibit replicates the habitat of Venezuela’s Canaima National Park and includes a wide variety of free flight birds as well as other rainforest animals.
- The Bard comes to Buffalo! Visit during the summer to enjoy a performance of Shakespeare in Delaware Park.
- Visit during June & July and participate in the National Garden Festival, featuring garden walks, open gardens, lectures, workshops and a Front Yard Garden Competition.
- Art and theater mix with nature at Artpark, a green space of 150 acres on the Niagara River Gorge and one of Western New York’s premier visual and performing arts destinations.
- Hike, swim, attend a nature program, or just pause to take in the scenery as you make your way through Letchworth State Park.
- Ride the Virtual Gorge Elevator at the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center to see the rock layers formed millions of years ago and learn how Niagara Falls was formed.
- Explore Niagara Falls State Park, experience the Falls from an arm’s length away at the Cave of the Winds, and take a scenic ride on the Maid of the Mist Boat Tours.
- Then get ready for the thrilling ride down the rapids of the gorge on Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours.
- Feed a seal and tour the Aquarium of Niagara.
- Take in a breathtaking aerial view of Niagara Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, while you dine at the Top of the Falls Restaurant.
- On the Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises boat tour, you can cruise through five original 1825 locks and learn about other historic sights as you pass them.
- Learn about wildlife and geology as you investigate the ecosystems of Lake Erie and the Niagara River on an Ecological Discovery Tour from Grand Lady Cruises.
- See nature in a whole different light on a “night walk” at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve.
- Visit the Penn Dixie Paleontological and Outdoor Education Center and choose from a variety of fossil collecting, geology, birding, and astronomy programs.
Additional Options
- Dine in style at Templeton Landing as you overlook the picturesque Buffalo Waterfront.
- In the mood for more waterfront scenery? Choose from one of three narrated Buffalo Harbor Sightseeing Cruises.
- Tour the Burchfield Penney Art Center, one of only four LEED certified buildings in Buffalo.
- Pause to admire the peaceful atmosphere complete with the stone bridges, a creek, and gentle hills at Forest Lawn Cemetery in downtown Buffalo. Include time for a tour when costumed characters from the past come to life.
- Take a break from walking to enjoy a 1900s style train ride through countryside and farmlands aboard the Arcade & Attica Railroad.
- Visit Spring Lake Winery, Freedom Run Winery, or another of Niagara County’s wineries for a tour and tasting.
- See the Holland Land Office Museum, where 3.3 million acres of Western New York were surveyed and sold.
