Planning to go sometime in either late August or early September - leaning towards September.

It will be me, the wife & our 3 yr old son.

Planning to go for 2 to 3 days - preferable during the week as weekend may be too crowded.

It will be more for the wife as she want to see the falls. She just want to see the falls and then do a few hours site seeing or the park. I wanted to do a tour but she is leaning against that as she want to be free to do whatever she want at anytime.

Very likely we will be flying UA from EWR to Buffalo and back - have a few UA voucher available to use.

Planning to do 2 night at a hotel in either Buffalo or Niagara with easy access to the falls.

A budget hotel can do for this trip - don't plan on spending too much.

Don't plan on doing any driving. As the little one loves riding the bus & train, the wife want to take public transportation (very likely the Metro) from the hotel area to the falls - that would be the highlight for him.

I know that there will be certain areas/sites that we cannot go on/to with the kid because of his age.

Any Thoughts?

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Check travelzoo.com for periodic hotel specials in the Niagara Falls area.

Fares on UA between EWR and BUF might be high: I think UA has a monopoly on that route. Are other airports (PHL, JFK, LGA) and option for you?

Thanks for the suggestion - I will keep an eye on travelzoo.

Actually both JFK & LGA would be better options than EWR with LGA being the closest one to me. PHL is too far away.

I did the search on United and all I was coming up with was EWR. I was leaning towards United as I have 3 of their E-certificates that I want to use - they expire in May. But I am willing to go with a different airlines with good (better prices) and use the certificates for another trip.

I am also open to going sometime in the spring instead of September.

I believe you can get either take a public bus or a hotel bus to Buffalo/the Falls/your hotel from the airport. There is no metro from Buffalo to the Falls.

There is not much on the American side other than the Falls and the State Park. There is a small aquarium that is Ok for smaller kids.

There is much, much more to see and do on the Canadian side. The view of the Falls is much better on the Canadian side. You can walk across to Canada on the Rainbow Bridge but you will need passports/passport card/enhanced drivers License.

Not a lot of choices to stay in Niagara Falls. There is a Hampton Inn, Sheraton, and the Seneca Casino all within walking distance of the American side of the Falls. There may be a couple of more. Many more choices on the Canadian side of the Falls.

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"There is no metro from Buffalo to the Falls."

The local bus service in that area is referred to as Metro Bus, and it operates between Buffalo and Niagara Falls. (Metro Rail does not go to the Falls.)

Amtrak also has a few trips a day between Buffalo/Exchange Street Station, and Niagara Falls, NY. One of those trips continues on to Niagara Falls, ON. But Amtrak will be significantly more expensive than Metro Bus.

Jetblue flies JFK-BUF .

Ah, sorry I live in the area and have never heard the bus referred to as the Metro. If you use this option just make sure your are going to the tourist area of Niagara Falls/Niagara Falls State Park and not the city of Niagara Falls. Two very different areas.

I just did a search on both United & Jetlue for the same dates and United is more than twice the price of Jetblue. So I may do Jetblue & just use the United's certificates for another date.

Thanks for the advice.

I mention Metro because while I was browsing the Buffalo Airport website it stated Metro bus service.
http://www.buffaloairport.com/Ground/PublicTrans.aspx