The southern part of Ontario including the Niagara Region is blessed with many natural attractions and scenic drives for sightseeing.
We want to show you what you can do besides visiting Niagara Falls.
The fact that this area is relatively densely populated has advantages and disadvantages.

• Many stores, restaurants and accommodations to select from.
• Many festivals and events.
• A variety of theatres, exhibitions, movie theatres.
• Normally warmer temperatures.

• more polution than up north.
• Much more people. Solitude places and tranquillity arev harder to find.
• Many things are very commericialized and tailored for visitors from the USA.
• The official advertsing is too much focused on business and desribes everyting as second to none which is naturally not true. Nowhere everything is perfect and to lure people to our region when many attractions are closed and many activities are not fun any longer, creates a poor image.

Please check on a world map, how far south our area is located and how far north Ontario stretches - you will be surprised.
Now we will show you what you can experinece when you travel along the northern shore of lake Erie.

We start with our tour in Fort Erie. First of all we live close to this nice border town and we assume that you came to see Niagara Falls and want to explore the surroundings after having seen the mights falls and all the other attarctions which were of interest to you.
Our tour along Lake Erie is not yet complete. We hopefully can add more to this travel guide during 2009.
Lake Erie is relatively shallow and warms up fast. However, divers can still visit hidden treasures in the lake. Diving tours are offred by certain operators.
The lake covers an area of 25,745 km² - in comparrison the "Free State of Thuringia" in Germany has only an area of 16 172 km². If you want to learn about Thuringia - we prepared an English tourist guide for this state. Please use the installed link!

Please visit our site for Fort Erie.
I lived in this little town when I came in 1984 to Canada. I loved it there. Everybody was friendly and I had great neighbors.
Wind surfing was very popular at this time. My son built his own board in our basement and hat lots of fun with his Canadian friends on Lake Erie. Today you see hardly any more wind surfers.
Waverly Beach, a public beach in Fort Erie, has been improved. It includes now a park with old trees and a parking lot has been added. The access is still free.
However, the community alone is powerless against occasional pollution with e-coli bacteria.

Crystal Beach is a part of Fort Erie. About a decade ago an amusement park was the attraction. After less and less visitors came and Crystal Beach became not a place which was worth to visit, the amusement park was torn down and replaced by houses.
Now Crystal Beach is on its way to a better future. I could not see any longer all the drug addicts. Business is moving back and I hope that it will be rewarded.
We went several tomes to the public beach, despite the fact that is very often overcrowded. Now there a plans to sell the property to built apartments buildings.
All this for a fast profit! Local people do not need beaches and tourists should go gambling.

Ontario always says that it a year round destination. The nature in winter is certainly worth to see, if there is snow.
You only have to dress properly or stay in the warm car. I liked the ice covered falls in Niagara falls and the frozen lakes.
Unfortunately, other attractions as the forts are closed, even certain restaurants are not open.
However, you can save money, hotel prices are down and you can not spend money for visiting places which are not open.
Not closed - but only open on weekends is a German pastry shop called "Meister's Sweets" in Crystal Beach. Just use the provided link to see, what you miss if you do not visit it.

On our little expeditions, I used many little side roads which are not on the CD which I purchased many years ago from MapArt.
If you want to visit Pleasant Beach, follow the sign when you drive on Highway #3.
You will and free parking and a beautiful sandy beach.
I believe that the cars which you can see in the pictures do not belong to visitors of the beach. I think these belong to guests of the "Pleasant Beach Campground".
I generally avoid beaches where you can park your car directly at the water. One time I lasted only about 20 minutes. The noise from "Ghetto Blasters" was too much for me.
Close by you can also find "Sherkston Shores".
Just use the Internet to get information about this well known place.

We have included Port Colborne in our travel guide. We love to visit this little town.
I wanted to include some of the really interesting events in our German tourist site and asked for information, pictures and free tickets. I never received an answer - so I did not do anything. When I work for free I decide what I do. What a difference to the attitude of organizations in Newfoundland-Labrador. Even the majors of communities in Thuringia, Germany were much more helpful. They arranged that we could visit the beautiful water parks over there for free. What did I learn from the official advertising? "Ontario -there is no place like this"! How true - unfortunately.