After dark the illumination lights hit the Horseshoe Falls and the mist comes straight up off the gorge at the rail, close enough that you feel it on your face. You hear the water before you see the brink. Niagara Parks runs the Canadian side year-round, and summer is the crush.
The Niagara Parkway follows the rim in daylight while the Horseshoe comes over in one sheet. You can spend the whole day on that rail with the gorge below. Across the river, the same gorge is a Buffalo trip.
There is no camping in Niagara Parks. The night is Chippawa Creek Conservation Area, where the campground loops Dils Lake, a man-made reservoir. A lakeside trail looks back at the water once the van is on the pad.
Book the Chippawa Creek site first, because the van is the second booking. In summer the Falls day and the Dils Lake pads book out together, so they are one weekend.
Chippawa Creek takes reservations on the Niagara conservation authority's booking service, as of September 2026, with bookings opening each April and a camping season from the Victoria Day weekend through Thanksgiving. The loops do not post a vehicle length cap. If you need more sleeping space than a campervan, look at RVs for rent in St. Catharines. The usual next day from Dils Lake is the wine road.
Niagara-on-the-Lake and the wine route
Between the QEW and Lake Ontario the ground goes flat in that lake-effect belt. Vines run in rows along the foot of the escarpment, and the wineries line that run toward Niagara-on-the-Lake. The old town is the turnaround, a walking day with tasting rooms on the way in and out. A night closer to the city is a Toronto trip.
Short Hills Provincial Park and Balls Falls
South of St. Catharines the escarpment is Carolinian forest. Trails at Short Hills Provincial Park take hiking, horseback riding, fishing, and mountain biking on the same network. You start at a trailhead and you stay on the trail. Ontario Parks lists three parking lots and no other visitor facilities, and it does not offer camping.
Twenty Mile Creek drops over the escarpment lip at Balls Falls, two waterfalls on the same creek. In spring the water comes over as a torrent, and by late summer it thins to a veil. The walk is the Cataract Trail, and Balls Falls prohibits swimming and does not offer camping. West along the same escarpment, a night at Valens Lake is a Hamilton trip.
Long Beach Conservation Area on Lake Erie
Behind the dune at Wainfleet, Long Beach Conservation Area opens onto Lake Erie, the water on the other side of the sand. Port Colborne is the nearby lake town.
The Long Beach campsites, in the authority's words, sell out in a hurry. Book the pad first, on the same reservation service and the same season as Chippawa Creek. If you want this shore, lock Long Beach the way you lock Dils Lake.