- 1. Niagara Falls (about 30 minutes)
- 2. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario (about 1 hour with the border)
- 3. Letchworth State Park (about 1 hour)
- 4. Rochester (about 1 hour 15 minutes)
- 5. Chautauqua and the Lake Erie wine trail (about 1 hour 15 minutes)
- 6. Allegany State Park (about 1 hour 20 minutes)
- 7. The Finger Lakes (about 2 hours)
- 8. Toronto (about 2 hours without a border queue)
- 9. Corning and the Museum of Glass (about 2 hours 15 minutes)
- 10. Syracuse (about 2 hours 30 minutes)
- 11. Cleveland (about 3 hours)
- 12. The Adirondacks (about 4 hours 30 minutes)
- Getting out of Buffalo without a car
- Cheap weekend getaways from Buffalo by car
- Last-minute weekend getaways from Buffalo
Buffalo sits within a comfortable drive of more variety than most people give it credit for, and the twelve below are ordered by how long it takes to get there. Drive times are for clear roads, so add to them for a Friday evening start.
1. Niagara Falls (about 30 minutes)
Closer to Buffalo than most visitors realise. The American side is quieter and cheaper, and the Cave of the Winds deck puts you close enough to the Bridal Veil to need the poncho.
2. Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario (about 1 hour with the border)
A preserved 19th-century town at the mouth of the river, surrounded by Niagara Peninsula wineries and known for ice wine. You need a passport, and the border queue is the variable.
3. Letchworth State Park (about 1 hour)
Three major waterfalls in a gorge six hundred feet deep, often called the Grand Canyon of the East. Genuinely spectacular and far less visited than that nickname suggests.
4. Rochester (about 1 hour 15 minutes)
The George Eastman Museum in Kodak’s founder’s house is the best photography collection in the country, and the Strong National Museum of Play is a serious archive underneath the fun.
5. Chautauqua and the Lake Erie wine trail (about 1 hour 15 minutes)
The Chautauqua Institution runs a nine-week summer season of lectures and concerts on a lakeside campus, and the vineyards along the lake shore run all year.
6. Allegany State Park (about 1 hour 20 minutes)
The largest state park in New York, with hardwood forest, rock formations at Thunder Rocks and enough trail to lose a weekend in.
7. The Finger Lakes (about 2 hours)
Eleven long narrow lakes, more than a hundred wineries and Watkins Glen, whose gorge trail passes behind and under nineteen waterfalls.
8. Toronto (about 2 hours without a border queue)
A genuinely international city with the AGO, the ROM, Kensington Market and the islands. Passport required, and the wait at the Peace Bridge decides the trip.
9. Corning and the Museum of Glass (about 2 hours 15 minutes)
Thirty-five centuries of glass, live hot-glass demonstrations and a workshop where you can make something yourself. Better than it sounds and easily half a day.
10. Syracuse (about 2 hours 30 minutes)
The Erie Canal Museum in the last surviving weighlock building, and Green Lakes State Park just east with two meromictic lakes that stay an improbable turquoise.
11. Cleveland (about 3 hours)
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a free art museum and the West Side Market, straight along the lake shore.
12. The Adirondacks (about 4 hours 30 minutes)
Six million acres, which is larger than any national park in the lower 48. Lake Placid is the obvious base; the High Peaks are the reason.
Getting out of Buffalo without a car
One of the better rail cities on this list. Amtrak’s Empire Service runs east to Rochester, Syracuse and New York City, and the Maple Leaf continues across the border towards Niagara Falls and Toronto, which makes three of the trips here workable without driving. Letchworth, Allegany and Chautauqua all need a car.
Cheap weekend getaways from Buffalo by car
- Niagara Falls: the state park and the falls views cost nothing
- Letchworth: one vehicle fee for the whole gorge
- Allegany: a state park day and cheap cabins
- Chautauqua wine trail: the drive is free, the tastings are the budget
Last-minute weekend getaways from Buffalo
- Niagara Falls, half an hour and always open
- Letchworth or Allegany, both walk-in state parks
- Rochester, big enough for a same-day room
- The Finger Lakes midweek, when the inns loosen up
If you are deciding on the day, work backwards from the drive rather than the destination: anything under two hours leaves you a genuine Saturday, and anything past four is really a three-day trip wearing a weekend label.
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Written by
John Morrison is the founder and lead travel writer at Packzup. Over the past decade he has explored destinations across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania — always self-funded, never on a press trip.
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