We decided to walk here from our cruise ship. This was a good hike but not a problem for my wife and I. We stopped at the Reversing Falls Lookout Point. This has a good view of the river, but not the actual rapids. There are two bridges that you have to look around to see that. To get to a better view we had to go to Fallsview Park. TO get there we had to cross the road and walk another 1/2 mile.

This was my first (1st) site to visit in Atlantic Canada. It was probably less than two (2) hours from the United States border. There was parking right by the bridge and on some of the nearby residential streets. This bridge was a nice walk and individuals can see the fast moving rapids of this river.

Before leaving Saint John, my husband and I stopped to view the reversing falls, which is where the Saint John River and Bay of Fundy meet. The water appears to flow in two different directions and creates a small whirlpool. It's quite neat to see and changes based on the tides.

This is a small city park on the Saint John River near the falls. There are restrooms and picnic tables but no other amenities. We headed here right after arriving, and it was slack tide (halfway between high and low tide). Water was very calm and still. Came back about 90 minutes later (low tide) and river was rushing down stream with rapids and falls visible. Crazy!

After reading many reviews here, I was still confused about exactly when and where to go to best see this phenomenon. After more research and going there three times, here's my advice. Before you go, check the tide table (search Canada tide charts and pick the official Canada site, then select the Saint John - 00065 station; not the Reversing Falls station, which only shows the "slack" times when the water is more or less stationary). For the best experience, go twice: at around low tide and at around high tide. At low tide, the river is running out toward the sea, whereas at high tide, the sea surges up the river. I originally thought that high/low tide would be when the water would be 'slack' (reversing), but there's a significant delay after the official peak tide, so turns out low and high tide are good times to go. As for where to go, head to the Chesley Drive (Route 100) bridge over the Saint John River. The rapids extend from just below (south) of the road and railroad bridges to several hundred meters/yards upstream. At low tide, both upper and lower rapids are impressive and worth seeing. At high tide, the upper rapids are more impressive, as the lower area isn't really rapids at that time, though it does have swirling whirlpools. The most popular parking spot is on the west side of the bridge, just south of Chesley along Riverview Avenue. This provides good viewing of the lower rapids. This is also where the restaurant is with its 'Skyview' rooftop platform (we didn't pay for that--seems unnecessary). We did eat at the restaurant; good views if you can get a table at the very forward edge overlooking the rapids. Otherwise, you can view from the railing just south of the restaurant, or walk along the bridge. You can see some of the upper rapids from the bridge, but views are obscured by the railroad bridge. There is also a viewing platform on the east side of the bridge, which provides good views of the lower rapids and some of the upper rapids. You can walk across the bridge to reach it, or there is a small parking area across the street. To view the upper rapids better, head to Fallsview Park: just east of the bridge on Chesley Drive, turn north on Douglas Ave (note left turns are prohibited at some times of day if coming from the west), then turn left at Fallsview Avenue to reach the park. There are a couple of levels of viewing there.

The drawcard of the trip was the reversing falls rapids which I have to say were less impressive than we'd hoped. I understand that the timing of the visit is key to seeing the falls and this can't always be planned around trip and ship excursion schedules. Even so, the time we were able to spend at the falls was limited. The tour of the town itself is ok but not special. The tour guide was very good.

Well the pulp mill across the river certainly isn’t great but it’s still pretty interesting. Our tour was able to visit the falls twice, several hours apart. That’s crucial. One visit won’t do the tidal reversal any justice.

We were here at high tide as were many other people - tour buses, etc. hence it took a little time to get around to see the different views but it was worth it. The currents were interesting. This would have been five stars but for the paper mill in the background which detracted from the beautiful natural setting. I was happy to hear from a local person who said that the ‘smoke’ coming out of the stacks was simply steam and that they recycled all of their water.