Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises

Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises

Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises
4.5
Historical & Heritage ToursBoat Tours
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
About
Just 30 minutes from Niagara Falls USA, Niagara Falls Canada and Buffalo NY "LOW BRIDGE, EVERYBODY DOWN!" Come aboard for a relaxing & informative ride on the 19th-century engineering marvel which opened the American Frontier. Featured on the History Channel's "Modern Marvels," AAA GEM Attraction, CAA Approved. Experience "Locking Through" - being raised and lowered 49 feet in Locks 34 & 35. See the remaining half of the famous "Flight of Five" locks from the 1800's. Be amazed at the 20-foot high stone walls of the 1800's "Rock Cut" and stone towpath blasted out of solid stone with powder left over from the War of 1812. Travel under the widest bridge in the U.S. Pass under 2 lift bridges that raise straight up while everyone sings "Low Bridge, Everybody Down...."
Lockport, New York

Awards
Travelers' Choice
2024

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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles746 reviews
Excellent
602
Very good
112
Average
22
Poor
6
Terrible
4

Tereena Morelli
Edmonton, Canada20 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2024 • Couples
During a 90 minute ride, along the last stretch of a 363 mile canal, the Lockport Locks Captain explains in detail the engineering feat that enabled people and products to travel faster than ever before. Entering Locks 34 & 35 we experience the sensation of a "giant bath tub filling & draining" as creatively described by our Captain, and although minimalizing the greatest public works project in North America the feeling is strangely accurate. :)

As we glide beneath one of the numerous unique bridges, Lockport's historic old city hall building is pointed out to us; with an excellent recommendation to try the best burgers in town .... and Stooge's Restaurant did not disappoint!
While my husband dives into his bbq pulled pork stuffed burger my admiration is completely devoted to the Champagne On Tap.

Whether the greatest project is a Canal built in 1817 that connected America from Albany to Buffalo - or - the invention of Champagne on Tap - the debate is still on!
Written September 25, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Kaz1100
Corvallis, OR1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2023 • Family
If you enjoy history up close this is a great place to visit. Not far from Buffalo, NY, this is the end of the Erie Canal. When finished, freight could be moved faster from here to NYC than by rail. There is a museum and a working lock as well as an older no longer in use lock. There are amazing bronze statues of actual workers back then and a stone memorial to the Irish immigrants who built these locks in the hardest rock area on the whole canal. Pictures of families that lived and worked on the canal including children that helped drive the mules that pulled the barges were illuminating. From here we went a short drive to Niagara Falls and to Goat Island that is free to walk across a bridge for better viewing of the American Falls and the horseshoe falls. We took the toll road across NY State to Syracuse and along the way stopped at a park and museum that included actual parts of the Erie Canal that were abandoned when the NY State thruway was constructed.
Written June 15, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Susan P
Riverside, CA4 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2024 • Couples
My husband and I experienced this ride of a lifetime at our son and daughter-in-law’s suggestion and we’re so glad we did! It was an amazing ride on the historic Erie Canal, with a captain and crew that both entertained and educated us at the same time. Highly recommend doing this trip down the canal!! The boat is a double decker, so we watched from both the upper deck and the lower deck, where you can go out to the bow or stay inside where it’s covered. Perfect day!
Written August 26, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Donna H
1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2024 • Family
After several trips to the Eisenhower Lock in Massena, this cruise helped explain several things. Being in the ship as the raising and lowering was taking place really helped clarify how the locks work, even if this one was smaller.

The tour guide who worked the snack stand was super helpful in answering our questions and explaining things in laymen's terms. My husband and I are both hearing impaired and wear hearing aids. The dialog made by the captain over a loudspeaker or microphone was useless to us because it was too loud to understand with the backfeed. aka our love for the tour guide!

The upper deck or the front of the boat is the place to be on this cruise as you cannot really appreciate the workings of the lock nor appreciate the beauty of the surroundings from the bottom deck with it's limited views.

All in all it was a good experience.
Written July 26, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

lula c
Roanoke, VA2 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Family
When I arrived, we were way early because I wanted to be sure where the place was at, so I knew where to go and how much we would have to kill before our scheduled time to ride. When I checked in and told her we were way early she said we could go now if we would like as there was still plenty of room so we did. This was nice and made a big difference in our day. The cruise was very educational and interesting for everyone. Words can't describe the experience of how the locks work, allowing the boat to be raised and lowered to the next lock. Total trip was just shy of 2 hours and worth every cent paid. This is a must for everyone. It is HC accessible for wheelchair users and rollators which was good for us. This was a 10 star experience.
Written July 22, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Julie L
Saint Leonard, MD1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022 • Family
I called a month in advance to make sure my daughter in a wheelchair could ride. We were told what we needed to do upon registration (days in advance) and we did all of that to make sure the handicapped accessible boat would be available.

2 hours before our scheduled cruise time, we got a call saying that there weren’t enough people registered for them to run the handicapped accessible boat. It wasn’t cost-effective for them to run it because they need a bigger crew. The man had the nerve to ask if my daughter could do “just 2 chairs.” No….that is why we need the handicapped accessible boat! I was at no time during my phone call the month before warned that there was a minimum for the handicapped accessible boat. He refused to run it and while he did refund our money, he made my daughter cry in disappointment.

We were all looking forward to this boat ride and we did everything we needed to do ahead of time. The company’s concern was only about money, not about being a wheelchair-friendly company. This is so frustrating and it is obvious that a lot of work still needs to be done in the world of accessibility.

If you have mobility limitations, DO NOT use this company.
Written October 3, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Bob I
2 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022
If you have never been through a lock this would be a worthwhile and fun tour. If you have, and you understand the basic history of this canal, then you can skip this tour.

Most of the time was spent inside two locks and very little time cruising on the canal.

It would be a lot better if the tour narrator was not the boat driver. I recommend a separate narrator that engages with the people on the tout, let the driver drive.

The narrator spoke into a fuzzy PA system and was hard to hear. The narrator/driver was average, the story and information passed on was not even close to what it could be. There was no excitement or passion for the history of the canal or the remarkable effort it took to build the locks.

Average at best.
Written July 20, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lori C
Middletown, MD3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2024 • Family
Great boat trip through the locks. Captain and crew were exceptional in explaining how the locks work, the history of the locks. They cheerfully answered our questions. The gift shop had a nice selection of unique items. Parking a full size pick up in the parking lot is tight. If you have a large vehicle, I would recommend parking on the street. Highly recommend this tour.
Written July 6, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Suru_A
Lockport, NY3 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
Great value, must do when visiting Lcokport, NY or Western NY. Lots of history. Professional captain, professional staff. Passing through the Locks and being able to see the locks operate itself is worth price of admission.
Written August 18, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Livefire17
Plattsburgh, NY71 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021 • Solo
I had planned on and looked forward to this trip. It provides an excellent look at a small portion of the huge engineering project (considering that the Erie Canal was conceived shortly after 1800 originally.) The Erie Canal that exists today was mostly all finished by 1917. An amazing project for its time!
The boat tour was quite enjoyable with the high points being “transiting” upstream and back down stream thrum the “Flight of Two” locks. Each lock provides a 25 foot change in elevation, all taking place in Downtown Lockport NY.
The boat was fairly comfortable and was equipped with restrooms and a small snack bar. In addition to operating the boat the captain provided a good humored, informative commentary.

I did have one quite notable objection. Our boat was closely followed by another one operated by the same company which appeared to be carrying a private charter. The group on this boat had a live band, but the music was so very LOUD that it made our captain’s commentary just about impossible to hear, even with a decent PA system.

The trip was about 2 hours long which might prove to be a bit lengthy for folks with smaller children. But, all in all, I’d recommend this to anyone with interest in canals, boats or history.
Written June 6, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Lockport Locks & Erie Canal Cruises - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2025)

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