By Lauren Antkowiak Buffalo is built for winter with endless opportunities to enjoy all that comes with it. Instead of dreading the winter months, which can feel like they last forever, embrace it. Get ready to enjoy all these wonderful winter festivities! The outdoors offers some of the best ways t...

By Lauren Antkowiak

Buffalo is built for winter with endless opportunities to enjoy all that comes with it. Instead of dreading the winter months, which can feel like they last forever, embrace it. Get ready to enjoy all these wonderful winter festivities!

The outdoors offers some of the best ways to spend winter. All over town one can find places for ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, snowshoe walks, tubing, sledding, and more. The most popular place in the last few years is Canalside. The Ice at Canalside is the place to ice skate, play a game of curling, enjoy coffee and hot chocolate while watching skaters, and to try out the newest attraction, ice biking, which is unique to the Buffalo area. Another popular area to ice skate is at Rotary Rink at Fountain Plaza in the heart of downtown Buffalo. Here you can skate with a view of downtown’s Christmas Tree, which is lit in a ceremony on December 1st, and can be viewed all month long. If ice isn’t your thing, check out Kissing Bridge or Holiday Valley for skiing, snowboarding, tubing, and snowshoe trails. Chestnut Ridge is also a wonderful place to go sledding or tobogganing, plus it’s free! There are plenty of other ice rinks and places to go sledding in your own neighborhood, so be on the lookout for events they have planned just for you!

Buffalo is home to other opportunities unique to winter. Hamburg Fairgrounds is famous for their Fairground Festival of Lights. Walk around the fairgrounds to shop for gifts from local vendors and check out their beautiful light display. At the Buffalo Zoo experience the Arctic Edge polar bear exhibit. In Medina go for a train ride on “The Polar Express” at the Medina Railroad Museum. And don’t forget to cheer on our professional hockey team, the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Arena. The winter is also a perfect time to see one of the natural wonders of the world, Niagara Falls. During winter it is a breathtaking experience and creates unbelievable picturesque scenes.

We hope with these few suggestions you can truly enjoy winter in Buffalo. And be sure to tell us about your favorite winter activity!