Luxury travellers looking to sip themselves silly on a road trip of Ontario wine country find happiness in postcard-perfect Niagara on the Lake during the winter season.
Located just a stones throw from the infamous Falls, Niagara on the Lake’s high season is traditionally in the summer and autumn, when carefree cyclists peddle past award-winning wineries, music festivals offer al fresco entertainment, and pretty patio’s buzz long after the sun has set.
Save this story to Pinterest so you can look at it later!
After enjoying a Niagara visit in January, I learned there are plenty of reasons to explore the region in the winter.
Boutique hotels offer great off season deals, last minute reservations can be nabbed at buzz-worthy restaurants, winery staff have more time to give you one-on-one attention, and the annual Icewine Festival offers a seriously sweet program…not to mention the sublime landscape is blanketed in soft white snow.
Join Dobbernationloves founder Andrew Dobson in the kitchen by signing up for a fun virtual cooking class! Classes begin with a cocktail that you can sip while preparing 2-3 recipes that are curated around a unique culinary theme. Check out our current Cooking Class Schedule!
Best Niagara on the Lake Hotels
Looking to enjoy a winter weekend getaway to sip through Niagara on the Lake’s best wineries? We suggest spending 2-3 nights in Niagara on the Lake wine country. A weekend will give you enough time to enjoy the village’s historic main street, gourmet restaurants, and award-winning wineries.
Niagara on the Lake is a perfect destination for wine lovers in winter. Many of the best boutique luxury hotels in Niagara on the Lake offer special discounts during the January, February and March low season. Our favourites include:
We’ve included helpful links to the best hotel booking sites so you can compare prices and availability.
- Pillar & Post: Pillar & Post is a charming country inn offering guests luxurious suites, fine dining restaurant, gorgeous gardens and Niagara on the Lake’s largest spa.
HotelsCombined | Booking.com |TripAdvisor | Agoda
- 124 on Queen Hotel: this resort-style hotel sits perched over Niagara on the Lake’s main street. It offers unique villa suites as well as a boutique spa and award-winning restaurant.
Expedia | TripAdvisor | Hotels.com | Agoda | HotelsCombined | Booking.com
- Somerset Bed and Breakfast: is the only accommodation in Niagara on the Lake located on Lake Ontario. The properties 3 luxurious suites enjoy views of nearby Fort Niagara. Ranked as the best B&B in Niagara for a romantic getaway.
Expedia | TripAdvisor | HotelsCombined | Hotels.com
- The Charles Hotel: is our favourite boutique hotel in Niagara on the Lake. The historic property offers antique adorned suites, fine dining restaurant and a popular verandah that sits perched over North America’s oldest golf course.
Expedia | TripAdvisor | Hotels.com | HotelsCombined | Booking.com
The Oban Inn OSpa
If you’re keen to avoid a bitter cold blizzard and in need of a slice of R&R head to The Oban Inn’s petite OSpa. The boutique hotel’s tranquil, personalized, full-service spa is a unique facility dedicated to the health, well-being and vitality of each guest where the philosophy and décor are in harmony, forming a peaceful mood of sun, moon, earth and water.
The spa at Oban Inn offers four treatment rooms where friendly therapists use Aveda products to nourish the body and inspire the soul. After your treatment liven the senses with a visit to the spa’s steam room or relax on a comfy couch while sipping luxurious loose leaf by Harney & Sons Fine Teas.
You May Also Enjoy Reading…
- Niagara Breweries: Best Craft Beer From Falls to Fort
- Best Niagara on the Lake Wineries
- Best Niagara on the Lake Restaurants
- Best Niagara Winery Restaurants
- Best Niagara Wine Tours
- Best Niagara Wine Festivals
- Best Niagara on the Lake Hotels & Resorts
- Best Niagara on the Lake Spas
- Beamsville Wineries: Best Vineyards Near Toronto
- 5 Wineries to Cycle and Sip in Niagara on the Lake
- Afternoon Tea at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara
- Best Wineries in Prince Edward County
Carriage Rides
Since 1989 Sentineal Carriage has offered visitors horse drawn carriage rides through Niagara on the Lake’s historic downtown. The informative narrated tours pick up in front of the historic Prince of Wales Hotel and last 30 min, 45 min or an hour. Throw a blanket over your lap, hold your sweetie tight, and enjoy a truly unique experience as you trot through one of Ontario’s most picturesque high streets.
Keen to book one of the best Niagara on the Lake wine tours? Leave the trip planning to local experts and enjoy an unforgettable adventure in Ontario wine country!
- Niagara on the Lake Winery Tour: enjoy a private tasting tour of Niagara wine region featuring tastings and lunch in historic Niagara-on-the-Lake.
- Niagara on the Lake Wine Tour and Icewine Lounge: this 6 hour tour visits a local chocolate factory, award-winning wineries and special stop to Peller Estates 10 Below Icewine Lounge.
- Niagara Wine, Cider and Brewery Tour: this 5 hour tour showcases Niagara’s best liquids in style. Travel in a Mercedes Benz to sample local wine, cider and craft beer.
- Niagara on the Lake Foodie Tour: this 3 hour small group tour showcases Niagara’s multicultural culinary flare.
- Private Wine and Chocolate Tour: this private tour accommodates up to 6 people and stops at 9 Niagara on the Lake wineries and a chocolate factory.
- Niagara on the Lake English Cab Tour: this 6 hour Niagara on the Lake wine tour is offered in an authentic black British taxi. Perfect option for a romantic couple, this private tour includes wine tastings and fine dining dinner.
- Indoor Baby Goat Yoga and Cider Tasting: for a truly quirky experience, Small Talk Vineyards offers goat yoga followed by a cider tasting.
- Niagara Falls Day Tour: this Niagara Falls day tour features a cruise, lunch and “journey behind the falls.”
- Niagara Falls Helicopter Tour: enjoy an unforgettable flight over Niagara Falls by helicopter.
Afternoon Tea at Prince of Wales Hotel
After your carriage ride skip into the lobby of the Prince of Wales Hotel and warm up over a dainty mid-afternoon sip and nibble. Treat yourself to Victorian elegance in the hotel’s glamorous Drawing Room for Afternoon Tea, where ornately decorated tea sets are poured alongside traditional three tiered service featuring petite sandwiches, freshly baked scones accompanied by cream and jam, and a selection of sweet pastries.
Skating at Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery
One of the newest additions to Niagara on the Lake’s happening beverage scene, Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery and Distillery has crafted an innovative winter program which has the property bustling all hours of the day and night. From 12-6pm hockey fans can be found lacing up their skates at the winery’s al fresco rink.
I arrived during the middle of the day on a weekend and was impressed to see a packed cocktail bar (take the time to enjoy a whisky tasting) and wine lovers lining up for a splash of Wayne’s fave Pinot Grigio. All the while a local DJ played 90s pop hits and a giant screen was erected to stream the hockey game later that evening. Let the kids zip around the rink and watch from the sidelines while sipping a duo of cool cocktails: the cherry hibiscus and Red Cask Whisky muddled Rusty Skate or Triple-Spiced Mulled Wine featuring Gretzky’s own Chardonnay and Ice Cask Whisky.
Ping Pong at Oast House Brewers
Craft beer fans looking to find entertainment on a cold winters eve should pop by Oast House Brewers for a pint and ping pong play. Oast House offers a drool-worthy collection of premium farmhouse ales (the Saison and Dark’ass Ale are my faves) which are best enjoyed while paddling back and forth with a friend at the brewery’s lone ping pong table. Oast House also has a tiny kitchen which features a rotating pop up concept which on my visit featured freshly shucked oysters and crunchy polenta fries.
Sparkling Wine Tasting at Chateau des Charmes
If you’re visiting Niagara with your sweetheart for a romantic Valentines Day getaway head to Château des Charmes and indulge in a sparkling wine tasting. You’ll enjoy a trilogy of celebratory sips featuring a pétillant pour of Brut Sparkling, Blac de Blancs, and sweet Rose. The trio of sparkling sips is served with a perfectly sweet-meets-salty bowl of popcorn.
Brunch at Ravine Vineyards
There’s nothing more enjoyable than sleeping in after indulging in a wine sloshed feast and then slowly sauntering over to a restorative brunch. Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery offers one of Niagara on the Lake’s best brunches, packing out on weekends as local families keep cozy in a sun-soaked dining room that overlooks soft snow covered vines. Brunch highlights include a recently launched craft cocktail program (candied bacon adorned Caesar for the win!), an Ontario cheese board featuring house made jam and relish, and a fun twist on the classic eggs bennie.
Niagara Icewine Festival
For three weekends in January the Niagara region is transformed into a wintry wonderland, in celebration of one of Canada’s most cherished products, Ontario Icewine. The 2020 Niagara Icewine Festival offered every pleasure and indulgence including a glamorous Gala, unique wine and food pairings at over 35 wineries, and vibrant outdoor street festivals.
On weekends during the month of January a stretch of Niagara on the Lake’s main street is closed off to traffic and becomes the centre of a pedestrian friendly festival zone where Icewine fans can exchange tokens to sample through Niagara’s finest sweet syrup. Local restaurants, hotels and winery’s offer a serious selection of snacks (we devoured bacon and cream muddled gnocchi, salmon sashimi topped salad, and spicy seafood chowder) while clowns on stilts and local five piece band entertained the crowd as they tip toed around epic ice sculptures.
Peller Estate Winery’s Icewine Marker’s Dinner
If you’re planning your winter wine getaway specifically around the Icewine Festival several of the regions top restaurants and wineries offer specialty menus and exclusive culinary events in celebration of the sweet stuff. One of the hottest tickets in town is Peller Estate Winery’s annual Icewine Maker’s Dinner hosted by Winemaker Katie Dickieson and Winery Chef Jason Parsons.
At this years event guests gathered at 7pm on a heated outdoor patio to sip Icewine muddled cocktails and nibble on freshly shucked oysters and piping hot Maple Bacon Fritters. The group was then escorted through two massive doors where they skipped through a dramatic chandelier lit alley covered in a cloud of dry ice. Guests were seated in a dramatic candelabra-lit cellar featuring a massive feasting table surrounded by a choir of sweet smelling wine barrels.
Chef Parsons 4-course menu was infused and inspired by the winery’s award winning Icewine, each course complimented by a perfectly paired Peller wine. After dinner, guests huddled around booming fires to toast ooey gooey Icewine marshmallows.
Review Our Travel Checklist When Planning Your Next Adventure!
Find the best flights on Skyscanner
Never travel without insurance! We suggest World Nomads comprehensive coverage as it includes over 250 adventure activities such as scuba diving, bungee jumping and surfing.
If you’re planning a road trip make sure to compare the best local car rental options.
Looking to book a tour or VIP experience on holiday? Book the best local tours on Viator.
Be sure to check your travel destinations electrical plug requirements in advance. If you travel often be sure to purchase a multi-region adaptor.
Whether you’re marching through a city or exploring a rugged rural landscape, it’s important to ensure you’re traveling with comfortable footwear. We suggest these comfortable walking shoes for urban adventures or these waterproof hiking boots when embarking on a hike holiday.
Capture your holiday on a quality camera. We suggest the pocket-sized Canon Powershot G7 or professional SLR we shoot with Canon EOS 6D.
Some of the links in this story use affiliate links. This means that if you book accommodation or tours through our site, dobbernationLOVES will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your support helps us to produce comprehensive content.
