Fort Erie

Fort Erie sits at the very south end of the Niagara Region, where the Niagara River pours out of Lake Erie and flows north toward the Falls. It's a town defined by water: sandy Lake Erie beaches at Crystal Beach, the wide blue stretch of the Niagara River with Buffalo's skyline on the far shore, and the 25-km Friendship Trail running along the old rail bed from Fort Erie to Port Colborne.

History runs deep here. Old Fort Erie — Canada's bloodiest battlefield from the War of 1812 — has been restored as a living-history site with costumed interpreters, musket demonstrations and panoramic views across the river. Downtown Ridgeway preserves a charming small-town main street, and the Crystal Beach neighbourhood still carries echoes of its early-20th-century amusement-park heyday.

Today Fort Erie is equal parts beach town, border community and outdoor playground. Summer brings swimmers and paddleboarders to Bay Beach, cyclists to the Friendship Trail, and race fans to the Fort Erie Race Track — one of the oldest thoroughbred tracks in North America. In quieter seasons it's migrating birds along the river, fresh perch and pickerel from local fish markets, and long walks on empty lakefront sand.