Discover Buffalo

You can plan a visit to Buffalo around several specific highlights: Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture, guided visits to historic homes, experiences on Lake Erie and along the waterfront, and the historic park and parkway system. To plan your trip, it helps to distinguish the offerings by type of visit: some take you inside a house, while others lead to the waterfront or along paved paths. This can help you decide which themes to include when searching for a hotel stay in Buffalo.

Wright and Guided Home Visits

The Martin House is a National Historic Landmark. Frank Lloyd Wright designed it in Buffalo between 1903 and 1905 as a city residence for businessman Darwin D. Martin and his family. Its residential purpose gives the architectural interest a concrete context: the focus is on a city home designed for a specific client and his family. A 75-minute docent-led tour introduces visitors to Wright’s innovative design concepts. Its duration and subject matter make it easy to include the visit as a clearly defined activity in your day’s plans.

The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site also offers tours, this time of Ansley Wilcox’s house. Along with the Martin House, you can distinguish the visits by their focus: Wright’s design concepts or a tour of Wilcox’s house. This gives you a clearly defined architectural theme and a guided visit to Ansley Wilcox’s home to choose from.

Water and Paths in Buffalo

For time by the water, Buffalo Harbor State Park offers several specific options. The park has views of Lake Erie and features a pier, a waterfront promenade for walking and sunbathing, and a boat launch. So it offers more than a viewpoint: the promenade invites you to walk and sunbathe, while the boat launch is another feature of the park.

At Canalside, you can rent kayaks on site. Guided walks and boat tours are also available, along with self-guided options for exploring the Buffalo waterfront. When choosing, consider whether you’d like to rent a kayak or explore the waterfront on a guided or self-guided tour.

Several miles of paved paths connect Canalside to the Outer Harbor and beyond. Compared with the tour options, this is another way to include the waterfront in your day’s plans: as a path connection rather than a guided or self-guided tour.

Olmsted’s Park and Parkway System

Buffalo has a historic park and parkway system designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Together with Wright’s Martin House, this offers two scales of design: a city residence designed for a family and a system of parks and parkways. If you’re interested in architecture and urban design, Buffalo lets you explore both a specific home and a historic park and parkway system.

Discover more destinations: Alden, Hamburg, Clarence Center, Lackawanna, Collins, East Aurora, Getzville, Tonawanda.

For the broader travel overview: Erie.