Our Experience Touring the Sir Adam Beck
Generating Station #2

While looking for something to do on a recent long weekend we decided to take in a tour at the Sir Adam Beck Power Generation Station on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

The tour has always been something that we’ve wanted to do but just never got around to until now.

The main visitors building is only one story and pretty unassuming, and although clearly marked and easy to find it could also be easily missed as many people would be preoccupied with looking at the massive concrete power plant structures stretching all the way down the American side of the Niagara Gorge.

We arrived for the tour about twenty minutes early and had a chance to look around the main lobby. There’s a gift shop, lots of educational books and material and several historical artefacts on display from the beginning days of hydro power.

When the time for the tour came our guide gathered everyone together near the elevator. It was here that he gave us a little safety talk added with a couple of weird rules such as although you can take your camera with you to take pictures you can’t take the camera case or any other bags with you. Safety concerns were the reason.

Once in the elevator, our guide gave us some history on hydro power in Niagara and the Sir Adam Beck Generating Station while we make our way down more than 10 stories.

After reaching the bottom, we entered what seemed to be an endless hallway. It was very long and narrow and seemed to go on for ever as we walked to the other end.

On the other end there were many windows looking out at the vast concrete walls and penstocks that, inside, carried massive amounts of water to the generators. There were also various buildings visible and some of their history was explained while we were there.

We then made our way into a room that had several interactive displays showing various stages of the construction and operation of the generation station. At the end of the room were several large windows that looked down onto the main generating floor of the station. The very tops of the generators were the only parts visible to us as the rest was below ground where the water was doing its job and turning the huge turbines.

After this room we were led into one final room with chairs and a tv. Here the tour guide played a video demonstrating the history of Niagara Falls and of the Sir Adam Beck station.

After all that it was back through the long hallway and back up to the top where our tour official ended.

We were a little disappointed that the tour didn’t include an actual walk through the plant to see how it worked but once again the guide had cited “Security reasons” for the public’s restricted access.

Although the tour is interesting since guests get to see a part of history, the tour of the Sir Adam Beck Generation Station would most likely bore young children as it seems to come off more like an educational lesson than a tour of a great Niagara Falls attraction.

Over all the tour was a little more than half an hour, consisted of three observation areas to view and take pictures and included a couple of videos to learn about the history.



If you are interested in taking the tour it runs daily from April through November 10am to 5 pm during the Summer months.

Cost is $9.00 for adults and $5.85 for children over five years.

The Sir Adam Beck Generation Station #2 is located at 14000 Niagara Parkway and there is plenty of free parking available.

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