Buffalo is a good place to visit – things to do in Buffalo, New York

Considered to be the best planned city in America, Buffalo is also a good place to visit. New York has far more to offer than just its proximity to Niagara Falls. I really think it’s one of the most underrated cities in the country.

We visited the Buffalo server days ago and through the process of writing this article I am realizing . I need to Prioritize a trip back there for this article. I will briefly cover a city’s history, population Skyline as well as a few things that make it unique. Now let’s know about Buffalo.

Things to do in Buffalo, New York

We always like to start by exploring how a city wound up being where it is today. Buffalo is located in the northeast corner of Lake Erie where the Niagara River begins. The area had long been within the territory of the Iroquois nation and in 1758 a French Trading Post was established. 

There the following year the trading post was destroyed by the British and a couple decades later the British settled Seneca refugees in the area of what is now in Buffalo. In 1793 the Seneca Tribe sold the land along the lake as part of the Holland land purchase. A town was laid out in 1803 that truly put Buffalo on the map and set it on a course toward becoming a major city was the completion of the Erie Canal.

Buffalo Metro Population

In 1825 which made Buffalo its Western terminus the significance of the Erie canal cannot be overstated. Because it connected the great lakes and Western waterways to the American Ocean allowing for quicker and easier trade and immigration. Buffalo’s population at the time was only 2,400 and just 15 years later the population had surged to over 18,000.

Today Buffalo has a population of around 276,000, which makes it the 79th largest city in the country. I tend to think the metro population is a better indicator of a city’s true size and Buffalo has a metro population of around 1 million one hundred and sixty one thousand which would make it the 49th largest metro in the country Falling behind Hartford Connecticut ahead of Birmingham.

Institutions of Buffalo

Some of the most recognizable companies headquartered in Buffalo include M&T Bank, New Era Cap, Delaware North. The Buffalo metro is home to nine colleges and universities including the University of Buffalo. Which is one of only two colleges in the country, founded by a past US president.

Buffalo Rochester Skyline

I think appearances matter, evaluating a city skyline is one of my favorite parts of writing these articles. The Buffalo Skyline at first glance doesn’t exactly impress. The buildings don’t come together in a picturesque way, when looking at the whole skyline. However some of the buildings, when looked at individually, are quite beautiful, which I’ll write more about in another article.

If you took the average height of buffalo’s tallest five buildings It would be ranked as the 51st skyline in the country. Just short of Omaha of Nebraska and just taller than Newark, New Jersey the tallest building in the city is the Seneca one Tower at 529 feet. The most impressive building in the skyline is the Buffalo City Hall. I love the look of this large and impressive building.

It’s one of the largest municipal buildings in the country. One of the most notable aspects of the Interior is the incredible skylight in the common council chamber. You can also go to an observation deck at the top of the city hall which is something I always appreciate.

If I were to make a ranking of my favorite city hall in the country this would probably be second only to the Philadelphia city hall. Now the Buffalo City hall is just one of the many architectural masterpieces in the city.

Read Also: Best 10 things to do near Niagara Falls New York

Buffalo has 80 buildings listed on the national register of historic places and this year architecture digest listed. Buffalo is one of the top cities in the world. To visit for architecture some Buffalo’s other unique buildings for architecture include the guarantee building which was one of the first steel supported structures in the world making it.

One of the first skyscrapers in the world, The Ellicott Square building, which was the largest office building in the world. In 1896 the Richardson Olmsted campus which was originally designed to be an insane asylum. That provided a pleasing surroundings for the Rand building which is considered to be part of the inspiration for the Empire state building.

The Buffalo savings bank which has a large 23 foot tall gold leafed dome. The electric tower which is my favorite building in the skyline and Buffalo is home to more buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Than any city in the country other than Chicago one of those buildings is his famous Martin house. He described this prairie house as a domestic Symphony on top of having some of the best architecture.

Buffalo is a good place to visit (Parks and Museums)

Buffalo has been referred to as the best designed city in the country, one reason for that is because Buffalo has a unique radial grid street system, similar to that in Washington DC. The other reason it’s considered such a well-designed city Because of its incredible park system.

The Buffalo park system was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who had previously designed central park and is known as the father of landscape architecture in the United States.

Buffalo’s park system is actually the oldest coordinated park system with six connected parks. The largest of these parks is Delaware park, at 350 acres on the edge of Delaware park is a place where unique architecture and art come together.

The Buffalo AKG art Museum formerly known as the Albright art gallery. The museum has around 400 pieces of modern and contemporary art. It is the 6th oldest public art institution in the country and recently reopened after going through some major renovations.

An area of Buffalo that has gone through an incredible transformation is Silo City. Following world war one Buffalo Emerged as the largest grain milling center in the country, which led to the largest collection of concrete Silos. Those collectively known as silo city have been given new life in recent years and are now used for festivals, zipline courses and even rock climbing walls.

Buffalo Naval Park and Cricket Stadium

It’s a great example of a city finding a way to reinvent an area. That would otherwise be a complete eyesore downstream from silo city is the canal side area. Which is where the old Erie Canal had its Terminus, it is a very nice waterfront park.

Today the Buffalo and Erie county Naval and Military park which is the largest Inland Naval Park in the country. But flow is home to two major sports teams, the Buffalo sabers and the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are in the process of building a beautiful new 1.35 billion dollar stadium. Which should complete for the 2026 NFL season and finally I have to end with the most famous landmark in the Buffalo area, Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls Buffalo Attractions

Niagara Falls is only 20 miles from Buffalo and is the primary reason most tourists visit the area. Niagara Falls is breathtaking and is the largest waterfall in North America by both volume and width; the equivalent of about 70 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of water goes over the falls every minute.

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Lucy Aurora

Lucy Aurora is a travel, lifestyle and food content strategist at The US Pedia. She covers trends and destinations that appeal to the modern traveler. He has been writing many helpful and unique articles about travel since the early days of his career, most of the time helping the travel enthusiasts in many ways. Several of his articles have appeared in various media, including the New York Times, Travel & Leisure, and Good Morning America