By Rowan Ellis · Updated · Affiliate links, explained in my disclosure
Queen Tour Niagara Falls Tours
Niagara Falls Day Tour + Boat & Behind Falls Entry
4.8 (4,204) · from $50
If you search for a boat tour in Toronto you will meet two very different kinds of trip, and the results page mixes them together. A real boat tour in Toronto is a short cruise on the harbour past the CN Tower, or a longer meal cruise from Queens Quay. Most of the listings, though, are coach day trips to Niagara Falls with a boat ride at the other end. I compared 12 trips from $28 to $154, and only 2 of them stay on Toronto’s own water. Prices are in US dollars, checked in October 2026, and the booking links are affiliate links, as I explain on my about page.
My pick for a Toronto boat tour is the Toronto Harbour Tours cruise at $28: one hour, rated 4.7 from 3,183 reviews, with live commentary and the skyline from the water. If you want a meal, the City Cruises Premium Harbor Cruise is $51 for 2 to 2.5 hours. If Niagara is the point, the Queen Tour day trip at $50 is rated 4.8 from 4,204 reviews. Niagara Falls is about 66 kilometers from the CN Tower in a straight line, which I computed from my place data, and the real journey is a long coach ride. The boat part is short, so read those listings as day trips with a boat ride, and not as boat tours in Toronto.
Boat tours in Toronto that include Niagara start the same way: a pickup in downtown Toronto early in the morning and a long drive, because the falls are a long way from the lake shore where you started. The Queen Tour listing is the one I’d lead with. It costs $50, lasts about 9.5 hours (the listing says 10 hours), and is rated 4.8 from 4,204 reviews, the highest review count of any Niagara trip in my data. It picks up at 10 points in downtown Toronto and Mississauga, gives you 3 to 4 hours at the falls and stays on the Canadian side, so you do not need a passport.
The boat is not automatically in the price here. The listing says the Hornblower boat ride to the base of the Horseshoe Falls comes with packages 2 and 3, and Journey Behind the Falls with package 3 only, so choose the package before you pay. A maple syrup and chocolate factory tour is included, and free cancellation runs to 24 hours before the start. The second of these boat tours in Toronto is the Gray Line trip at $90, rated 4.6 from 779 reviews and 8.5 hours long. It meets at 55 York Street, in front of the Tim Hortons, and includes the boat with a souvenir poncho in one package. The listing also shows the cruise as an optional fee, so check which package your date shows.
Queen Tour Niagara Falls Tours
My pick: My pick for Niagara: $50, about 9.5 hours, 4.8 from 4,204 reviews, with the boat and Journey Behind the Falls as packages you choose.
Gray Line - Toronto
My pick: The long-established option: $90, 8.5 hours, 4.6 from 779 reviews, a poncho with the boat ride and a clear meeting point at 55 York Street.
The cheapest of the Toronto boat trips that add a boat ride to a day out is the BG Tours Canada trip at $49, rated 4.6 from 3,738 reviews and lasting 9 hours. It includes round-trip air-conditioned transport, a maple syrup tasting and free time at the falls. The boat is what the listing calls an optional upgrade: it says you skip the line at the Hornblower cruise only if you select that option and it is available. The listing offers English and German, which is useful if you travel with someone who prefers German.
I would treat this as a budget day out with a menu of add-ons rather than a boat trip. The stops named on the listing are the Floral Clock, the Niagara Whirlpool, Maple Leaf Place, the Canadian side of the falls, Hornblower Niagara Cruises, Journey Behind the Falls, Skylon Tower and Clifton Hill, so the boat is one item out of nine. If a boat trip is what you came for, the Toronto boat tour options below that stay on the harbour are shorter and cheaper per hour on the water. If you want the day out, this is the lowest entry price I found for it.
BG TOURS CANADA INC.
My pick: The lowest-priced Niagara day out: $49, 9 hours, 4.6 from 3,738 reviews, with the boat as an option you must select.
A Toronto harbor cruise, as most people mean it, is a sightseeing ride from the foot of the city. The real ones are in the next sections: the one-hour harbour and islands cruise and the City Cruises meal boat. This card is different, and I want to be honest about that. The trip below is a Niagara day trip whose listing calls the boat part a ride. It costs $105 and is the most expensive of the Queen Tour listings, rated 4.8 from 2,184 reviews and lasting 9 hours.
What you pay extra for is the package. It includes skip-the-line tickets to the Niagara City Cruises (Hornblower) boat cruise, formerly the Maid of the Mist, and Journey Behind the Falls if you select it when booking. A licensed Niagara Parks guide rides along, pickup is between 7:30 and 8:00 AM, and a maple trail tasting with chocolate samples is included. Bags and luggage are not allowed. I would book it if the boat and the tunnels are the whole point of your day, and I would pick a Toronto harbour boat tour if the harbour is.
Queen Tour Niagara Falls Tours
My pick: The premium Niagara package: $105, 9 hours, 4.8 from 2,184 reviews, boat and optional Journey Behind the Falls with skip-the-line entry.
For a boat tour in Toronto Harbour, none of the Niagara listings help, but the Airlink Power Trio package is the nearest thing to a bundle I found: skip-the-line entry to the City Cruise, Skylon Tower and Journey Behind the Falls, plus free souvenir ponchos for the boat and the tunnels. The trip costs $63, lasts 9 hours and is rated 4.7 from 2,319 reviews. It collects passengers from the Toronto Airport Marriott at 901 Dixon Road and from 20 Bay Street. Lunch and dinner are not included, and tips for the driver and guide are your call.
I mention it under the harbour heading because people ask whether a boat tour of Toronto Harbour can be part of a trip like this. There is not: this trip leaves the harbour behind. The harbour is the CN Tower, Harbourfront Centre and Queens Quay from the lake side, and a Toronto boat tour is the only way to see them that way, and the only trips on that water in my data are the two cruises I describe further down. The Airlink trip is the best value Niagara package here, but it is a day trip, and the harbour is not on it.
Airlink Niagara Falls Tours
My pick: The best-value bundle: $63, 9 hours, 4.7 from 2,319 reviews, with the boat, Skylon Tower and Journey Behind the Falls all skip-the-line.
This is the one that answers a search for a Toronto boat tour in the plainest way. Toronto Harbour Tours sells a one-hour harbour and islands sightseeing cruise for $28, rated 4.7 from 3,183 reviews. The listing mentions live commentary, local taxes and fees, and tips. The route takes in the skyline, the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and Billy Bishop Airport, and the listing names the Toronto Islands as the stop. It is the cheapest trip in my whole list, and the only one that is purely a harbour ride.
Check-in is on the west side of the red boathouse at the corner of York Street and Queens Quay West, at Pier 6. In my place data the Toronto Harbour Tours pin is 0.64 kilometers from the CN Tower in a straight line and 2.8 kilometers from Centre Island Pier, so the ride is short in distance and the cost per hour is the lowest of any trip I compared. The listing gives no departure times in my data, so I’d check the dates you want on the booking page. For official information on the islands, the City of Toronto is the place to look.
Toronto Harbour Tours Inc.
My pick: My pick for a boat tour of Toronto itself: $28, 1 hour, 4.7 from 3,183 reviews, live commentary and the skyline and islands from the water.
If you want a Toronto boat tour at night, the honest answer is that Toronto’s own harbour cruises in my data do not run after dark, and the night options are Niagara evening tours. The Zoom Tours trip at $154 is rated 4.2 from 577 reviews, and it is the most expensive and the lowest-rated listing in this guide. It uses a mini-coach, picks up from downtown hotels and Toronto Pearson Airport hotels, and includes the 20-minute Voyage to the Falls boat ride, skip-the-line entry, free time at the falls and bottled water. The listing says a Fallsview dinner comes with one option.
The Airlink evening tour is cheaper at $82 and rated 4.6, but from only 41 reviews, so it is a less proven pick. It meets at 20 Bay Street at 1:30 PM and includes the illumination of the falls, a boat cruise with skip-the-line entry and, from May to October, a fireworks show. I cover the meal side of both in my dinner cruise guide for Toronto. At 9 hours each, these evenings are long, and they get you home late, so I’d plan the next morning around them.
Night tourZoom Tours
My pick: The pricey, small-group-style evening: $154, 9 hours, 4.2 from 577 reviews, with the Hornblower ride and an optional Fallsview dinner.
Night tourAirlink Niagara Falls Tours
My pick: A cheaper evening with the light show: $82, 9 hours, 4.6 from only 41 reviews, so a less proven pick.
Prices for boat tours in Toronto run from $28 to $154 in my data, and the spread is mostly about what is in the day. A harbour cruise is $28 for one hour, which is $28 an hour. The City Cruises Premium Harbor Cruise is $51 for 2 to 2.5 hours, so roughly $20 to $26 an hour, and the price includes a plated lunch or dinner or a buffet brunch. That is the card in this section, and I should say plainly that it is a leftover in this allocation, not the cheapest trip: the cheapest is the $28 cruise above.
What the $51 ticket includes: a climate-controlled interior and an open deck, unlimited tea, coffee and water, reserved communal seating and an onboard DJ. Alcoholic drinks and soft drinks are for purchase. The boat is the Toronto Odyssey, and it leaves from Queen’s Quay Terminal at 207 Queen’s Quay West. It is rated 4.5 from 1,566 reviews. Reviewers praise the service and the food. The Niagara boat tours from Toronto cost more but fill a whole day, at about $5 to $17 an hour. Prices change by date, so use the booking link for the current price.
City Cruises Toronto
My pick: The meal cruise: $51, 2 to 2.5 hours, 4.5 from 1,566 reviews, with lunch, dinner or brunch, a DJ and unlimited tea and coffee.
When people look for Toronto cruise tickets, they often find the Niagara listings, and one of them has a seasonal twist. The Niagara and Toronto Tours trip at $59, rated 4.6 from 2,299 reviews, lasts 8 hours and is the shortest day trip in my list. The ‘Voyage to the Falls’ boat tour is available May through December if you select it, and in January through April the listing offers the Skylon Tower instead. So the ticket you hold depends on the month, which I would check before booking a winter date.
The rest of the day is a guided drive with live commentary in English, a stop in Niagara-on-the-Lake, the Niagara Gorge, the Whirlpool and the Sir Adam Beck reservoir, with free time at the falls. Food and gratuities are not included. I like this boat trip in Toronto and Niagara for the shorter day: it is 8 hours against 9 or 10 for the others, so it gets you home sooner, and the Niagara-on-the-Lake stop makes it more varied than the standard route. Note that the boat is not guaranteed if you travel from January to April.
NIAGARA & TORONTO TOURS
My pick: The shorter day trip: $59, 8 hours, 4.6 from 2,299 reviews, with the boat from May to December and Niagara-on-the-Lake included.
Forum talk about a Toronto boat tour usually boils down to one question: is the Niagara day worth the length, and which version should I take? I cannot quote Reddit here, so I will answer from the listings. The Toronto Bus Co trip at $77 is the one I’d point a food and wine person to. It is rated 4.6 from 1,195 reviews, lasts 10 hours and includes wine tasting, free time at the falls and a 3-course lunch overlooking the falls if you choose that option.
The cruise is in the title, but the pickup is at downtown hotels and stops include the Fairmont Royal York, Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, 55 York Street and the Chelsea Hotel. The stops named also cover Table Rock Welcome Centre and Niagara-on-the-Lake. At 10 hours, it is the longest in my list, and the winery makes it a trip for people who want a relaxed day, not a ticking-boxes tour. I’d choose it over the cheaper Toronto boat tours when the lunch matters to you, and I’d skip it if you only want the falls.
The Toronto Bus Co. ( TBCL )
My pick: The relaxed day with wine: $77, 10 hours, 4.6 from 1,195 reviews, with a tasting and an optional 3-course lunch at the falls.
The last of the Toronto boat tours here is the one I’d book last for a boat. The King Transportation trip costs $52, lasts 10 hours and is rated 4.7 from 859 reviews, but its own notes list the Hornblower boat ride and Journey Behind the Falls as not included, along with lunch and guide tips. What you do get is a round-trip WiFi coach from the south entrance of Union Station at Maple Leaf Square, a certified Niagara guide, the three falls viewpoints, a maple syrup tasting and a visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake.
So this one is a falls day with the option to add a boat in Niagara, and not one of the Toronto Canada boat tours that I’d put first. It is a fair choice if you prefer to buy the boat on the day or to skip it. If you do add the ride, expect to pay for it yourself, and the listing gives no price for it. For official visitor information, Niagara Parks is the source I’d check for the current boat and attraction details before you go.
King Transportation
My pick: Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake from Union Station: $52, 10 hours, 4.7 from 859 reviews, but the boat ride is not included.
On a Toronto boat tour of the harbour you see the skyline first. The CN Tower, Rogers Centre and Billy Bishop Airport are named on the Toronto Harbour Tours listing, and the Toronto Odyssey listing adds Harbourfront Centre, Sugar Beach, the Redpath Sugar Refinery and the historic Gibraltar Point Lighthouse. Those are the sights of a Toronto harbour cruise. The route map for this Toronto boat tour guide follows the stops of a Niagara day trip, the BG Tours listing, because it is the only one with a full stop list: the Floral Clock, the Niagara Whirlpool, Maple Leaf Place, the Canadian side of the falls, Hornblower Niagara Cruises, Journey Behind the Falls, Skylon Tower and Clifton Hill.
Stops on the route
The distances on the water are tiny. In my place data, City Cruises Toronto is 0.2 kilometers from Toronto Harbour Tours, 0.66 kilometers from Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada and 2.6 kilometers from Centre Island Pier, all straight-line figures from coordinates and not sailing distances. Niagara Falls is a different scale: about 66 kilometers from the CN Tower in a straight line, and farther by road. The falls boat itself is a 20-minute ride in a day of 8 to 10 hours, which is only a few percent of your time.
Most boat tours in Toronto that stay on the water leave from Queens Quay, on the central waterfront. Toronto Harbour Tours checks in at Pier 6 beside the red boathouse at York Street, and City Cruises boards at Queen’s Quay Terminal at number 207. They are 0.2 kilometers apart, so you can compare both in one walk. The Niagara day trips do not leave from the water: they pick up at hotels and landmarks, such as 55 York Street, 20 Bay Street and the south entrance of Union Station. Places on the grid below are the harbour sights and piers I’d use to orient myself.
Boat tour agency
4.7 · 1,562 Google reviews
145 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5J 2H4, Canada
Boat tour agency
4.4 · 1,705 Google reviews
207 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5J 1A7, Canada
Tourist attraction
4.6 · 24,101 Google reviews
235 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5J 2G8, Canada
Tourist attraction
4.6 · 89,893 Google reviews
290 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON M5V 3L9, Canada
Aquarium
4.6 · 70,878 Google reviews
288 Bremner Blvd, Toronto, ON M5V 3L9, Canada
Boat tour agency
4.5 · 1,980 Google reviews
235 Queens Quay W, Toronto, ON M5J 2B8, Canada
Pick the type of boat tour in Toronto first, because it decides your price, your day and where you end up. This table comes from the 12 listings in my data. The meal cruise has its own comparison page, which also covers the evening Niagara tours that serve dinner.
| Trip type | Price from | Typical duration | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harbour and islands cruise | $28 | 1 hour | The skyline and the Toronto Islands from the water |
| Dinner cruise | $51 | 2 to 2.5 hours (Niagara evenings: 9 hours) | A meal with the harbour view, or a Niagara evening |
| Niagara day trip with a boat ride | $49 | 8 to 10 hours | The falls, with the Hornblower ride as an add-on |
| Niagara bundle (boat, tower, tunnels) | $63 | 9 hours | Several falls attractions with skip-the-line entry |
My short answer for a first boat tour in Toronto is the $28 Toronto Harbour Tours cruise, because 3,183 reviewers rate it 4.7 and it is the one trip that really stays on the city’s water. Here is how I’d decide:
Before I booked any boat tour in Toronto, I’d check three things: whether the Niagara boat ride is selected in your package, which pickup point your option uses, and the cancellation text, which is free up to 24 hours for all 12. Browse the Toronto boat tours above, pick one and use the booking links to see current availability for your dates.
The 8 most-reviewed boat companies on Google Maps in Toronto, with what I found about each. Ratings and reviews are Google's.
Sightseeing tour agency
4.6 · 67,447 Google reviews
Not in my GetYourGuide comparison: book direct
Boat tour agency
5.0 · 2,050 Google reviews
Not in my GetYourGuide comparison: book direct
Boat tour agency
4.5 · 1,980 Google reviews
Not in my GetYourGuide comparison: book direct
Boat tour agency
4.4 · 1,705 Google reviews
1 of the tours I compared · from $51
Boat tour agency
4.7 · 1,562 Google reviews
1 of the tours I compared · from $28
Sightseeing tour agency
4.8 · 1,233 Google reviews
6 of the tours I compared · from $50
Boat tour agency
4.9 · 1,065 Google reviews
Not in my GetYourGuide comparison: book direct
Boat tour agency
4.7 · 461 Google reviews
Not in my GetYourGuide comparison: book direct
Not by water. Niagara Falls is about 66 kilometers from the CN Tower in a straight line, and the 10 Niagara trips I compared all go there by coach or mini-coach, then add a boat ride at the falls themselves. That ride is the Hornblower or Niagara City Cruises 'Voyage to the Falls', which one listing puts at 20 minutes.
For one hour and $28, I think so. The Toronto Harbour Tours cruise is rated 4.7 from 3,183 reviews, has live commentary and passes the CN Tower, Rogers Centre and Billy Bishop Airport. The City Cruises meal cruise costs $51 for 2 to 2.5 hours and is rated 4.5 from 1,566 reviews. Taxes and tips are included in the cheaper one.
If you want to stay in the city, I'd book the $28 Toronto Harbour Tours cruise: it is the only plain harbour and islands sightseeing trip I compared, rated 4.7 from 3,183 reviews. If Niagara is the reason you are searching, my pick is the Queen Tour day trip at $50, rated 4.8 from 4,204 reviews, with the boat as an add-on.
Short. The Evening Tour listing describes the Voyage to the Falls as a 20-minute journey to the base of the Horseshoe Falls, inside a day that lasts 8 to 10 hours on the listings. The rest is coach travel, viewpoints and free time. The boat is often an option you tick when you book, so check that it is selected.
Yes, and it is what most of these listings sell. I compared 10 day and evening trips from $49 to $154, lasting 8 to 10 hours. Pickups are in downtown Toronto and, for some, Mississauga or Pearson Airport hotels. The Queen Tour trip adds 3 to 4 hours at the falls and needs no passport because it stays on the Canadian side.
They share the same boat, so the real choice is the day around it. The Queen Tour trips at $50 and $105 are rated 4.8, the Airlink trip at $63 bundles the boat with Skylon Tower and Journey Behind the Falls, and Gray Line is $90 at 4.6. Cheapest is not best: I'd compare what each package includes.
Yes. All 12 listings in my data offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start for a full refund. The harbour cruises and the Niagara trips both say so. Weather can still change a day on the water or at the falls, so I'd look at the forecast the evening before and read the confirmation email.