Some hotels have a view. Fallsview has the view. I pulled back the curtains on my first morning to find the Horseshoe Falls throwing up a curtain of mist directly in front of me, close enough that the window carried the faintest tremor of all that falling water. I have reviewed a great many rooms with a "feature outlook." Very few have made me put down my notebook and simply watch for ten minutes. This one did.

Perched on the cliff edge above the falls, Fallsview is a billion-dollar resort that wears its ambition openly. It opened in 2004 as Ontario's answer to the great casino resorts, and two decades on it still feels like a proper destination: a shopping galleria, two theatres, eighteen places to eat and drink, a spa, and a gaming floor large enough to get pleasantly lost in.

A room with a (very good) view

The Fallsview rooms are the reason to come, and they are worth the request when you book. Mine was spacious and calm, with the kind of bed that recent guests keep singling out — "the best night's sleep in ages," as one put it, and I concur. Check-in was smooth, the staff genuinely warm, and housekeeping attentive to the point that a colleague's only complaint was that she wished they'd restocked the bottled water on a two-night stay. These are the good problems a well-run hotel has.

I will note, in fairness, what the more critical reviews flag: a handful of guests find the standard rooms a little dated, with the occasional musty note and towels that could be softer. My experience skewed strongly positive, but if you are paying for a falls view, ask for a recently refreshed room and you'll head off the main gripe.

You come for the waterfall and stay for a resort that has genuinely thought about how to fill a rainy afternoon.

The casino and the entertainment

The gaming floor is enormous — well over a hundred tables and thousands of slots — and, as one cheerful guest reported, a players card can earn you a little free play to start (he won on his first spin; your mileage may vary). What impressed me more was the entertainment programming. Between the intimate Avalon Theatre and the 5,000-seat OLG Stage, there is almost always a name worth seeing, and it turns an evening here into more than a gamble.

The spa deserves a special mention. Several guests describe staff going out of their way to accommodate health needs, and my own treatment was among the more thoughtful I've had in a resort setting. Add an indoor pool and thirty-odd shops, and you have a place that can absorb a Niagara downpour without anyone getting cabin fever.

The honest caveats

Parking can be pricey and, by some accounts, inconsistent — budget for it and confirm the arrangement on arrival. And a minority of long-time visitors feel the casino's character has shifted under newer management. Neither dampened my stay, but I pass them on because you'd want to know.