Best Things to Do in Buffalo

Here’s your obligatory visit: The origin of the Buffalo wing starts here, a downtown sports tavern where one late night an owner fried some soup wings, tossed them in hot sauce, and a legend was born. Are they the best wings in Buffalo? Not even close. But it’s a historic stop that all must make to see where wings began.

Many a Buffalonian will cite Duff’s as the best wings in the city, a claim bolstered by its multiple locations around the region and three in Canada. Duff’s wings run a little hotter than average, but true heat heads will appreciate the religious experience that is Duff’s Death Sauce.

About half an hour south of the city sits this small-town tavern that hand paints each individual wing. The style has led to Bar Bill’s place at the top of the wing pecking order, where its fanned-out display of poultry has people waiting an hour or longer to get in.

The least glamorous but best-tasting wings in Buffalo are tucked away in a suburban strip mall near the University of Buffalo. Elmo’s gained its fame as home of the double-dipped wings, where a wing is fried, covered in sauce, grilled, then covered in sauce again.

This narrow neighborhood tavern in the village of Hamburg is regularly filled with after-work locals catching sports on TV. It’s also filled with dry-rubbed wings covered in a smoky, spicy sauce that are unlike anything in Buffalo. The stuff is insanely hot, so don’t expect your wings to come out too saucy.

Buffalo’s best burgers reside in this beer-filled bar in Allentown. Not only can you find over two dozen local beers on tap, you’ll also delight in order-by-number burgers topped with New York-sourced ingredients. The “Three” with Ommegang caramelized onions, applewood bacon and porter cheddar is always a winner.

Buffalo-style pizza is an odd city version that’s nearly impossible to procure elsewhere, where toppings and cheese stretch nearly to the edge of the thick crust and pepperoni curls up, creating little grease pools. Plenty of places around town have it, but La Nova’s been doing it since the 1950s, and was also one of the first pizzerias in America to put wings on its menu.

Another Buffalo delicacy is Beef on Weck, a hot roast beef sandwich served on a Kummelweck roll, often with horseradish. It’s ubiquitous on local menus, but Schwabl’s just feels like where you should be eating one, a historic restaurant that’s been open since 1837 and serving sandwiches since World War II.

Gabe’s Gate is another spot locals will call out as home to Buffalo’s best wings. Set in an old row home along Allen Street, the bar feels a little like a hunting lodge, with an impressive antler chandelier and wood booths. The wings are the big draw, but don’t leave without warming up with some French onion soup or the traditional Friday fish fry.

For the ultimate Buffalo nightlife experience, spend a night in Allentown, where the long collection of bars don’t close until 4 a.m., and friendly locals will often invite you to keep the party going after. Grab drinks and dinner at Billy Club,  then meander over to Allen Street Hardware or Mulligan’s Brick Bar for beers with a lively crowd. Stop into Founding Fathers for endless trivia and presidential artifacts. And no night in Allentown is complete if it doesn’t end at The Old Pink, a landmark dive bar where the real fun starts after 2 a.m.

In Elmwood Village you’ll find fantastic local restaurants like The Place and Forty Thieves alongside boutique shopping aplenty. Summer brings an outdoor farmer’s market that’s become a city staple. And even during cold months, they’re still cranking out sponge candy at Watson’s Chocolates. If house-gazing is your thing, rows of historic homes and small mansions shoot off Elmwood Avenue. 

The Village of East Aurora could be a destination unto itself, where a storybook main street is lined with bars, restaurants and shops where everybody knows your name. It’s been used for exterior shots in more Hallmark movies than we can name, and is home to the country’s largest five-and-dime a Vidler’s. It’s also home to Bar Bill Tavern and its hand-painted wings, and a brewery where you can sleep overnight at 42 North. You can take that beer to go if you like, because East Aurora is also one of a handful of American cities where walking down the street with an open drink is perfectly acceptable.

From the outside, this may seem like another average neighborhood tavern teeming with Bills fans and Labatt Blue. But it is, in fact, the city’s pre-eminent bar to catch live country and honky-tonk music, with performances almost nightly.

For alt and indie rock, head to this little music hall across from Big Ditch Brewing downtown. The small stage and bigtime sound system combine for the best pound-for-pound venue in the city, and you can stop by nearly every night to hear a local band you’ve probably never heard of.

During Buffalo’s industrial heyday, the city constructed some of the most impressive Art Deco and Beaux Arts buildings in the world. Stroll through grand old spaces like downtown’s City Hall, the old Statler Hotel and the Electric Tower with Explore Buffalo’s architecture tours. They’ll give you a new appreciation for the beauty of the city, and the history that made downtown so grand.

Few smaller U.S. cities boast a performing arts center as ornate as Shea’s, a sea of gold leaf and red carpet with 1920s grandeur around every corner. It opened as a movie house in the 1920s, then went on to host live performances by everyone from the Marx Brothers to Frank Sinatra. Today, you can catch touring Broadway shows from the spacious main floor or a balcony that seems to sit right on top of the stage.

Buffalo’s finest art museum dates back over 150 years and is the cultural centerpiece of Delaware Park. The Albright-Knox displays hundreds of modern art masterpieces and is a destination for anyone with an appreciation for the world of contemporary painting and sculpture. It’s currently undergoing construction, however, and plans to reopen in the second half of 2022.

This stunning architectural masterpiece was once the home of Larkin Co. executive Darwin Martin and today stands as a National Historic Landmark and tribute to preservation. Saved from complete demolition in 1992, its restoration was finally completed in 2019. It’s now filled with all the stylish angles, bright lights and thoughtful psychology that made Frank Lloyd Wright famous, and is open to the public Thursday-Monday.

You can experience in Buffalo a trifecta of awesome that few places in the world offer — no, seriously. At the Riverworks you are afforded the opportunity to sample craft beers, then scale a climbing wall and zipline between grain silos. Riverworks, a brewery/adventure center along the Buffalo River, is where you can do all of that, plus partake in ice skating in the winter. There’s a large events space that hosts boxing and concerts too, and a full menu of food alongside the beers.

Buffalo natives will joke that the city is lucky it was so poor during the depressed 1970s-1990s, because it couldn’t afford to tear down its historic structures. That’s why it’s left with places like Silo City, a collection of grain elevators along the Buffalo River, where you can take a kayak and paddle through the eerie, beautiful remnants of Buffalo’s port city past.

What was once the western terminus of the Erie Canal has been redeveloped into the social hub of downtown Buffalo. During the winter, a skating rink, ice bikes and ice bumper cars lure families from all over Western New York. During the summer, it hosts nighttime roller discos and frequent concerts.

America’s most famous waterfalls are only about half an hour from Buffalo, set inside a verdant state park with plenty of open viewing areas. While the U.S. side is easier to reach, if you’re up for a border crossing, the views from Canada are generally better, and offer a lot more in terms of restaurants and falls-related activities.

Once the grand home of industrialist Herbert Hills Hewitt, this Victorian mansion has been restored to its former glory and transformed into a 12-suite hotel. The main floor is a museum of antique pieces, and the basement “rathskeller” offers billiards and bourbon in a space where captains of industry once met. Owner Joe Lettieri will happily regale you with the place’s full history, often over a breakfast of fresh scones.

Buffalo’s most luxurious boutique digs sit in an old bank building downtown. The Curtiss is a marvel of marble and concrete, and home to the city’s best rooftop bar, a hit with guests and locals. Downstairs, the hotel’s circle bar is also a popular hangout. Also note: In the rooms, you’ll find the most high-tech showers of any hotel in America.

Once upon a time, Delaware Avenue was known as “Millionaire’s Mile,” where some of the richest families in the world built over-the-top mansions. The 19th-century splendor lives on at The Mansion, where a team of butlers attend to your every request inside the exquisitely decorated property. A Land Rover shuttle takes you anywhere you want to go in the city, and each night you can enjoy cocktail hour by the warming fire downstairs or the fireplace in your room.