United States · New York · Buffalo
Canalside, Buffalo — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Canalside is the Buffalo district rebuilt where the Erie Canal ended, at the foot of Main Street on the Buffalo River. The Commercial Slip holds water again.
About Canalside
Where to stay in Canalside
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Canalside is one of the few Buffalo districts where the rooms sit inside the attraction. Main Street carries them, with hotel floors above the rinks at LECOM Harborcenter and more at One Canalside a block north. From that pavement the Commercial Slip, the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park and the Explore & More Children's Museum are each a short walk.
The Cobblestone District begins one block east. Book here if you want the water outside the window rather than a quiet street.
About Canalside
What are the main landmarks in Canalside?
Canalside keeps its landmarks along the Central Wharf, the plank boardwalk running from the foot of Main Street to the Commercial Slip. The Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park moors the destroyer USS The Sullivans and the submarine USS Croaker at the river mouth. A truss footbridge crosses to Commercial Street.
Explore & More Children's Museum fills the South Aud Block. LECOM Harborcenter closes the eastern edge at Perry Street, and the dug-out foundations of the Steamboat Hotel lie open beside Lloyd Street. Buffalo RiverWorks stands across the water on Ganson Street, in the Cobblestone District rather than this one.
What is the history of Canalside?
Canalside covers the ground of Canal Street, the terminus quarter that opened with the Erie Canal in 1825 and filled with saloons behind the wharf. John Hodges published the song Buffalo Gals in 1844, about the women who worked those blocks. After the canal was deepened in 1895 the trade moved to the railroads, Sicilian families filled the tenements, and Canal Street was renamed Dante Place.
A tenement explosion in January 1936 pushed New York State to legislate slum demolition. Marine Drive Apartments followed in 1952. The Commercial Slip lay buried under the Buffalo Skyway until it was dug out and re-watered by 2008.
Where is Canalside?
Canalside holds the north bank of the Buffalo River at the foot of Main Street in Buffalo, with Marine Drive to the west and the Buffalo Skyway overhead.
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Updated September 2026