Erie Travel Guide

The lake, the lake, the lake!  Go boating, visit the historic Brig Niagara, see our new convention center on the bayfront, visit our new casino or watch the horseraces, go to Waldameer Park and ride our newest coaster, which spans across peninsula drive and back again, have a Smith hot dog, visit the wineries and drive to North East on either Route 5 or Route 20 and look at the miles of vineyards;  take in one of our famous sunsets, which were ranked #2 in all the world--we see so many of them we tend to take them for granted....check out state street and downtown and visit some of our more popular pubs like Sullivan's, Molly Brannigan's (authentic Irish pub imported from Dungarvan, Ireland piece by piece and serving REAL irish fare like blood pudding and bangers and mash), the Plymouth, Sherlock's.  Stop at the Millcreek Mall or one of the many shopping plazas nearby upper Peach Street to get your shopping on...

The city of my birth just doesn't look like its getting any better, unfortunately.  I just went back up there recently to visit with family and I couldn't believe how rough the inner city is getting.  My favorite restaurant, Hector's (Est. 1943), at the corner of Liberty and 18th, is still there and doing pretty good, but the area it sits in that used to be known as Little Italy just isn't Little Italy anymore.  There is a lot of growth on the outskirts, though, so overall Erie is an okay destination, but not a top 10 for most.

One time (long ago in early marriage) we stayed in a motel out from town that had a lower night rate than other places. We found out why: after dark, the freight trains went through, one per hour, blowing their horns, since there was a crossing nearby. At 5:00 AM we checked out and made a note: next time pay attention when crossing 2 RR tracks to get to the motel.