Your own luxury vehicle, your own licensed guide, your own day. Built for families, friends, couples and small corporate groups who want the Falls without sharing the bus.
Group tours are great. Private tours are something else.
Family, couple, friends — no strangers on the bus. The conversation, the photos, the day are yours.
Linger at the view you love. Skip the stop you don't. Add a coffee. Take an extra hour at Skylon. It's your day.
Clean late-model SUV or Sprinter, leather seats, climate control, bottled water on board. No school-bus vibes.
Your guide tailors the stories to you — daredevils for kids, geology for curious adults, photo tips for couples.
The full American & Canadian combo, private. Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Skylon Tower and Table Rock — with your own guide.
The U.S.-side highlights to yourselves — Maid of the Mist and skip-the-line Cave of the Winds, all without crossing the border.
Private tours are priced by group size, not per ticket. The bigger your group, the lower the per-person rate. We send a tailored quote within one business day of your enquiry.
Premium per-person rate. Best for couples and solo travelers wanting a fully tailored day.
Mid-tier rate. Families and small friend groups. Comfortable SUV fits the whole party with luggage.
Best value per person. Sprinter van or minibus. Great for multi-generational families and small corporate.
All quotes are no-obligation. Free cancellation up to 96 hours before your tour.
"Worth every dollar. Our guide adjusted everything around our 5-year-old — short walks, snack stops, the best view at every spot. Felt like we'd hired a local friend."
"We booked the deluxe both-sides for our 25th anniversary. The car was beautiful, the day was perfect, and our guide took the photos we'd been hoping for. Easy 6 stars."
"Booked a private tour for 8 colleagues on a conference offsite. The Sprinter was a relief vs another coach. Sales team is still talking about it."
Send us your group size and dates. Our private-tour team replies with availability and a tailored quote — usually within one business day.
We reply with pricing & availability.
A private Niagara Falls tour is the same set of attractions as our daily small-group tours — Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Skylon Tower, Goat Island, Table Rock — but rebuilt around your party alone. There is no one else in the vehicle. No one else at lunch. No "okay group, back on the bus in 10 minutes" because the group is just you. You decide what time to start, how long to spend at each viewpoint, which photos are worth the extra detour, and whether lunch is a sit-down restaurant or grabbed on the move. The guide and vehicle belong to your party for the full booked window. This is the version of Niagara most repeat visitors quietly wish they had booked the first time.
Roughly half of our private bookings come from multi-generational families — grandparents who can no longer keep up with a brisk group pace, young children who need extra washroom stops, teens who want to skip an attraction to spend longer at another. The pacing is yours; nobody is left behind and nobody is hurried. The second-largest group is honeymoon, anniversary and proposal trips where guests do not want strangers in their photos. The third is corporate guests on a tight day-trip schedule who need to fit the Falls between morning meetings and an early evening return flight.
Common private-tour requests our dispatch handles every week: skip the boat ride and substitute extra time at the helicopter pad; add a wine-region tasting on the way back from the Canadian side; do the whole tour in Spanish or Mandarin; pick up directly from Buffalo airport with luggage in the cargo bay, run the tour, then drop at the Niagara hotel; book a sunrise start to be at the top of Goat Island before any of the public coaches arrive. None of these need a custom contract — just add them to the booking notes when you enquire.
We publish two private tours that work for most parties out of the box.
Private Deluxe — Both Sides in One Day. A 6–7 hour itinerary covering the American side (Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Niagara Falls State Park) and the Canadian side (Skylon Tower, Table Rock, Journey Behind the Falls, panoramic Horseshoe Falls view). Passport required for every member of the party. This is the flagship — most first-time visitors book this when budget allows.
Private American-Side Tour. A 4–5 hour itinerary that stays in the United States — Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Bridal Veil Falls overlook, and the historic state park. No passport needed for any member of the party. Best fit for guests who do not currently hold a passport, are travelling with very young children whose documents are in flux, or have a tight window before an outbound flight from Buffalo.
Full custom. Anything else — add Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries, add a helicopter ride, run an evening illumination + dinner version, run a sunrise photography version, run a multi-day chained itinerary — tell us what you want in the enquiry form and we will write the itinerary and quote it back in writing.
Private tours are priced by vehicle, not by head. That means the per-person cost drops as your group grows. Standard vehicle classes we run for private tours:
Premium SUV — Cadillac Escalade or Chevy Suburban. Seats up to 5 adults plus driver-guide. Best for couples, solo travellers and small families. Climate-controlled, leather seating, USB charging.
Sprinter van — Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, 11-seat luxury configuration. Best for families of 6–10, two couples travelling together, or anyone who wants more cabin room over a long day. Bottled water on board.
Mini-coach — 24–28 passenger. Used for private parties of 12+, family reunions, and small corporate groups who still want the "private, not public" model.
For parties over 15 we usually recommend a custom Group booking — see the Groups page for that path.
Pickup is door-to-door from your hotel anywhere in Niagara Falls (NY) or Niagara Falls (ON). We also pick up from most major hotels in Buffalo, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and any Pearson-corridor hotel near Toronto airport — the latter two add to the quoted price because of the additional drive time. Airport-pickup-and-tour combinations work well: chauffeur meets you at baggage claim, luggage goes in the cargo hold, you drop bags at the hotel and start the tour the same day. Quote it together when you enquire.
For Canadian-side itineraries, the border crossing is built into the tour. The driver-guide handles all interaction with border officers on behalf of the vehicle; every guest needs a valid passport book (US passport cards do not work for the bridge crossing). Non-US/CA citizens additionally need a valid Canadian eTA — apply on the Government of Canada website at least 72 hours before your tour date.
Every private quote includes: the dedicated vehicle, fuel, professional licensed driver-guide who is also the storyteller, every attraction ticket on the published itinerary, all tolls and parking, bottled water on board, child or booster seats on request, and one stop at a viewpoint or photo spot of your choice that isn't on the standard itinerary. The price you see in the written quote is the price you pay — no fuel surcharge, no card-payment surcharge.
Not included: gratuities to your guide (15–20% is customary in North America for full-day private service); meals (we recommend two or three restaurants on either side of the border and book the table for you if you prefer); helicopter rides, jet boat rides, or other ad-on attractions you decide to add on the day; alcohol from Niagara wine-region stops.
Private tours are quoted in writing, not published as a per-head sticker price, because the right number depends on five inputs: group size, vehicle class, tour length, date (weekday vs weekend, peak vs shoulder), and any custom additions. The enquiry form above asks for those inputs and dispatch sends back a fully-loaded all-in quote within one business day. There is no obligation to book once you receive the quote, and the quoted figure is held for 14 days.
Payment is split: a deposit at booking secures the date and vehicle; the balance is due 14 days before tour date. We accept all major credit cards. A printed PDF receipt is emailed within 24 hours of completed service for guests who need it for expense reporting.
Standard 96-hour cancellation rule applies to private tours — see the Cancellation Policy page for the full breakdown. In short: cancel 96 or more hours before tour start time for a 100% refund of all monies paid; inside 96 hours, the booking is non-refundable because the vehicle and guide are already committed and we can't resell that day's slot. Reschedules requested 96+ hours out are free and subject to availability on the new date.
Weather-driven cancellations from our side are different — if we cancel for severe weather, road closures, vehicle issues, or an operator closure that materially changes the experience, you receive a full refund or a free reschedule, your choice. We will never keep your deposit on a day we did not operate.
Niagara Falls Tours America has been operating private tours since 2005 — long enough that several of our current driver-guides have led the exact same family year after year on return visits. We hold the #1 ranking on TripAdvisor for Niagara Falls tour operators with over 17,000 reviews and a 4.9 average. All vehicles are owned and operated in-house (we do not subcontract to ride-share or third-party livery companies). Driver-guides are New York-licensed and Canadian-licensed where required, fully insured, and trained in the geology, history and current operations of every attraction on the itinerary. Daily phone support 8 AM – 8 PM EST at +1 647 477 1520; the dispatch line answers within three rings.