Ice-skating during the holiday season is a magical thing. Take advantage of it & don’t miss out on one of the few real forms of magic we have.

by Max Fisher

Ice-skating is magic no matter what age you are

Ice Skating in Buffalo Niagara

Has anyone ever pinned down what exactly makes ice-skating so magical? I’m sure that there was some sonnet written in the 1600s that’s so beautifully written that it puts you right to sleep, but what exactly is it? Is it the sense of gliding on the ice that completely clears your head and makes you feel as if you’re flying? Is it the almost rhythmic sound the skates make while you move your feet on the ice? Or is it that sense of absolute freedom one feels when one’s on the ice? Like all their problems and worries are left outside as soon as they lace up their skates and hit the ice? It may be one of those things I mentioned. It may be all of them and even some I missed, but whatever the key to the feeling, ice-skating provides one thing for certain – it’s addicting! Once you get the hang of it after your 1000th fall, you can’t get enough. You’d sleep with your skates on if you could, and though I don’t recommend that (first off, you’d completely ruin your bed overnight; all the sheets would be torn to shreds).

The good news is it’s ice-skating season again, and with that comes a whole host of places for you to glide to your hearts content on the ice. So stick around, and we’ll go through some of the best places to go ice-skating in Buffalo Niagara this season. Let’s get started!

The Ice At Canalside

Everyone knows Canalside is one of Buffalo’s hottest spots all year long. Whether it’s great bands playing or good food being devoured with gusto, it’s a great place to spend some time with family or even go on a date, but when the cold starts to hit and you think ‘well, I guess all the fun’s over it’s too cold for anything’, that’s when they open up the ice rink and the fun continues! You may not get any more live bands, but the food and the ice are still here, and man oh man, are they going strong. So if you’re looking for a day of fun on the ice, Canalside has to be on your list of stops. If not, then you’re doing yourself a disservice, plain and simple.

The Rotary Rink

The rotary rink isn’t just a large skating rink where many have fun every season when it opens. No that’s only part of its draw. The thing that sets the Rotary Rink apart from other ice-skating rinks is that it’s smack dab in the middle of downtown Buffalo, meaning you’re right next to all the great restaurants and bars the area has to offer. Plus, as if that was enough of an incentive to go, you’ll have a front-row seat to all the fun, festive activities planned for the holiday season in the area like lighting that big beautiful Christmas tree. Can you imagine you get some friends together for a nice ice-skating session at the rotary rink. You and your friends had a blast and are now feeling that high you get immediately after skating. You go to a bar to get some food, maybe a few drinks, and then you finish the night off by looking at all the wonderful lights displayed on that beautiful monstrosity of a tree. There may be better nights out there, but for my money, that sounds like a damn good night all the same.

The Northtown Center of Amherst

The Northtown Center at Amherst is Western New York’s feature multipurpose sports facility. Meaning it’s not only a great place to ice-skate, but if hockey is your jam, they’ve got you more than covered on that front as well. The facility includes three NHL regulation ice pads (200″ x 85′), and one olympic size ice pad (200′ x 100′). Hockey sessions are between 5 and 10 dollars, so if plain ice-skating doesn’t do it for you and you want a bit more adrenaline to accompany you when you lace up your skates, 5 to10 dollars on olympic and NHL ice pads is a pretty great deal!

North Buffalo Ice Rink

The stand-out thing about this rink, in particular, is that they’re open almost every day of the season (except for prescheduled events which they list on their website). So, you can feasibly skate to your heart’s content whenever you want. They also offer classes in skating so you can brush up on your fundamentals and even hockey lessons so you can be a real terror whenever the puck meets your stick. It may not be the biggest or fanciest ice-skating rink you’ve ever laid your eyes on, but the fun vibe they present and classes they offer more than make up for it.

Find the Time to Hit the Rinks this Holiday Season

Ice-skating is something special because it’s one of the few activities that makes you feel weightless. Like when you’re on the ice, nothing else matters. There’s a sense of calm that comes with that that everyone should experience. Knowing that the holiday season is among us, a lot more people will get the chance to do that. That’s a great thing because unless you’re a professional ice skater and have to train, or you play hockey regularly, who among us has the time to ice-skate regularly during the year?

Sure, there are the dedicated who love ice-skating so much they’re more than willing to carve out time in their busy lives to get on the ice, but for the rest of us the holiday season is a bit of a slowdown period in some regards and it only helps matters that even more ice rinks are open during this season than any other time of the year. Hopefully, this piece gave you some new ideas, and perhaps it even got you excited enough just to go out and skate even if you haven’t done it for a while.

Ice-skating is a magical thing, and if you don’t take advantage of it, then you’re missing out on one of the real forms of magic we have.

Places to go Ice Skating in Buffalo Niagara

choose any location to view rink information, get directions, & more.

Buffalo Riverworks

Buffalo

Healthy Zone Rink

East Aurora

Hyde Park Ice Pavilion

Niagara Falls

Ice at Canalside

Buffalo

Ice Rink at Academy Park

Lewiston

North Buffalo Ice Rink

Buffalo

The NorthTown Center of Amherst

Amherst

The Rotary Rink

Buffalo

What do you think of our guide to Places to go Ice Skating in Buffalo Niagara? Have a favorite? Know a great one that we missed? Let us know.

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