Sterling Inn & Spa

From Creamery to Couples’ Retreat, a Short Walk from the Falls

In 1928 a local dairyman, Fred Cairns, opened a creamery on Magdalen Street. For more than four decades it ran as Bordens Dairy, the plant behind the milkmen who worked the streets of Niagara Falls, and later the building became a string of nightclubs. In 2007 the Merani Hotel Group gave it its present form: Sterling Inn & Spa, a 41-suite boutique hotel that keeps the solid industrial shell and fills it with quiet, well-equipped rooms. In a city better known for towers and attractions, it is a rare address with a genuine story behind the front door.

Why It Works

We chose Sterling because it solves the Niagara problem. The Falls draw crowds, and most hotels near them are built for volume. Here the scale is small, the suites are individually designed, and the whole operation is pitched at two people who want comfort and privacy: king beds, jetted tubs, steam showers and breakfast delivered to the room. Add a full-service spa and a restaurant that takes local sourcing seriously, and you have a stay that works on its own terms, not merely as a bed near the attraction.

Why This Location

Magdalen Street sits in a residential pocket just back from the tourist strip, which is exactly the point. Clifton Hill and Queen Victoria Park are a ten to fifteen minute walk, close enough to stroll down for the evening illuminations and back again once the crowds thicken. Casino Niagara is nearby, and the wineries and heritage streets of Niagara-on-the-Lake are about 25 minutes by car, which makes the hotel a sensible base for combining the Falls with a day in wine country.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: intimate, industrial heritage, romantic, calm

• Rooms: 41 individually designed suites, including two-room options

• Best For: couples, anniversary and celebration stays, spa weekends

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: sleeping inside the 1928 creamery that once supplied Niagara’s doorstep milk deliveries

• Dining: AG Inspired Cuisine, a farm-to-table restaurant on site, plus breakfast served in the suite

• Amenities: full-service spa with massages, facials, wraps and scrubs, jetted tubs and steam showers in the suites, fitness room, on-site parking

• Attractions: Clifton Hill, Queen Victoria Park, the Horseshoe Falls, Casino Niagara, Niagara-on-the-Lake wineries

Suites Designed for Two

No two suites are quite the same, but they share a brief: space, privacy and a bathroom you will actually want to spend time in. King beds are standard, jetted tubs and steam showers turn an evening in into part of the trip, and the two-room suites give a little more breathing room for longer stays. Breakfast comes to the door each morning, a detail that sets the tone for the whole hotel. This is not a place built around the Clifton Hill arcades; it is made for couples who want the Falls in the afternoon and quiet after dark.

AG Inspired Cuisine and the Spa

The restaurant, AG Inspired Cuisine, is the hotel’s other reason to book. Its kitchen works on a farm-to-table basis, drawing on the orchards, farms and vineyards of the Niagara Peninsula, and its plates sit naturally alongside the region’s wines. Some stay packages include a three-course dinner, the easiest way to try it. The spa, staffed by massage therapists and aestheticians, completes the picture with massages, facials, body wraps and scrubs, so a whole weekend can pass without the car leaving the lot.

Before You Book

Sterling is at its best on a weekend built around the room, the table and the spa, with the Falls as an evening walk rather than the main event. Reserve dinner and treatments in advance, especially in summer and around holidays. Parking is on site, a real convenience this close to the Falls, and guests planning a wine country day will find Niagara-on-the-Lake an easy drive north along the river.