Winter Festival Top Ten Includes Niagara's Icewine Festival and Festival of Lights

NIAGARA FALLS - Already known world-wide as a great destination for a summer escape, Niagara just received a resounding endorsement as a fantastic place to celebrate the best of winter.

Two of Niagara's premier winter attractions - the CAA Winter Festival of Lights and the Niagara Icewine Festival - made it onto the most recent Top 10 list of Canada's best winter festivals, which was put together by online news portal Canoe.ca .

"Niagara has really figured out how to embrace winter and make the most of the season," says Anthony Annunziata, Vice-President of Marketing for the Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa . "Just because the temperature drops and the snow starts to fall doesn't mean we go into hibernation mode. Both of these festivals are packed with activities and entertainment that make the most of all the cool things you can do in winter."

Now under way in its 29th season, the CAA Winter Festival of Lights features more than 125 animated lighting displays and three million tree and ground lights that cast a colourful glow on the Niagara Parks Winter Wonderland, including the extremely popular "Enchantment of Disney" display in Queen Victoria Park.

The festival, which runs through the end of January, also keeps visitors entertained with fireworks shows over the Falls every Friday night, entertainment at various venues and the family-favourite TD Rink at the Brink, where skaters can hit the ice outdoors within view of the Falls.

The Niagara Icewine Festival, from Jan. 13-29, celebrates one of Canada's hottest commodities. Highly prized Niagara Icewine, made from grapes left on the vine to sweeten and then freeze, is served up at wineries and venues across the peninsula during the festival's three-week run, including popular outdoor bars carved from ice in Jordan and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

"In addition to being the closest hotel to the crest of Niagara Falls, the Marriott Fallsview's location offers an ideal starting point for visitors to take in these great winter events," Annunziata says. "Our fallsview guest suites overlook Queen Victoria Park, which means many of the amazing Winter Festival of Lights displays are just steps away. Guests can also enjoy the fireworks over the Falls from the warmth of their room, where they can also enjoy some of Niagara's finest icewines."

You can't much closer to Niagara than the Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa. Overlooking the crest of the Falls and Queen Victoria Park, the Marriott Fallsview affords you an escape from the ordinary with 432 luxury fallsview guest suites where you can view the fireworks over the falls from the comfort of your bed, fine dining at Terrapin Grille Fallsview Restaurant and the ultimate in relaxation at the Serenity Spa by the Falls.

The Marriott Fallsview offers numerous packages to help guests enjoy Niagara Falls in all its winter glory, including Winter Festival of Lights packages and packages for wine lovers .