Niagara Falls, St. Catherines or K-W? (apartment, condo, neighbourhoods)

[katybird]

We're a couple in our 40's looking to relocate to SW Ontario, but not London or Windsor. I like the Niagara area a lot and have visited a few times as well as the tri-city area of Kitchener, Cambridge (not interested), Guelph and Hamilton (also not interested).

If I could get some info from people who live in or have lived in Niagara Falls, St. Catherines or Kitchenr - Waterloo that would be great

I know that Niagara Falls has plenty to offer for tourists, but what's it like to live there? Does the city support the arts outside of tourist entertainment? ie. Festivals, Arts Groups, Repertory Movie Theaters, etc.

Other things we'd like would be:

- a good choice of arts, music and leisure activities
- plenty of natural environment/parks to go for walks and biking
- people friendly neighbourhoods close to amenities, ie. walking distance (not suburbs or condo apartment blocks)
- reasonable housing cost
- a good choice of grocery shopping including ethnic foods and ideally farmer's markets (we like to cook and it sucks when you can't find ingredients)


Thanks!