When the average traveler thinks of New York, they usually imagine the towering buildings and sparkling lights of Manhattan. While it and its neighboring boroughs certainly deserve a lot of the spotlight, so does the state’s second-largest city, in upstate New York.Buffalo sits on the shores of Lake Erie in western New York. Canada sits just on the other side of the Peace Bridge, while the Buffalo River runs through the city’s center and forms the western end of the Erie Canal. New York City is about a six-hour drive away, while Toronto can be reached in about two hours.