Our three days in Iguazu Falls – both the Brazilian and the Argentinian Sides!

Well, we definitely started off our trip with a bang – we spent 4 days and 3 nights in Iguazu Falls, and boy was it amazing! Iguazu Falls sit very close to the point where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay all meet. They span part of the border between Brazil and Argentina, much like Niagara Falls does between the United States and Canada. So I don’t bury the spoiler, these falls were just wow, like WOW.

We decided to do Iguazu Falls instead of the Amazon on our trip and I’m so glad we did. Igauzu Falls has been named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, and after seeing it in person it is obvious why. Some quick facts: Iguazu Falls are about twice the height of Niagara Falls and run about 3x the distance (0.6 miles vs. 1.7 miles). During dry season Iguazu has about 250 waterfalls but can go up to well over 300 in wet season. However, getting to Iguazu is a bit more difficult. We took a flight from Sao Paulo to the Iguazu Falls airport (IGU) in Brazil – the flight was about 90 minutes and a bus would have taken almost an entire day. We used points on the way there, but for the return our flights from IGU to GRU airport in Sao Paulo were about $200 each.

Where we stayed

We stayed at the Belmond Hotel das Cataratas, which is literally located across the street from the Falls on the Brazil side. It was SO worth it (there’s a hotel on the Argentina side as well, which gets great reviews, but as of April 2018 they aren’t taking new reservations because they are about to undergo a renovation). Now, it wasn’t cheap, but for us this hotel was worth the splurge. We were inside the Brazilian National Park the entire time we were there and could go to the Brazilian side of the falls anytime we wanted (with his workouts Damian was frequenting the falls at least twice, if not three times a day!).

A boat tour under Iguazu Falls? Yes please.

We arrived into Iguazu Falls on Tuesday, in the early afternoon. After a quick ride to the hotel we napped and rested a bit and then decided we were too excited and wanted to do something with the falls on our first day. We decided to check off one of our most anticipated activities first – boating under Iguazu Falls! It is possible to do this on both the Brazilian and the Argentina sides, but we decided to do the Brazilian side for a few reasons. First, the excursion left from inside the park, which meant it was a short 5-minute shuttle ride from our hotel. Second, Lonely Planet Brazil mentioned that the boat excursions from the Brazilian side are better regulated and use Navy boats, so we felt safer with this option.

If you look at the picture below, the set of a couple falls in the middle (with the mist coming off them because of the force) are the ones that our boat took us under.

Guys, I’ve been on Maid of the Mist at Niagara and this boat ride is nothing like that. While Maid of the Mist takes you close-ish to the falls and you can wear a rain jacket if you’d like, this boat trip literally takes you under the Iguazu Falls waterfalls themselves. We wore ponchos but still came out drenched!

The boat had a super strong motor to be able to go against the current and up to the waterfalls, and when you were under the falls it was just walls of water coming down at you. The boat driver took us under the falls twice and then all the passengers started chanting “one more time! one more time!” so he took us a third time. This is one thing I would definitely do again if we returned!

Walking the Brazil side of Iguazu Falls

The next day, Wednesday, we did our own walking tour of the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. One of the things that is awesome about Iguazu is that the falls (on both sides) are in national parks and completely surrounded by nature. It took us about two hours to do the full hike/walk/tour of the Brazilian side and it was super scenic. We were in the forest for most of it and there were lots of little vistas to stop and look at the different views of the falls.

The big kahuna, however, comes at the end. There are walkways and platforms that let you walk out over on top of the falls (where you get soaked and have a blast!) and then a ramp that lets you walk up alongside the falls (that’s where the picture above was taken). It’s hard to put into the words the grandeur of the falls, the force of the water and how tiny you feel on the platforms so below is a little 15-second video clip we took from the ramp.

After we explored the Brazilian side we decided to have a chill afternoon/evening and spent it relaxing by and swimming in the hotel pool. And that was our Wednesday!

Exploring the Argentina side of Iguazu Falls

We started early the next day (Thursday) to do our own hike/walk/tour of the Argentine side of the falls. We decided to hire a private car through the hotel to take us there and back. To do a tour (where you go on a bus and are with a group of 20-40 people, with a “tour guide” – who doesn’t really explain stuff but just waves a flag and makes you follow him/her) it would have been ~$80 for each of us, for $160 total. To have a taxi drop us off and bring us back it would have been about $130 total. And for a private car, with a dedicated driver it was about $180 total. We definitely weren’t interested in the tour option (we’re more the self-guided type) and for the extra $50 we preferred the peace of mind to have a driver that does this route every day and is known by the hotel (especially since we had to cross the border and have our passports and visas and everything with us).

There are three major routes to walk on the Argentine side of the falls. The first one, which gives you the biggest adrenaline rush, is called Devil’s Throat (Damian pictured next to it below). For this you take a 10-15 minute train ride up to this set of falls and then hike a walkway for about 20 minutes through the forest and over the river. After the hike/walk you get to a platform that sits on top the most powerful waterfall I have ever seen.

Again, a picture doesn’t really do it justice so I’ve included another 15-second YouTube video below. It’s hard to believe that there can be a place where so much water is constantly going over the falls with so much force – where does so much water come from and how can the rock underneath it be so strong to stand the force of it for tens of thousands of years (and we were there during the dry season!)??

After we took the train back, we were on to the second route – the Lower Route (or circuito inferior). As you can guess, this takes you on a lower path so you are either seeing the middle of or the bottom of the waterfalls you are walking past. This was about a mile but took us maybe 90 minutes because of all the stopping and picture taking and ooh-ing and aah-ing we did.

One of my favorite parts of the lower circuit was another platform that had been built that basically took us right up to the bottom edge of one of the biggest waterfalls. We of course got soaked but it was so fun and exhilarating to be surrounded by so much water. As a true Aquarius water-baby this was heaven for me!

And finally, we did the third route – the Upper Route (or circuito superior). This, also quite obviously, takes you on a walk through the forest but at a level above the falls. You are often walking on bridges that are going over the same falls you saw from the middle or bottom on the lower route. This trail is also about a mile but we did it in 45 minutes or so because, well, it’s hard to understand and see the power of these gargantuan waterfalls as intimately from the top.

All-in-all our Argentina Iguazu adventure took about 6 hours in the park plus an hour to get there and an hour to return. Of the 6 hours in the park, we were hiking/walking/touring for 4 hours of it and the rest was spent waiting for the train to/from Devil’s Throat (they could use a little operational consulting for this part – our only complaint of the trip!) and eating lunch.

What we didn’t do in the Iguazu Falls area

Over our four days there were a couple of “major” activities we decided to skip in the Iguazu area – a helicopter ride over the falls (sounded super cool but at $100 for 10 minutes combined with my motion sickness we weren’t super amped for it) and visiting the Itaipu Dam (you can’t predict when the dam is actually going to be operational and we were more excited to recuperate from our long journey than to drive an hour to check out awesome engineering – so unlike us, I know).

Wrapping up our time at Iguazu Falls

Finally, there were other random, fun things about being in both the national parks. There are little racoon-like critters called coatis (pronounce co-ah-chees) throughout. They are pretty harmless overall and won’t bother you – unless you have food. Then they will jump and try to grab it! There’s lots of super graphic warning signs throughout the parks that show mangled, bloody fingers that people have gotten when they have tried to feed the coatis. There’s also a TON of butterflies everywhere. And when I say a ton, I mean like swarms of them. At first it’s like – oh wow this is so amazing, so neat, so beautiful. But after a while you start treating them like gnats, swatting to make them stop flying right into your face! There’s also a bird park (Parque das Aves) right outside of the Brazil National Park, and it is the biggest one in Brazil. We went on Friday before leaving for our flight and, while Damian had a great time, I realized that I’m actually quite terrified of birds and would prefer to never visit a bird park again. But, to each their own.

Anyway, as waterfall junkies, Iguazu Falls was one of the coolest places we’ve ever been and we can’t wait to come back one day!

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Read more about our time in Brazil using the links below:

• Brazil Country Recap – What we loved (and didn’t love) in our six weeks there
• Iguazu Falls (you are here!)
• Exploring São Paulo
• Exploring Bonito
• Touring in Bonito (river snorkeling and waterfall hiking)
• Rio de Janeiro: Our first three days in Rio
• Rio de Janeiro: “Professor-ial” thoughts on attending a game at Maracana
• Rio de Janeiro: Volunteering with Project Favela
• Three days in the beach paradies of Ubatuba!
• Rio de Janeiro: Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain
• The amazing landscape of Lençóis Maranhenses
• Three days in the hippie beach town of Jericoacoara
• Why we had to skip Canoa Quebrada and go to Natal instead
• Six days in Praia da Pipa (my favorite beach town)
• 24 hours in Olinda