The amazing waterfalls at Iguazu, on the border between Brazil and Argentina, are one of the ‘Natural Seven Wonders of the World’ and were at the top of our South American bucket list. We spent 3 nights in Foz do Iguaçú, a city on the Brazilian side of the Falls, crossing to the Argentinian side of the falls for a day trip.
You could, obviously, just visit the falls on one side, but I would thoroughly recommend going to both. In Brazil, you can get up-close to fully experience the sights and sounds of this huge body of water. Whilst following the trails in Argentina give you a broader perspective of the sheer scale of the waterfalls.
How to get to Iguazu
We arrived by plane and departed by bus. We flew the 750 miles south-west from Rio to Foz do Iguaçú. An added bonus to flying was the spectacular view of the waterfalls as we approached (try to get a seat on the left had side of the plane). The falls are around 15 miles south east of central Foz with the airport roughly midway between the two.
We continued our South American adventure by crossing to Paraguay’s Cuidad del Este and catching a bus to Asunción. It’s worth noting that local and international buses don’t depart from the same place.
If you choose to base yourself in Argentina, then Puerto Iguazú is the nearest town, with the falls being around 10 miles south east of town and the airport just south of that.
Getting around Foz do Iguaçú
We stayed in the city centre with plenty of bars, restaurants and shops within walking distance. To reach the falls and various other attractions, we took buses and taxis. There are plenty of tours available, but we were happy doing our own thing.
Where to stay in Foz do Iguaçú
The choices are to stay near the falls (convenient for the falls, with the advantage of being able to see them before/after the hordes of day trippers descend) or to stay in town (convenient for everything else). We stayed in the centre of town in The Bogari Hotel. It’s not the best hotel and swinging a cat definitely isn’t an option. But it’s very centrally located and we’ve stayed in (much) worse.
Iguazu: Top 10 Things to do
| 1 | Take a tour of Itaipu Dam |
| 2 | Wander along Avenida Brasil |
| 3 | Visit the spectacular Parque Nacional do Iguaçu |
| 4 | Enjoy tacky at Marco das Três Fronteiras |
| 5 | Visit the spectacular Parque Nacional de Iguazú |
| 6 | Marvel at the Garganta del Diablo |
| 7 | Stroll round the Circuito Superior |
| 8 | See where 3 countries meet at Hito Tres Fronteras |
| 9 | Cross the Friendship Bridge |
| 10 | Go duty free shopping in Ciudad del Este |
No 1 – Take a Tour of Itaipu Dam
Itaipu Dam, or Itaipu Binacional to give it its official name, is the world’s third biggest dam. It spans the Paraná River between Brazil and Paraguay and provides approximately 15% of the energy consumed in Brazil and 86% of the energy consumed in Paraguay. Fun fact; the dam holds enough water for everyone on the planet to have 4,000 litres each.
The dam is around 6 miles north of the city. We caught the bus to Itaipu. There are regular buses (we took the 101, fare R$3.45) from the Urban Bus Terminal (TTU) which stop close to the entrance to the dam by the control post.
There are different tour options. We chose the Panoramic Tour, which involves a bus ride around the complex and across the top of the dam, stopping at various points for photo ops, whilst being told lots of facts. The Special Tour consists of the Panoramic Tour plus a visit inside the power plant. There are also bike tours, illuminated tours and tours of the Biological Refuge.
The tour bus stops at certain prescribed points around the complex, giving you a short amount of time to see, shop, take photos etc. As there is only around 20 minutes between buses, if you want to stay longer at a particular stop, you can just catch the next tour bus instead.
Regular tours run daily between 8.30 am and 4 pm, departing at 20 minute intervals. The Panoramic Tour costs R$58 (around £9). The Special Tour runs daily and costs R$165 (around £26).
No 2 – Wander along Avenida Brasil
Take a walk through the main drag of Avenida Brasil, which is lined with shops and restaurants. There are plenty of options to pick up souvenirs here, this isn’t one of them!
There are also plenty of restaurants along the Avenue. Buffet restaurants are all the rage in Foz. You choose what you want to eat from the buffet, then they weigh the plate to determine the price. We chose Maris and Maria Bakery, where the selection was wide but the baked goods were particularly tasty. You can just purchase and pay for food by item, but we’d had a long day so hit the buffet wholeheartedly. No photos – I was too busy filling my face!
No 3 – Visit the Spectacular Parque Nacional do Iguaçú
The Iguazu Falls consists of 257 individual waterfalls over 1.7 miles. On each side of the river, the waterfalls are situated within a National Park. Parque Nacional do Iguaçú is on the Brazilian side, situated around 10 miles south east of the city. There are regular buses (we took the 120, which cost R$3.55) from the Urban Bus Terminal (TTU) which stop close to the entrance to the Park. It was quite crowded and we had to stand for most of the 40 minute journey. And there was no air conditioning so, by the the time we disembarked, we had worked up quite a sweat.
Upon reaching the Park, you must first queue to purchase a ticket. Then, you must queue to catch a shuttle bus (walking is not an option). This was quite an undertaking, and took over an hour.
Once you finally reach the front of the (second) queue, the takes you on the 10 mile drive to the waterfall. It’s basically a road through the rainforest surrounding by butterflies – hundreds and hundreds of butterflies.
There are several bus stops along the route. We disembarked at The Path of the Falls stop and followed the mile long Waterfall Trail along the river ending at a walkway which overhangs the waterfall. It’s bit like Niagara on steroids; huge and loud and creating clouds of mist where a rainbow floats. If you don’t want to walk, stay on the bus to Porto Canoas Square.
The walkway over the river is a spectacular sight – the highlight of our trip so far! A slight dilemma; the walkway extends right into the mist and in order to purchase park tickets, we needed our passports. To ensure our passports didn’t turn to papier-mâché, we negotiated the walkway scrum one at a time, while the other stayed somewhere dry with aforementioned passports. To avoid this palaver, I recommend taking a plastic wallet.
We stopped for lunch at the café where lizards and coatis compete for scraps and then returned to our hotel for a siesta before our evening outing.
The Park is open daily from 9 am to 4 pm. Tickets for foreigners cost R$100 (around £16).
4 – Enjoy Tacky at Marco das Três Fronteiras
The Marco das Três Fronteiras is a theme park at the point where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet.
I convinced the old man to skip the hotel’s organised tour at £20 a head in favour of taking the bus which costs £1 each way. It’s a rather circuitous route and took a lot longer than expected; we were on the bus long after all the other passengers disembarked. I did begin to wonder if we’d been kidnapped by a rogue bus driver, but finally we arrived at our destination. With hindsight, this is probably one occasion when the tour bus would have been the best option.
The park is awesomely tacky. We wandered round the various three-border themed installations; flags, murals, obelisks, signs. After dark there’s a sound and light show. In the interim you can enjoy the tacky attractions, purchase souvenirs and have a drink/dinner at a table overlooking the rivers with Paraguay and Argentina in the background.
The park is open daily except Mondays, from 1.30 pm until 9 pm. Tickets cost R$49 (around £8).
No 5 – Visit the Spectacular Parque Nacional de Iguazú
Today Parque Nacional de Iguazú is on the Argentinian side of the falls. For a local, this trip is fairly simple; a bus to the Argentinian town of Puerto Iguazú then a second bus to the Park. For a foreigner, it is more complicated as you have to disembark for immigration twice and the bus doesn’t wait, so it involves taking three consecutive buses on the same route, then a fourth bus to the park.
Buses depart from the International Bus Stop. We waited for a while, but once a group of 6 foreigners was assembled, a taxi driver approached and offered to take us as a group direct to the park for the price of the 6×4 buses. And so we set off to Argentina by taxi with two Poles and two Colombians.
The park is open daily between 9 am and 6 pm. Tickets for foreigners cost ARS 20,000 (around £19).
No 6 – Marvel at La Garganta del Diablo
Once at the park you must queue for tickets, then take two separate trains to the waterfall. In total it took almost three hours to reach our ultimate destination; La Garganta del Diablo – the Devil’s Throat, which is the tallest of the falls, measuring 97 metres. Surrounded by signs warning of crocodiles, we set forth on a rickety walkway over the river to the edge of the waterfall. It was incredible, the sound and scale of water rushing down the Devil’s Throat is immense. The walk from Garganta Station to the viewpoint (Paseo Garganta del Diablo) is around 1100 metres each way.
No 7 – Stroll round the Circuito Superior
The Circuito Superior (Upper Trail) follows the rim of the falls past a series of viewpoints. This trail is around 650 metres in length.
There is also a Circuito Infererior (Lower Trail), which is 1400 km in length, but we didn’t have sufficient time for this. Instead, we returned to the Visitors for a much needed drink and ice cream before meeting our taxi driver to return to Brazil.
No 8 – See where 3 Countries meet at Hito Tres Fronteras
On the way back through the city on the Argentinian side of the Falls, is Puerto Iguazú, is a small park; Hito Tres Fronteras. Here, you have a view of the three bordering countries, with more flag obelisks but without the tacky theme park on the Brazilian side.
No 9 – Cross the Friendship Bridge
Just across the river from Foz is Paraguay, which reach by crossing The Friendship Bridge. The 550 metre long bridge spans the Parana river connecting the two cities and countries. With immigration controls at the end of the bridge, crossing it can take a while…
No 10 – Go Duty Free Shopping in Ciudad del Este
On the other side of the bridge is Ciudad del Este, a popular Duty Free shopping destination. If you’re into shopping (which we’re not), spending some time in the duty free malls just over the bridge, such as Shopping del Este, could be fun.
I hope you found the above information useful. For more top picks from other destinations in the 50+ countries we have visited, check out my full Top 10 Things To Do list here.
Other blogs about Brazil
- Brazil 1 Week Itinerary
- Rio de Janeiro in 4 Days
- Rio de Janeiro: Top 10 Things to do
- Iguazu in 3 Days
- Trip Taken: January 2019
- Updated: March 2024
Jane's Midlife Journey 
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