After a long journey from the Costa Verde through Sao Paulo, we finally arrived at our destination – Iguazu Falls. We opted to stay on the Brazilian side (Foz do Iguaçu) of the falls for two nights, after which we would switch to the Argentinian side. We arrived at the very peaceful and beautiful Hostel Natura, which despite being a lovely place to stay, was in the middle of nowhere. Not a restaurant, shop or establishment of any kind insight. The hostel grounds were beautiful but it was a bit too far out of the way for our tastes.
We were up bright and early to see the falls – and what an amazing sight! The Brazilian side of the falls is an ‘overview’ where you see hundreds of streams of water falling into the Iguazu River. There is a long walkway you can hike along to enjoy the view of the 275 falls which make up the Iguazu waterfall system. At the end, you reach a platform which takes you out onto the water and directly in front of one of the larger falls.
There are souvenir stores and restaurants in the park and a bird sanctuary (Parque das Aves) right outside the gates which we stopped at. There were hundreds of Macaw’s, Tucan’s and other beautiful tropical birds to see – some in large enclosures which you could walkthrough. We were even able to hold a Macaw and a snake with the help of a handler at the park.
Overall I found 1 day at the falls to be sufficient, but I would recommend to other travellers to spend another day seeing the Itaipu Dam, which I really would have liked to see. It’s the second-largest generator of hydro-electric power in the world and right in Foz do Iguaçu.
After leaving the Brazilian side, we travelled over the border to the Argentine side to explore further. While the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls offers an overview, the Argentinian side offers an up-close look at the amazing falls. We spent our second day exploring the Argentinian side of the falls which consists of pathways zig-zagging across the top of the falls and looking down over the water.
We decided to pay for a tour of the falls which included a jeep trip through the jungle, a boat trip down the Iguazu river and finally a “waterfall baptism” – where the boat dunked us right under a fall. It was a pretty intense rush, which I highly recommend! We got absolutely drenched! I would recommend it to anyone!
After drying off, we went to the major highlight of the Argentinian side – the Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese). Its a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long cataract where water roars down between Brazil and Argentina. It was such a beautiful site, by far the most incredible waterfalls I’ve ever seen.
If you can only afford one day at Iguazu, I would suggest seeing the Argentinian side, with two days you can comfortably see both sides and with three days include a second day on the Brazilian side to see the Parque das Aves (bird park) and the Itaipu Dam. When visiting both sides of the falls an easy option for crossing the border is to take a taxi. It costs a little more than the bus, but its very fast and straight forward. Make sure to check the visa status before visiting Brazil as a visa is required for most nationals.
