Iguacu and Iguazu Falls

I love a waterfall. I always try and hunt them out when I'm travelling or walking and have especially fond memories of an awesome day waterfall-hunting in the Catlins, New Zealand. There's something about the simple primal force of a lot of water falling off the edge of a cliff which fascinates me.

So when I was researching this trip Iguacu Falls very quickly made it on to my list.

Iguacu is widely regarded as being one of the world's greatest waterfalls and rightly so. It's not one fall at all, but 275, strung out along kilometres of cliff edge and spanning the Brazil-Argentina border. Technically I think Argentina has the greatest volume of falls of the two countries and certainly it takes longer to see the falls from that side. Both sides have walks and boat tours; Brazil takes you from the visitors' centre at the entrance to the falls in double-decker buses and Argentina takes you in a little narrow-gauge train.

Brazil side - Iguacu

The Brazilian side of the falls is a bit more modern and professional than the Argentinian side, and it is from Brazil you get to see the full scope of the place. There's one key trail, the Trilha dos Cataratas, which runs about 1.5km along the cliff and gives you a great view of most of the Argentinian falls and culiminates in a viewpoint right below the main fall, Devil's Throat, where gallons and gallons of water pour into the abyss.

A bad selfie. It had to be done.

The best time to go from an aesthetic point of view is in the morning when the mixture of sunshine and spray create stunning rainbows. Sadly this is also the worst time to go from an experience point of view, as the rest of the world also turns up then on buses and the place is packed. As there's basically one trail there's not many places for people to go to and the major viewing spots on the morning I visited were just packed with tourists, mostly taking selfies, as we live in a very narcissistic world these days. Mind you I took one too, just because.

Most of the views on the Brazil side are views from a distance but the walkway also takes you right up to the Devil's Throat (take a raincoat, or buy a plastic poncho for R$6). It's pretty cool to stand there underneath the waterfall.

At the end of the trail there's a panoramic elevator for people who can't walk up the stairs/are too lazy to walk up the stairs, and more views from above. And the obligatory café/restaurant complex, where I had a surprisingly good coffee.

Argentinian side - Iguazu

I did a whole separate blog post about getting from Foz do Iguacu to Puerto Iguazu by public bus, because online information is limited, and because if you're reading this to look at pretty pictures of waterfalls you don't need to know that I missed my stop coming home and had to walk an extra half an hour.

The Argentine set-up is similar to the Brazilian one but the park covers a lot more ground and there are more trails to walk. I spent most of the day in Argentina and only a couple of hours on the Brazil side of the falls. It feels less polished somehow and because there's more to see the crowds are thinner. I'd say that the Argentinian experience is more up close and personal while Brazil is the overview.

Annoyingly the longest trail, which is where they say you can see some wildlife, was closed so I couldn't do that but I did see a few birds and animals anyway - a wild toucan from a distance, some monkeys, and lots of other birds.

Like the Brazil side there are lots of coatis around. These racoon-like animals are quite cute to look at and voracious scavengers. They love human food and there are signs everywhere warning you not to feed them - although people were. When I stopped for a bite to eat there was an Argentinian couple nearby with a plate of empanadas and a bottle of Coke on their table. A coati prowling the food area spied the empanadas, jumped on to the table, grabbed an empanada and spilled the Coke much to the anger of the couple. The man was so angry or possibly distressed he flung a chair at the poor animal (and got Coke all over his shorts. I couldn't help smiling). Another coati promptly arrived to lap up Coke from the ground. It's definitely not good for them but they do seem to love junk food.

I also did the boat ride on the Argentinian side, a short and very very wet baptism. Basically they drive you into two pretty sizeable waterfalls including the one on the left of this paragraph. And then they do it again. It's cold and the power of the water, even at the edge, was crazy. Everyone in my boat squealed a lot including me. It was crazy and fun and worth the money I spent on it (450 pesos, or about £23).

The day finished up at the Devil's Throat again, but this time from above. Literally all you can see is the edge of the cliff, which is a U-shape, and a few metres of water before a cloud of spray. I knew from the Brazil side how high the fall is but hadn't appreciated how high the spray reaches. Everyone on that lookout point was soaked (hurrah for my rainjacket).

Iguacu extras

There's not much to Foz do Iguacu apart from the falls and, if you're into that sort of thing and have space in your bag, cheap shopping at the duty free shop between the Argentine and Brazil borders or in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, which is literally just the other side of the river.

Two extra things I did do:

The Parque des Aves is right next to the Brazilian falls visitors' centre and was superb. This bird sanctuary looks after and breeds a whole range of birds, mainly native to South America. The best bit about it was their huge aviaries which you can walk inside and really see the birds close up, without cage wires in the way. I especially loved seeing a toucan right in front of me and the macaw aviary, filled with beautiful parrots.

Itaipu Dam was voted one of the seven modern wonders of the world and they have a busy tourism (or, as the Lonely Planet quite accurately put it, propaganda) machine to go with the generation of 75 per cent of Paraguay's electricity and about 15 per cent of Brazil's. Due to a string of minor events I failed to get on one of the 'special' tours which take you inside the dam, but managed to do a 'panoramic' tour which drives you round the outside in a double-decker bus. They didn't mention the impact building this massive dam must have had on the Parana river and the people who lived in the area. The reservoir covers an area that's bigger than New York City or Rio de Janeiro - it's massive. A little research reveals that the creation of the dam destroyed the Guaira Falls, which sound like they were even more impressive than Iguacu. So generating clean energy had major environmental repercussions, and that's not touched on at all on the tour. Still, it was interesting to see the dam and it filled a morning I had to fill.

How to get from Foz do Iguacu to Puerto Iguazu and back on a public bus

This blog is a bit of a PSA. I spent HOURS trying to verify details of the public buses between Foz do Iguacu in Brazil and Puerto Iguazu in Argentina (and on to the Iguazu Falls). There is very little information online but it's actually fairly easy so long as you're not in a rush.

To get to the park on a public bus from Foz do Iguacu in Brazil is entirely possible: the buses leave from outside the local bus terminal, on the corner of Av. Men de Sa and Rua Taroba. The bus stop has both the Brazil and Argentine flags on it.

There seem to be at least three companies running the Foz-Puerto Iguazu route: Rio Uruguay, Crucere del Norte, and Itaipu. I think the Itaipu buses are supposed to be at 30 minutes past the hour and I got the '7.30' bus which arrived at 7.40ish. However I'd say get the first bus which arrives. It's R$4 single at the moment.

At the Brazilian border the bus will probably stop to let someone off or pick someone up. If you're foreign you need to get off and go through Brazilian immigration. Now a Spanish couple on my bus didn't, and I saw them later at the falls so they evidently got into Argentina. I don't know how having Argentina stamps in their passports will affect them later without the corresponding Brazilian exit stamps, and frankly I don't think it's worth the hassle not to do it.

If you're on an Itaipu bus, get a pass off the driver to get back on again. The bus won't wait. Just complete the formalities, and then go back to the bus stop and just catch the next bus which arrives, which will probably be a different company and you'll probably have to pay another R$4 - but if you wait for the company you started out with you might end up waiting a while. If you have the pass from Itaipu and you end up on a different bus for the Argentine bit of the journey, hang on to it as it may come in handy on the way home!

At the Argentine border everyone has to go through immigration and there's a cursory bag scan, but the bus will wait for all passengers here and it takes no time at all.

My bus driver stopped on a corner in Puerto Iguazu opposite a stop for the falls, but you can also pick up a bus for the falls at the bus terminal. Either way, they're run by Rio Uruguay, they're about every 20-30 minutes, and I was charged A$65 each way. My whole journey including immigration and waiting for buses took less than two hours.

On the way back to Foz just repeat the process in return but with one important caveat: get off the bus in Foz at the Brazil-Paraguay stop which is opposite the terminal on Av. Juscelino Kubitschek. I was on an Itaipu bus and expected it to turn right into Mem de Sa to stop at the place I got on. Instead, the bus carried on and looked as though it was heading to Ciudad del Este and I had to jump off in a random place and find my way home.

If all this sounds like too much of a faff, then I understand taxis aren't too expensive and the driver will help you through immigration. There are also plenty of tour companies doing the trip, but that does tie you down to a specific timeframe at the falls.