Iguazú Falls - Brazil
January 24th, 2026
Today we will see the Brazil side of Iguazu falls. The Iguazu river separates Brazil from Argentina, so half the falls are in Brazil.
Our guide is from Brazil, so she was very helpful in getting us through the border crossings. We had to go through passport control to leave Argentina, then again to enter Brazil. We had prepared for this trip as we knew we needed visas to enter Brazil. (We had two copies of our visas ready in hand when we arrived). The process can be long (over two hours per our guide), but we made it though in under 30 minutes.
The entrance to the park is close to the border, so it did not take very long once we cleared border patrol in Brazil. Private cars are not allowed in the park, but busses and tour guides can get special driving privileges. Our guide had the pass to drive in and we drove into the park after paying for our entrance fees.
Designation as on of the New 7 wonders of the Nature.
Hotel Das Cataratas
At the end of the road is the Hotel Das Cataratas. Our guide used to work here when she was younger. She had seen Princess Diana of Wales here when she was visiting. WE did not go inside, but it is a grand hotel. If you stay here, you can watch the sun rise/or set over the falls. The park does not open until 10:00am and closes at 6:00pm, so staying here is the only way to get those views.
It is a different viewpoint of the falls and we can see many more parts that are not viewable from Argentina. The trail along the falls is easier as it only goes one way (down). We got some fantastic photos of the falls from this side.
The trail from the ridge was fairly easy to hike. It was posted as a One Way trail. Of coarse, there were a few people that did not understand this and were hiking against the grain. But for the most part everyone was hiking down. There were many vistas to stop and take photos of the falls along the way.
When we got to the bottom, there was a platform that you could hike out to to get a closer look at the falls. There was so much mist coming up from the falls and the falls also created a strong wind. I took my hat off so I would not lose it over the railing! With all the mist, there were rainbows everywhere!
Viewing platform over the falls.
At the base of the falls, there was another viewing platform, as well as a gift shop and and elevator to take you back up to the top. We did a little shopping and waited in line to take the elevator back up. It was about a 30 min wait to go up, but it went pretty fast.
View from the top of the elevator looking down on the falls.
Video from the top of the falls.
After the hike, we took a boat ride with Macuco Safari Tours on the Iguazu river to get a closer look at the falls. This involved a bit of transportation variety. First we rode an open electric vehicle through the rainforest. There was a guide that pointed out various flora and fauna in the forest. Then we had to catch a jeep for the next segment. The road is too steep for the electric vehicles, so we had to switch. Then we rode a funicular rail car to complete the last steep segment of the trail to the river.
We were warned that the boat ride would be fast and wet. They recommended that you did not wear glasses ar carry anything on board. We left our shoes and bags with our guide and boarded the boat. It was a zodiac style boat with about 20 seats. The driver of the boat took us up river through the rapids and to the falls. There was a lot of sharp turns with big sprays of water. If that did not get you wet, he took us UNDER the falls. We got totally soaked. It was great fun! At the recommendation of the driver, I put my phone away to it would not fly out of the boat or get wet. (no pictures of us under the falls!)
Our boat. We were seated in the back by the captain.
After the ride, we were soaked, but happy. Very Fun!
Back at the car, we changed into dry cloths and got some lunch. Our guide also took us to a souvenir store near the border for some final shopping before we left Brazil.
Once again, we had to go through border control to leave Brazil and enter Argentina.The lines were a bit longer and it took us about an hour to get back into Argentina.
Time to relax back at the room and we went out for one last night on the town. We were pretty tired and did not feel like walking back to Brazil street where all the restaurants were. There was a guy in the street near a souvenir shop I stopped looking for some stickers for my suit case. He was passing out flyers to go to a local bar/restaurant called Sara Bar. We decided to check it out. The food was basic local food. I tried the tacos and Sandy had the Empanadas. Both were good.
We fly back to Buenos Aires tomorrow. Now we need to go back to the hotel and pack.
