The stunning and powerful Iguazu waterfalls are world famous for a good reason! They are truly beautiful and you can feel how powerful they really are.
Tons of water shatters down on the rocks below the falls and you can only imagine what falling off would mean for your bone structure.
You can find these beautiful waterfalls on the border between Argentina and Brazil in South America.
Do you plan to visit Iguazu Falls?
Check out these facts and continue reading on how you can visit!
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Interesting Iguazu Falls Facts
- Iguazu is located on the border between Argentina and Brazil
- You can actually visit both sides, and you should!
- The falls consist of over 270 separate falls
- Iguazu is the 6th largest falls in the world in terms of water amount
- It’s the largest waterfall system in the world
- The total width of Iguazu falls is 2,7km
- Maximum height is just over 80m
How to get to Iguazu Falls
This of course heavily depends on where you’re coming from! But let’s get into this.
We were traveling from Salta Argentina and took a flight to ‘Cataratas Del Iguazu International Airport’ which is on the Argentina side. And we were very lucky with our pilot, as he made a cool fly-over the falls before we landed. You can also easily get a flight to Iguazu from Buenos Aires.
Suddenly the pilot spoke through the speakers: if you want to see the falls, look through the windows on the left side of the plane! There weren’t too many people on the plane and we were all rushing to the windows! It was very special to watch the falls from the sky!
From the airport, we took a tourist bus to the town. They drop everyone at their hotel. We didn’t have a hotel or hostel yet, so they just dropped us somewhere in the center of town.
Notice: Make sure to get a ticket to get from the airport to the town from one of the official stands in the airport. There are some scammers at work outside the airport.
How to get from Puerto Iguazu to the falls
You can either book a tour in your hotel and let them take care of everything. But it’s actually quite easy to do this trip on your own, to both sides: Argentina and Brazil.
There’s a bus terminal in the town center where you can get a bus to the Argentinan side or to the Brazil side. Easy Peasy!
These buses drop you at the entrance of the National Park.
We traveled to the Argentina side on the first day. Then we traveled to the Brazil side on the second day. Yes! You need an entire day for each side!
Where to stay near Iguazu Falls
You can either choose to stay on the Argentinan side in Puerto Iguazu. Or you can stay on the Brazilian side in Foz Do Iguacu. Check out the best budget-friendly hostels in Puerto Iguazu Argentina
We stayed on the Argentinan side. This was convenient since we were already traveling in Argentina and we had our passport stamped for Argentina too.
When you visit the falls in the other country afterward, you don’t even need a stamp in your passport if you’re not staying the night in Brazil.
Visiting Iguazu Falls – Which side
As you probably already know: there are 2 sides to the falls. You can visit the Argentinan side, as well as the Brazil side.
You should not decide on visiting only one side, because both sides are amazing and will leave you in awe.
Although both sides are quite different, they will both give you an experience you can not replace. So don’t make excuses and book an extra night in the area in order to reserve one day for each side.
Iguazu Falls Brazil Side – the scenic side
We visited the Brazil side of Iguazu Falls first. This side of the falls is definitely the scenic side and you can do it on a day trip as we did. But you could easily spend multiple days exploring this side of Iguazu.
A bus takes you from the entrance to different stops along the park. We decided to check the map first and got off in one of the first scenic viewpoints. This way, we could walk all the way to the major viewpoints.
Tips for visiting the Brazil side of Iguazu from Argentina
- You can take a direct bus from the bus terminal in Puerto Iguazu that takes you straight to the entrance of the park.
- If you travel back to Argentina the same day, you get an exit stamp for Argentina, but no entry stamp for Brazil. Apparently, that’s normal.
- Entrance fee for the park can be paid in Argentinan Pesos, but you will get Brazilian change.
- Bring mosquito repellent!
- We recommend to get off the bus at the first viewpoints and walk towards the main sight. This way, you get to see the most different waterfalls and loads of wildlife.
Iguazu Falls Argentina Side
We visited the Argentina side on the second day after we already got a broad image of what the falls were like. This side of Iguazu is what we love to call: the powerful side. It has left us in awe.
On this side, you also have multiple viewpoints. A tourist train takes you from the park entrance to the views. Due to doubtful weather circumstances, we decided to go straight to Devil’s throat before it would start raining.
This was the last stop the train made, I believe there were 2 more stops along the way.
When you get off the train, you can start walking on a sturdy bridge over the very wide river. The water looks quite calm here, but I would not recommend jumping in. During our walk over the bridge, we saw images on the side of the bridge that pictured previous attempts to build this bridge and we were kinda discouraged by the images. Many previous attempts for building a bridge and platform had failed and the bridges got washed away by the river. Scary!!
Devil’s throat
Devil’s throat is the actual main sight on this side of the falls. We reached it via the bridge, which is quite long and takes you over the entire width of the river.
When we reached the viewing platform, we didn’t speak any other words than ‘wow’ for the first half hour. This place is spectacular… amazing… stunning… It leaves you speechless! We just felt so tiny and meaningless standing there on top of this massive natural power.
At no time could we see the bottom where the huge amount of water actually hit the ground. All we could see was a wet mist traveling back up into our faces.
The viewing platform on top of Devil’s throat is actually built upon a tiny island/rock that sits on the edge of the falls. The thought of it is kinda scary because I could imagine vividly how quickly this platform could be at the rocky bottom of these falls… And what it would look like if it did. But it didn’t 🙂
Conclusion of our visit to Iguazu Falls
The best way to visit Iguassu Falls is to take two or more days to do so.
You probably want to visit the Argentinan side as well as the Brasilian side and each of those take a full day.
Check this guide on visiting the falls in two or three days.
When in Argentina, you should definitely not skip a visit to Buenos Aires!
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