Researching info - Iguazu - anyone been?

[creekland]

I really need to find a job that allows hubby and I to just wander our planet and get paid as I'm already getting withdrawal symptoms from my travel addiction.

 

So... I'm doing what I can.  I'm getting info regarding our likely next (new place) trip.  Iguazu.  Who's been there?  (I know it's a vastly experienced Hive, so surely someone has.)  Which side is better to come at it from?  Which months are better for travel (preferably off peak, but still nice weather).  What should be combined with seeing the falls to round out a couple of weeks?  Any other tidbits or thoughts?

 

I will, of course, use google, but I also like to hear from BTDT folks.

 

This trip is unlikely to be in the near future, but hopefully within a year.  We have parents to care for until then, college graduation, and some of our "usual destination" (cheaper) trips put into our schedule to keep the withdrawal symptoms from getting too bad.  But... I want to start dreaming of getting a "real" fix!

[TheReader]

It's good to view from both sides (we haven't actually been, but my dad went when he visited us in Brazil, but I have researched it). I can link you to a blog later on if I can dig it up, of one of my friends in Brazil who went more than once.   scratch that; can't find his posts about it; sorry about that!

 

Near Iguazu falls is a fabulous bird park/sanctuary, and then there are tours of the dam, different levels of tours depending on your interest in the mechanics of it all. My dad did the behind the scenes hardhat tour, you have to be 16+ for that one; he enjoyed it, but he works on electric motors for a living so the intricacies of how it works absolutely fascinated him. 

 

From a feasability standpoint, I think the visas to go to Argentina are cheaper than the visas to enter Brazil (you need a tourist visa/pay an entrance fee for both countries), so I'd check that first when decided which side to enter from/visit. You'll find as you research that folks in Brazil insist the Brazilian side is best, while those in Argentina insist the Argentinian side is best ;)

 

To round out two weeks......for the falls themselves/the town of Iguazu you only really need about 2 days, 3 max. One day for each side of the falls, and one day for the stuff outside  like the bird park and all. That's the main reason we never went; it's a pricey place to visit for a short amount of time. (well, for us to have gotten there from where we were in Brazil, with all 5 of us, and there's just not that much to do there). I'd have to look at a map to see where else you'd want to go, and would depend if you go from Argentina or Brazil. From what I can remember, it's not really near much else of interest in Brazil....but it's been a good long while since I researched it, and also would depend on how comfortable you are just exploring local cities & doing so in Portuguese. 

 

In Iguazu, you'll have/find English, Spanish & Portuguese pretty easily, but once you get further out from it (thinking of your 2 week extension), at least in Brazil, it will be harder and harder to find English speakers. The official language is of course Portuguese, but if you're fluent in Spanish you can usually get by; most Brazilians can understand Spanish well enough, and most Spanish speakers we met can understand Portuguese well enough. Not perfectly or ideally, but enough to get by and better than trying English. 

 

We used the Frommer's guide books to plan a LOT of the travel we did in Brazil; that would be where I'd turn to research Iguazu, or else Trip Advisor. We used that a lot, too. (I had a Frommer's book on Brazil we used; it had a good section on Iguazu, but I didn't bring it home with me). 

 

 Also, although I didn't go to Iguazu, if you have Brazil questions, I'm happy to help. You can message me here if you need to. 

 

Oh, also check the US State Dept website for which vaccines you'll need; it's likely you'll need the yellow fever vaccine for that area, but I"m not 100% sure; they changed it recently to include more areas. May also depend if you enter from Argentina or Brazil. And then of course be aware that Zika, dengue, etc. are there, and that the seasons are flip-flopped....you'll want to look at rainy season vs. dry season (the water level in the falls will be different), but also cold/hot.....for Brazil, January and July are the most high season months, not sure about Argentina. We did most of our off season travels in September and March or May, but not sure if those are good months for the falls. They are good temperature-wise, and are edge of wet/dry, but I'm blanking on which is which.....

 

If I think of more info, I'll let you know. I do know there's a day pass you can get at the falls to pass to the other side w/o having to get the visa for the other country, but I don't know what the fee is. 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2017 by TheReader

[JIN MOUSA]

I went about a dozen years ago, so obviously things may have changed since then.

 

I saw the falls from both sides, and here's what I remembering liking about each:

 

Brazil -

- cool pink hotel (famous people have stayed there), with beautiful architecture, nice shop(s) and restaurant

- catwalk goes close to the base of the Garganta do Diabo, like close enough to soaked with spray

- better panoramic view of many of the falls

 

Argentina -

- catwalk above/before the Garganta do Diabo

 

We also did the boat tour to one of the islands in the middle of/below the falls, and I don't remember which side we did this from, but it was really neat. 

 

There's also a nearby dam, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, which was really cool, especially the museum/tour. It used to be waterfalls that were even larger than Iguazu. 

 

I stayed at a hotel in Foz de Iguazu (Brazilian side) and had to get a visa for Brazil (US citizen). I can't remember if I needed one for Argentina. At the time one was required for Paraguay, but I had not gotten it. I may or may not have gotten into Paraguay with a "gift" tucked into my passport ...

 

If you care about getting pictures, you'll want to work on a waterproof camera solution.

 

If you want another thing to do in that part of the world, I loved Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It's awesome and other-world-y, without the gear/training requirements of Machu Picchu.

Edited October 20, 2017 by JIN MOUSA

[chiguirre]

We went for a weekend when we were living in Buenos Aires about 25 years ago. We also stayed in Foz do Iguazu (in a pink hotel, hmmmmm). Iguazu is pretty remote from the rest of the tourist things in Argentina which are mainly in the Andes and the south. Back in the day you could get an air pass that let you visit 4 destinations as a really cheap package deal. We went to Bariloche, the glaciers and Salta as well as Iguazu. I'd also recommend visiting Montevideo on the hydrofoil from Buenos Aires.

[prairiewindmomma]

Current vax recommendations (outside of the normal stuff) for Argentina are: Hep A, Hep B, yellow fever, typhoid and rabies if you are going remote or caving at all.  

 

Yellow fever vaccine can be harder to find this fall....so if you don't already have it, I'd call around a bit.  The main manufacturer for the drug closed down production while they are bringing up a new factory, and they are shipping in Stamaril instead.  I live in a tropical climate, so I'm in a priority destination for supplies, but here's a link to clinics receiving Stamaril: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellow-fever-vaccination-clinics/search

 

 

[creekland]

for the falls themselves/the town of Iguazu you only really need about 2 days, 3 max. One day for each side of the falls, and one day for the stuff outside  like the bird park and all.  

 

This may be true for most folks, but I bet we Creeklanders will love a couple of days minimum on each side.  We love waterfalls.  It's not a case of "check the box" for BTDT.  We love just standing there staring and/or basking in the mist.  We can do it for hours.  We go to Niagara fairly often.  If you didn't realize we're weird, well, now you know.   :lol:

[FaithManor]

This destination sounds interesting. I am all ears!

[Catwoman]

This destination sounds interesting. I am all ears!

So am I!

 

I found the thread particularly interesting because I misread the title when I clicked on it and was expecting to read about iguanas.

 

Nothing against iguanas, but Iguazu sounds like it's more fun. :)

[Jaybee]

Okay, it's been about 20 years, so details about where to stay and such, I don't remember. It is an amazing place. We went twice in one year; first, with my parents around March or April. Then my in-laws saw the photos and wanted to go too, so we went back around October that year. Both trips were very interesting and different from each other.

 

The first trip, we only went from the Argentine side. The butterflies were out everywhere, and I saw one girl who got them to land on her hands; beautiful little red ones and blue ones, etc. There was also a type of small anteater that was all over the place. I had remembered reading about it in the paper, but when we were taking our little ones to the restroom, a woman warned me to hold tight to them, that a cougar had recently killed the toddler son of one of the park's rangers, and it was still loose. We hiked down to the water, and took a boat over to an island. Everywhere you looked on the island, there were little rainbows through the spray from the falls. You won't have this problem, but there are safety concerns with small children. The night after we spent all day there, I had nightmares all night that my little ones fell off the paths into the falls. Another thing we did while we were up there that trip was visit the Jesuit monastery ruins in Paraguay. I found them fascinating. Very peaceful and interesting.

 

The second trip, we still approached from Argentina, because that's where we lived, but we crossed over to the Brazilian side. We'd had a lot of rain, and the falls were roaring. The island we had visited the first trip was apparently completely underwater. We walked out onto the walkway over the water, and it was powerful. Again, nightmares later, and wondering how stupid we had been to walk out there. It was beautiful though.

 

To add another interesting slant if you go, I recommend watching the movie The Mission beforehand.

 

[creekland]

To add another interesting slant if you go, I recommend watching the movie The Mission beforehand.

 

Watching The Mission in theaters when it came out back in the 80s is what put Iguazu into my bucket list. I had to know where that place was, so found out and have kept it in my mind since then.  ;)  Now that hubby and I are pulling from our bucket, it can be a reality given another year or so to save up for the trip and take care of matters here at home.

 

We learned about Petra (and more old sites) in high school, but school rarely covers these amazing natural sights.

 

Now I have to decide if I want butterflies or roaring falls.  Both sound spectacular.

[Jaybee]

 

 

Now I have to decide if I want butterflies or roaring falls.  Both sound spectacular.

 

Well, it all depends on the rainfall that year. Going out to the island with the rainbows all around was magical though, so butterflies and rainbows would be my vote. ;)