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I am flying into GRU in May with Virgin and I want to go to the falls. Both sides. I was thinking of doing a 3 day 2 night shared tour to take the hassle out of my hands but how do-able is it alone? I don’t know if it’ll be cripplingly expensive with taxis or if it’s a major bum ache going into Argentina for a night. I’d want to stay Brazilian side the first night. If anyone can advise that would be nice. Thanks.
Hi Amy, we did 2 nights at iguazu falls in August and I would have liked to have stayed another.
The Brazil side only takes a few hours. There is only 1 trail and then a couple of restaurants at top. I would recommend doing that and then going straight to Argentina side for the other 2 nights as there’s much more to see. We did hire a driver to pick us up at Brazil Airport, take us to the Brazil falls and then to the border. They changed driver at the border who then took us to Melia Argentina.
I thought it was worth it as took any hassle factor out going with someone who knew where to go but I’m sure others on here will also give you guidance if you want to do it yourself.Can’t give much advice but I went 13 years ago when I was “backpacking”. It was pretty much the highlight of my trip.
It’s absolutely amazing and I’ve no doubt you will love it.
Also stayed at the Melia on the Argentina side. We had an amazing time. Staying at the Melia puts you right at the entrance to the falls and admission an hour earlier than the general public. We then crossed over to Brazil using a taxi organised by the hotel. People say that the views are better from Brazil, but there is less to do. If you want to stay on the Brazil side the Belmond is well recommended and probably nicer than the Melia.
No issues at all doing it yourself – we did it in Feb 2020. Highly recommend staying at the Belmond – the feeling of wandering around and seeing everything in peace and quiet, and almost alone, is worth every penny.
We did both sides and had no problem ls with taxis and border crossings. Happy to answer more specific questions if you have them.
Thanks all. Definitely not staying at an expensive place, especially as travelling alone. It’s just not worth the money & I’d rather spend it elsewhere. Hotels I can find easily enough, it’s just the whole taxi and border process that’s concerning and confusing me.
We had a great English speaking driver /guide who collected us from hotel ( Belmond) and took us to both sides. It was all very smooth and worth every penny ( no idea of cost as booked through Trailfinders). We produced passports at the border and passed through! Didn’t have to get out of the car! I’m sure there must be such bookable services locally or from your hotel. Others may have more useful info for you. All I can say, highlight of our trip.
Thanks all. Definitely not staying at an expensive place, especially as travelling alone. It’s just not worth the money & I’d rather spend it elsewhere. Hotels I can find easily enough, it’s just the whole taxi and border process that’s concerning and confusing me.
We’ve visited twice and stayed on both occasions at the Melia and in its former incarnation as a Sheraton. Being on site is well worth while as you can make repeated visits easily and most especially first thing in the morning have access to the falls before the public. Standing at the top of the cataract in solitude early in the day is a quite magical experience. The Brazilian side is much less extensive and busier tho well worth half a day’s visit for the view from the base of the falls. You are not missing much in either town, the Argentinian service town is ok, no more.
@yorkieflyer re: “cataract” I initially thought you’d misspelled “catarata”, the Spanish word for falls. Didn’t realise cataract had another meaning in English, obviously both languages use the same Latin origin.
I didn’t stay at the Melia/Sheraton, something I regret. I will be visiting again for reasons detailed by @yorkieflyer and will stay there. It’s a magical place.
Don’t worry about the taxi/border bit – it’s easy and the taxi drivers are all used to it. No need to book an driver for the whole day, etc, unless you want thar service.
I know you don’t want to spend much on hotels, but for what it is worth, we thought the Belmond was fantastic and worth the money.
Once thing to look out for is a helicopter tour – if you are on a budget, you might dismiss it without checking prices, but it was quite reasonable. We booked it locally and it was £172 for 2 people including hotel transfers. That was pre-pandemic, but still worth a look.
Iguazu is also something that can be done in 2 days/1 night just as well, so long as flight times from Sao Paulo work out (we did it 5 yrs ago when we used to live in Brazil). Rough plan would be to arrive late morning in Iguazu (Brazilian side), make your way to the park (5 mins cab ride from the airport) and explore the Brazilian side. As others have said it’ll just take a few hours at most. If you want to do something additional I actually recommend the aviary just outside the park, much more commercial but it’s large and with some really stunning birds.
From there, grab a taxi to cross the border. If you don’t want to splurge for the Melia, then find a hotel in Puerto Iguazu and settle for the evening (e.g. cheap dinner with great wine, followed by some lovely dulce de leche ice cream). Next morning head straight to the park with a taxi and spend the whole day exploring (it’s large, and some of the additional activities need to be paid for as well). You’ll probably want to arrange for a taxi to pick you up at a specific time to take you back across the border (maybe a pitstop at the hotel to pick up your luggage) and to the airport for an evening flight back to Sao Paulo. It’s a small airport so no need to hang out there for too long. Try flying into Congonhas (CGH) airport if you are heading back to Sao Paulo for the night, much more central than GRU.
I am sure you can stay longer, but we found the above to give you the basic itinerary from which you can build out.
I am flying into GRU in May with Virgin and I want to go to the falls. Both sides. I was thinking of doing a 3 day 2 night shared tour to take the hassle out of my hands but how do-able is it alone? I don’t know if it’ll be cripplingly expensive with taxis or if it’s a major bum ache going into Argentina for a night. I’d want to stay Brazilian side the first night. If anyone can advise that would be nice. Thanks.
Incredibly simple alone and can easily do in two days. Hiring a driver or booking a tour is massive overkill.
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