I’d been excited about visiting Iguazu Falls, the enormous collection of spectacular waterfalls that straddle the Argentine/Brazilian border, from the minute I planned this trip. I knew I wanted to see both sides of the falls but wasn’t sure which side of the border to stay on. A little research confirmed that it made the most sense for us to fly from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, rather than neighboring Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. There were good flight options on Aerolíneas Argentinas from the close-to-downtown AEP airport in Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazú. So, I chose a nice-looking lodge in the jungle just outside the town of Puerto Iguazú and arranged for a driver to take us to the falls on each side of the border.
I’d also been eyeing a fun night called The Argentine Experience with locations in Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazú. The Argentine Experience included wine tasting, cocktail- and empanada-making, a steak dinner and dessert followed by making yerba mate and popular alfajores cookies. Reviews were great for both locations, but I thought it would fit perfectly into our time on the border since the Brazilian side of the falls apparently only took half a day to explore while most sources said the Argentine side took a full day. I decided we’d do the Argentine side of the falls on our first full day, then the Brazilian side on the second day with The Argentine Experience that night. I could foresee ample wine drinking at The Argentine Experience and didn’t want any lingering effects to take away from a following day at the falls. That plan got reversed when The Argentine Experience contacted me to say they needed to move our booking by a night. They offered us a mate cup and bombilla as an apology for the inconvenience, I re-worked things with our driver, crossed my fingers that post-drinks headaches wouldn’t be an issue, and we were set!
A driver from our hotel was waiting when we exited the small Puerto Iguazú airport. Selvaje Lodge Iguazú turned out to be all I’d hoped. It’s a gorgeous lodge in the jungle with a beautiful pool, boardwalks out to the guestrooms, lovely common areas, a good restaurant and friendly staff. Our room was spacious with a balcony looking onto lush jungle greenery. We enjoyed a varied, included breakfast each morning in the airy dining room.
The Lodge arranged a driver to take us into town the first evening (a 10 min. drive). Our first glimpse of Puerto Iguazu convinced us our choice to stay in the jungle was a wise one. The city is not particularly charming and street noise could be a problem depending on where you stay. We asked to be dropped off at a grocery store near our chosen restaurant so we could buy a large bottle of water before dinner. Happily, we made our purchase and walked the two blocks to Restaurante La Rueda just in time to escape a seriously heavy rain. Throughout a delicious dinner in a locally-themed atmosphere, we could hear the rain pounding on the roof, a deluge that kept up throughout the night.
Thankfully, the rain stopped by the time our driver Patricia picked us up the next morning for our trip to Foz do Iguaçu, the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. Despite the fact we were only going to be in Brazil for the day, we needed to get visas under a new law passed this year. We’d bought those online prior to leaving home and, with visas and passports in hand, crossing the border was a quick affair.
It was still cloudy when we entered the national park on the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. I’d bought tickets in advance on the park’s website for 9:30am, but we arrived earlier. Happily, there wasn’t much of a line at that time and they let us in early to board a free bus that shuttles visitors to various points in the park. We opted to hop off at a mid-point by the elegant pink colonial Das Cataratas Hotel and begin our hike along the falls there towards the Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) and the end point of the bus route.
Our first glimpse of the falls streaming off the cliffs on the opposite side of the Iguazu River in Argentina was breathtaking and the views just didn’t stop. The heavy overnight rain looked to have contributed to the volume of water in the cascades. Following the path along our side of the riverbank took us up steps and down slopes, constantly looking for the next vista beyond the green jungle sprinkled with flowers. As we approached the end, a wide column of mist rising high in the sky signaled the Devil’s Throat in the distance. A boardwalk extends out to a viewing platform near the roaring waterfall. Amazingly, birds darted through the rushing water to light and nest on the cliffs behind the waterfalls. Without rain gear (which we brought), there’s no way not to get soaked to the skin on the platform, but what an experience!
After viewing Devil’s Throat, we took an elevator up the cliff and past several scavenging coatis, the local ring-tailed cousin to the American raccoon. These little thieves populate both sides of the falls along with monkeys, stealing food and showing little fear of humans. But they are fun to watch!
The terminus of the free park bus route is at this point along with a gift shop, medical post/ambulance, food court and restaurant. We rode the bus back to the Macuco Safari stop. We considered taking a boat there, but the boats pride themselves on going under waterfalls and neither of us felt like getting that wet on a relatively cool day. Instead, we took the nearby Caminho da Bananeiros, a path that led through the jungle, under trees full of monkeys, to a tranquil spot on the Iguazu River. By the time we reached the river, the skies had turned blue. It was so beautiful that we decided to ride the bus back to the Das Cataratas Hotel and retrace our earlier steps to Devil’s Throat in the sunshine. I checked my watch to confirm we had enough time before we really ought to let Patricia know we were ready to be picked up again. Why not?
We made the hike along the path back to Devil’s Throat quicker than the first time, but really glad for the chance to see those spectacular waterfalls again in the sunshine. What a difference a few hours can make!
The drive back across the border to Argentina was uneventful with only a quick stop to stamp our passports. We were back in plenty of time to relax before Patricia was back to take us to The Argentine Experience.
Of course, The Argentine Experience is a total tourist experience. We knew that going in, but it was big fun nonetheless and we learned something about local food and drink. Things kicked off with sampling local appetizers and wine-tasting that focused on identifying aromas and flavors in the nose and taste of wines from the Bodega Catena Zapata family winery. Our companions were an Australian couple, a family from the Netherlands, and a chef from Buenos Aires, everyone quickly in the spirit of things and all of us chatting and enjoying ourselves. Moving from the tasting table to long dinner tables, we were given black aprons and “chef’s toques” before making cocktails from wine and pisco, the grape-based liquor claimed by both Peru and Chile. Next up was empanada-making, an abbreviated but fun exercise that basically had us stuffing pre-made dough with pre-made filling, then working on our crimping styles before handing over our creations to be baked by someone else. The steak dinner that followed (with more wine, of course) was delicious. Then, it was time to learn about brewing yerba mate (mah-tay). I was actually really looking forward to this. I knew this was the national drink of Argentina and had seen it everywhere in Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazu. The varied and distinctive drinking gourds looked to be filled with dried grass clippings and I’d read that the taste was bitter and unpleasant for the uninitiated. Hmm. I had to try it!
We were all given mate cups and instructed us to fill the cups 2/3 full, cover the cup with our palm and shake vigorously at an angle to settle the dust in the yerba mate, leaving the yerba mate piled on one side of the cup. Then, we added hot water to the open side opposite the pile of yerba mate and let it sit a few minutes. Next, we levered the silver, pinched-bottom bombilla (straw) under the pile of yerba mate before pouring more hot water in the cup to just below the level of the yerba mate. Finally, we could drink, adding more hot water and sipping just afterwards, continuing the process as we drank. It is a bitter brew, much like unsweetened tea which I like so I was surprised to find I liked the mate more than I’d expected. Or at least I disliked it less than I expected. We accompanied our yerba mate with alfajores, cookies which we filled with dulce de leche and rolled in crushed nuts. Before we left, I was told to choose a complementary mate cup and bombilla from a wall of colorful cups for sale. I happily did so, impressed that they’d remembered the offer. All in all, we had a great time at The Argentine Experience (and felt just fine the next morning for our day on the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls).
In the next post: A day on the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls.
Practical Info:
The regional AEP airport in Buenos Aires is much closer to the city than the larger international EZE airport. This made it a lot cheaper and faster to get to from our Buenos Aires lodging. We used Aerolíneas Argentinas out of AEP both for our round-trip flights to Puerto Iguazu and for our later one-way flight to Santiago, Chile. Aerolíneas Argentinas flew on time and we had positive experiences with them. The only downside of flying international out of AEP is the complete lack of a lounge. This seems odd since there is a Priority Pass lounge on the domestic side of AEP (AMAE Lounge), but that is the current state of things. The flight time from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu is under two hours.
The Argentine Experience offers options of just dinner, just wine tasting or a combination called “the full experience” which we did. The full experience costs $90 per person and lasted over three hours.
The Brazilian eVisa is available online here. It’s good for 90 days and costs $80.90 per person, an annoyingly high fee for a daytrip like ours, but nonetheless a visa is necessary for Americans. The process online was quick and Patricia said that people failing to get their visas in advance faced delays at the border.
I originally booked Javier, Patricia’s husband, as our driver. Javier was sick when we arrived and Patricia filled in and had the necessary credentials to drive professionally and cross the border. The SUV was clean and comfortable and she was a very good driver. She spoke very little English (I think Javier would have been the same), but we managed fine with my Spanish and she was very nice. The cost was 90k Argentine pesos for the Brazilian day, 60k for the Argentine day at the falls, and 15k RT for the drive to The Argentine Experience, cash. Our hotel also could book rides.
September 2025
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