Visit the Iguazu Falls - Brazil side

Some tips - and several photos! - to visit this incredible wonder of nature.

The name Iguazú is that of a river, and especially of a series of waterfalls among the largest in the world. It comes from Guaraní, the language of the local natives. More exactly from y ' for water, and guasu for big. And these falls, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, clearly have "great waters"!

As all travel sites indicate, there are two sides through which it is possible to visit these huge waterfalls: in Brazil and Argentina. Generally speaking, it is said that the visit to Brazil is at the foot of the falls while that of the Argentinian side is at the top. About 80% of the wonder, however, is on the Argentinian side, since the river crooked there.

Arriving from Brazil, it is nevertheless by this side that I made my first visit.

The first sight of the falls, from the Brazilian footbridge.

How to get there

Unless you are a luxury traveler and are staying at the fantastic hotel right next to the falls, accommodation is in the large Brazilian town of Foz do Iguaçu. The latter is more than twenty kilometers from the entrance to the national park, but the outward journey is quite good. The 120 bus departs from the main terminus and stops at many stops along the way. It costs 4 reals ($ 1,25, as of December 2019), regardless of the duration of the journey. It's about 45 minutes to 1 hour by bus depending on where you get on. And it's crowded. There are several other attractions along the way: a water park, an animal park and several other hotels. In addition to the countless tourists, several employees go to their work every day by this bus.

The majority of visitors, however, are South Americans who have come here by car. There is also a huge on-site parking lot if one wishes to avoid public transport and its air conditioning that does not provide in the summer heat of the region.

Buying tickets

I don't know if this is still the case, but when I was there (between Christmas and New Year's Day, it must be specified), the wait to enter the park was endless!

The park opens at 9 a.m., and I arrived around 10 a.m. on site. There were already thousands of people online. The first step is to buy your ticket (cost 70 reals, the equivalent of 22 CDN for foreigners). The fast line to the vending machines still took over 20 minutes. It is possible to buy his online advance ticket, but it will still be necessary to make the line to then access the park.

This famous line to enter the park took me over an hour and a half of waiting! The line advanced well but it lengthened for a few hundred meters.

Once the barrier has been passed and the ticket validated, we find ourselves in a building where there is still a long line of people. This time we have to wait for buses that bring about thirty people at a time to another complex, a few kilometers further and next to the falls. It is at this "real entrance" that the visit finally really begins, a few hours after arriving on site!

 The visit

This tour is done on foot over a wooden or metal walkway with several different viewpoints of the falls. I passed a few brave people on crutches but the place is not really accessible to people with reduced mobility.

Besides the landscapes which are objectively magnificent, the compact crowd which followed one another on the catwalk sweated profusely. In the southern hemisphere, it is now the middle of summer and it was sweltering and humid at the time of almost 40 degrees.

Several children on the verge of heatstroke were crying and screaming. And amateur photographers gleefully pounded each other on their feet to capture selfie after selfie. No need to specify that dragging and setting up my tripod in these circumstances was not easy!

The closer to the falls that the visit takes us.

The visit extends over a few kilometers on these bridges. Occasionally, we have to take small paths or metal and wooden stairs. There really aren't any options other than the main path that everyone takes. We go to the largest of the falls called the Devil's Throat (Devil's throat).

The whole thing takes about 2 to 3 hours (in addition to the interminable waiting time!).

The crowd compacts at the foot of the Devil's Throat to take selfies.

The boat

One of the popular on-site activities is a boat ride that takes passengers directly under the falls. I can't really say more that I haven't tried it personally. However, a lot of information can be found elsewhere on the web (especially here).

This activity seems to be a must for the Argentines, Uruguayans and Brazilians whom I had previously met on my route and who told me they had visited the falls. They had all enjoyed the experience as well. If you go, I'll let you decide if the 12 minutes on the boat, in the company of dozens of other people, is worth the price of the excursion.

Is it worth it?

Yes, but you don't have to go there before you die.

As is often the case with larger than life attractions (the Pyramids, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat in Cambodia), there is a lot of people. Almost too many people to be able to enjoy the moment. It was almost 40 degrees when I visited, and people were elbowing to take their selfies. Honestly, I was surprised not to see any brawls considering the heat and the compact crowd that slowly walked over the metal catwalks.

What often surprises me too is the speed at which people wander past these incredible natural wonders. They drive hours or maybe even days by car or plane to get here, stand in line, and once there walk as fast as possible towards the exit.

The phone selfies in particular are amazing. The big head in the photo is completely dark in front of the white screen of the falls, and usually hides all the details of the falls. The funny thing is that by taking these photos, we have our backs to the falls! But the important thing is apparently then to be able to check that we were there.

Looking at these thousands of amateur influencers, I wondered what we were doing before phone cameras. Did we take more time to watch, to appreciate? Disposable cameras are long gone, but I feel like despite their name, the photos they took were more durable than those today.

It is a bit of this impression that remains with me from the visit even if we are objectively in front of a natural wonder.

Nearby falls

Having spent a few months cycling in southern Brazil, the region struck me as a paradise for visiting the falls. Those of Iguazú are by far the most famous, but the entire Atlantic coast is full of them too. The plateau collapses at this point in the ocean and many large waterfalls plunge into the middle of the forest and along the roadsides. In particular the costal road which links São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro.

Obviously, the Iguazú Falls can also be visited from the Argentinian side. And I certainly enjoyed my visit to this other side more (link coming soon).

Finally, on the Paraguay side, very close, the Monday saltos (Monday River Falls) are also interesting. The latter are quite imposing although they pale in comparison to their neighbors in Iguazú. Above all, they have the advantage of being almost deserted by tourists.