Iguazu Falls from Buenos Aires

[psygist]

Can Iguazu Falls be appreciatively visited in a day, or with an overnight, from Buenos Aires?  Any advice on logistics would be appreciated!

 

[Mercruiser]

We did the two night version of this last year, which I recommend. But, yes, you can do it with one overnight. You haven't provided enough information on your time constraints and travels for me to make any recommendations.

[psygist]

13 minutes ago, Mercruiser said:

We did the two night version of this last year, which I recommend. But, yes, you can do it with one overnight. You haven't provided enough information on your time constraints and travels for me to make any recommendations.

Thanks for your reply. 
We are being flown to Buenos Aires EZE airport after a cruise from Ushuaia. Flight probably arrives early afternoon. Ideally, would like to fly to Iguazu later that day but probably have to wait until next morning. Would have entire day to visit before flying home from BA the next day. 

[Mercruiser]

Here is what we did in February 2024, with comments on how to fit your situation.

 

Tuesday - Fly from AEP to IGR, depart 4:35 pm, arrive 6:25 pm. Check in to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina hotel for three nights. (We only stayed two nights, but used the third night paid to stay until 7:00 pm on our day of departure).

 

Wednesday - Our Tours By Locals (TBL) guide picked us up at the hotel at 8:00 am. Visited the Argentina side of the falls. In the evening, we went to the The Argentine Experience Iguazu dinner. This is a group dinner with about 15 people. it was very fun and tasty.

 

Thursday - Our TBL guide picked us up again at 8:00 am. Visited the Brazil side of the falls.  The driver was authorized to use the fast lane at the border crossing, reserved for taxis. This really sped up the border crossings. He was also authorized to use all the roads on the Brazil side. Only registered Brazilian guides and  buses can go on these roads. If you use a Argentina guide, he will have to park far away and you will have to take a 50 passenger bus into the Brazil falls. Our guide returned us to our hotel in Argentina. We had booked an extra night so that we could change clothes and shower before taking a 9:20 pm evening flight the EZE. (It is really hot and humid at the falls.)

 

For your situation, you could fly from EZE to IGR on your cruise flight arrival day (Day 1), on the last flight of the day. Google flights only shows morning flights on the EZE to IGR route in February. As I recall from last year, they added more flights to the schedule as we got closer to February. Otherwise, you will have to take the early flight on Day 2 and start your touring on arrival

 

On Day 2, visit the Argentina side, as we did. On Day 3, visit the Brazil side, as we did, and take a late flight back to EZE.

 

I recommend getting a tour guide to handle all the logistics for you. The guide made it seamless. I didn't have to worry about logistics. Look at the two-day tours on Tours By Locals.

 

Note that it is technically possible to visit both sides of the falls in one day. I do not recommend this. We discussed this while driving with our tour guide. He said it is an exhausting day (very hot & humid) and he has to rush the clients all day long.

 

Good luck with your plans

 

 

Edited August 27 by Mercruiser

[cccole]

I cannot imagine doing this in one day and truly enjoying the experience but I know it is done.  We stayed 3 nights.

 

We used Iguassu Private Tours for our tours and arrangements.  Edir was flexible and great at making everything work.  Because of the possible visa situation with Brazil we decided to fly into IGR and stay at the Gran Melia Iguazu.  Our guide picked us up at the airport, took us to the hotel, handled all the tours and delivered us back to the airport for our flight back to BA.

 

We made our own flight and hotel reservations but I think Edir can handle that also.  Our stay at the Gran Melia was amazing.  Viewing the falls from our room or the infinity pool was awesome and I did not want to leave.  I was able to snag a great deal on a club level room by joining their loyalty program.  It was nice not having to leave the park once we arrived, the hotel is inside the park and has a view of the falls.

 

Brazil had delayed their date for requiring visas so our guide took us to the Brazilian side of the falls one day.

 

I can't say how happy I was that we took the time to visit Iguassu Falls.  It was a fabulous experience.  And, if you are interested, the contact info for our tour operator is www.iguassuprivatetours.com.  This agency was used and recommended by a CC member.  Hope you can go and maybe stay 2-3 nights.  Cherie

Edited August 28 by cccole

[The Wanderlust]

Thanks for the helpful replies!

It seems I am able to change my itinerary and fly home from Iguazu Falls (IGU Brazil). However, I will be flying in to IGR on the Argentina side. 
Is it better to find lodging on the Brazil side if I will be flying from that airport? If I stay on the Argentine side, how long does it take to get to the airport on the Brazil side?

[Mercruiser]

Wanderlust,

 

You asked, 

"Is it better to find lodging on the Brazil side if I will be flying from that airport? If I stay on the Argentine side, how long does it take to get to the airport on the Brazil side?"

 

The distance from Puerto Igauzu Argentina to IGU is 15 km. It's a short distance to drive. But you have to go through the border crossing, which can be slow.

 

If your IGU flight is early in the morning, then you had better stay overnight in Brazil.

 

On the other hand, if you can get an evening flight from IGU, I would recommend staying in Argentina, and then having your tour guide pick you up at 7:40 am at your Argentina hotel to spend a day seeing the Brazil side. Your tour guide could then drop you and your luggage off at IGU for your flight. I used 7:40 am as an example because that's the time of day our guide picked us up at our Argentina hotel for our day trip to see the Brazil side. The border crossing was not very busy that time of day. It took us exactly 47 minutes to get from our Argentina hotel, transit customs, to our first stop in Brazil (Parque das Aves zoo, which is right across from the IGU airport). How do I know it took 47 minutes? My Google maps timeline shows it exactly. YMMV.