Every now and then, nature surprises us and leaves us in awe. The Iguacu waterfall has definitely ruined me for all other waterfalls. I remember that I loved Iceland and its majestic waterfalls, but nothing prepared me for the first view of the Iguacu.

The waterfall sits on the Brazil-Argentina border. There is obviously the possibility to visit both sides, but since we only had one and a half day in Foz do Iguacu on the Brazilian side, we decided to visit only this side instead of rushing to see the Argentinian side as well.

Where to stay: to be honest, I wasn’t interested in seeing anything else except for the falls while in Foz de Iguacu, which is mainly the reason we choose a resort hotel located near the park entrance. Not to mention that the airport is conveniently located only a couple of minutes away. There are plenty of options near the park, but we choose the Eco Cataratas Resort due to its good reviews. We used uber to get from the airport to the hotel and also to the park (about 10 minutes drive time). The room was great, breakfast was fabulous, the only downside is the slow service at the pool bar. We ate dinner once in the main restaurant for 80 real/person, which was buffet type. There was also the a la carte option.

Tickets: I researched a bit on this topic and frequently visited the park website for updates of promotional stuff. Tickets should be bought on their website: https://cataratasdoiguacu.com.br/mapas/ . You can choose the entry time, as well as various options, such as evening visits and so on. We chose the early morning entry, at 9:30 am, in order to be able to visit the nearby bird park during the afternoon. I bought the tickets online and selected also 1 free ticket for our son (free entry below 6 years old, but you still need a ticket). The tricky part was that in order to actually buy the tickets, I had to open an account on the website. They send you a PIN code, which did not work too well. I tried at least three times before I was able to validate my account. Afterwards it was a breeze and I got our tickets via email and obviously in my account. No need to print them, we just showed them the QR codes at the park entrance. They did ask for Eric’s passport to validate his age. I had a photo of his passport, which was enough.

Visiting the Brazilian side of Iguacu falls: We made our way from the hotel to the Iguacu Visitors Center using an Uber (cheap and fast). When we arrived we were greeted by lots of staff offering their help and showed us the way to the entrance. One of the staff asked if we were interested in doing a side tour, apart from the hike to the falls, which was included in the entry ticket. We ended up purchasing an extra activity that included a boat ride under the falls. The offices to purchase this activity are to the right of the entry lanes, just before you board the bus. Indeed, from the Visitors Center a bus took us to the starting point of the hike, roughly 10 km away, close to the beautiful colonial building of the Belmond Hotel. From here, we descended on a paved path towards the first of the many viewpoints over the falls. I remember seeing the falls from the first viewpoint and I thought “this is gigantic ”! Was I wrong?! 5 minutes later, what I believed to be gigantic turned out to be incredibly gigantic. I have never ever seen anything like it in my life. The trail goes through the forest, so it’s best to put on some insect repellent. It’s also fairly shaded and was cool and humid compared to the rest of the town. We arrived at the last part of the hike about an hour later. This last part is the Lookout Devil’s Throat. It’s basically a bridge built over the falls. It’s super crowded, but simply amazing, especially with rainbows over the falls adding to the magic of this incredible natural landscape. Expect to get soaking wet . After we photographed all inches on the waterfall, we took the elevator up to the main road, but first refreshed on one of the terraces. The bus stop is a little to the right of the elevator exit. We did not wait too much for the bus to arrive, they run pretty frequently (about 15 minutes apart).

The boat ride under the falls: We took the bus to the Macuco Safari stop, half way to the park exit. This is where the boat rides to the falls depart. The tour actuates included a guided ride through the forest on an electrical bus. This was both fun and educational, as we learnt about some peculiar stuff regarding the palm trees and some tricks that the indigenous people used as insect repellent. At some point, the bus stops, and those willing, can hike for about 10-15 minutes through the forest. We didn’t really step on the forest bed, but rather walked on metal railings until we reached the final stop of the hike and the point where the boat tour starts. You can go by bus all the way to here, in case you don’t want to do the actual walk through the forest. Anyways, it was a short easy walk, but not suitable for strollers as there were many stairs.

To get to the boats, a guide took us down to the river bed in a small funicular. We put on life jackets (and raincoats – if you bring your own), took off our shoes and boarded the boat. Do we recommend raincoats? Nope, they are totally useless, as we soon came to realize. We payed about 780 real/2 adults. We did not pay for Eric (6 at the time). To this day, this was the most expensive shower I have taken in my life! Also, the craziest one, the coolest one and the most thrilling. The boat starts from the river and makes its way upstream, stopping for photos. Yes, they have a professional photographer that takes photo and you can buy them later. Then, the boat goes under one of the thundering waterfalls, an experience which I feel was one of the highlights of our visit to Brazil. Don’t forget to bring waterproof cameras or phones, as everything gets wet.

The whole activity lasts about 2h. Once we were done with the boat ride, the electric bus took us back to the main road from where we boarded the bus back to the park exit/entrance.

Parque das Aves. While there are plenty of attractions around the falls, we chose to visit the bird park because of the toucans. The park is located across the main highway to the fall’s entrance. So we kind of just walked there after visiting the falls. We bought the tickets at the park entrance (80 real/adult, free for kids under . The entire visit lasted for about 1 hour as we walked through the forest and into the various bird enclosures. They have feeding times and the schedule is available at the entrance. I would say that the feeding of the macaws was great, as we could basically walk very close to them and take photos. The next best thing here is the Hummingbirds garden, which we have never seen before. That is absolutely still the case, as there was absolutely no hummingbird in site. The cherry on top were obviously the toucans, which was after all the main reason we went there.