The Brazil side of the national park is smaller than the Argentina side. We spent half a day walking around the park and taking photos. If we had done the Macuco Safari boat ride on this side of the park, we would have spent almost a full day.
Getting a Bus to the Iguaçu Falls
Similarly to going to the Argentine side, we went to the bus stop to purchase our round trip tickets to go to the Brazilian park. The bus company is Rio Uruguay and the first bus leaves at 7:30 am. They only take cash and you can also purchase your return ticket here and do not need to determine a time for your return ticket. At the return bus, you will just need to show a purchased ticket. You will also need a passport for this bus ride!
Because you are crossing a border, you will need to go through immigration. This particular route is a tourist bus and will stop at the Argentine border control and help you through the border. The bus will wait for you! Here, an agent will just check your passport and you will hop back on the bus and go on your way. We arrived at the park shortly after 8 am.
(If you are not returning to Argentina that afternoon and continuing on to Brazil, you will need to tell the bus driver to stop at the Brazil border control to get a stamp there. Here, the bus will leave you and you can just wait for the next bus to come. Make sure you still have your bus ticket. You can read more about this process at the bottom of the linked article about our border crossing experience.)
Tickets to the Iguaçu National Park
NOTE: Information about purchasing tickets to the park has changed over the last few years. We reached out to our accommodation host to get the right information. We have included the official websites below that will have the most up-to-date information.
We purchased our tickets in advance from this website. You can purchase these tickets at kiosks at the park. They also have lockers here for bags if you need them.
Navigating the Iguaçu Park
The Brazilian side of the park is smaller than the Argentine side and only takes half a day to navigate. When we got through the entrance, we waited in line to get on a bus to take us to the walking path. The bus only has two stops: first, the Macuco Safari stop where the boat rides depart and, second, the walking path. These are the two things to do in this park.
The Path of the Falls
The main attraction of the park is this walk. It took us through the rainforest to view panoramas of the Argentine side of the falls. These concrete paths were very easy to walk on.
Ultimately, we arrived at a boardwalk at a midpoint of one of the larger waterfalls. Here, we got wet due to the wind blowing the mist off of the waterfall. When the mist died down, we had glimpses of the falls on the other side of the river.
Finally, the walk ends at an area where you can get under the waterfall (getting soaked!). There may be park photographers in this area to take and sell you a photo. They may take you to multiple areas to get different angles. While you can choose not to buy any photos, we felt that they are pretty pushy.
Both the boardwalk and getting under the waterfall are avoidable if you do not want to get wet.
The end of the walk is the main food area of the park. We avoided eating here as it felt a little expensive and not as appetizing as what we could find in Puerto Iguazu near our accommodations. At the end of the walk, the bus picks you up and can drive you back to the Macuco Safari stop or to the entrance.
The Macuco Safari
We did not do this because we had the same experience on the Argentine side. If you prefer to do it on the Brazilian side of the park, the experience is the same as described in our article on the Argentina side. You can purchase tickets directly at this stop or online here. The Brazilian experience is more expensive than the Argentine one because of the exchange rate. You can read more about this here.
Leaving the Iguaçu Park
Back at the entrance, we went back to where the bus initially dropped us off to pick up the next bus back to Puerto Iguazu. We had purchased our return from the bus station in Puerto Iguazu but you can also pay cash directly on the bus.
(If you are entering Argentina for the first time since arriving in Brazil, you will also have to stop at the Brazilian border control. Tell the bus driver and he will leave you here while you go through the control. You will just get onto the next bus of the same company.)
