The Iguazu Falls from Brazil side of the national park is smaller than the Argentina side. However, it still offers spectacular vantage points of the falls from a long pathway and an amazing opportunity to get up close to the Devil’s Throat. Beyond the park paths, the Macuco Safari boat tour offers an unforgettable experience to visit the base of the falls from the river below. This overview provides everything you need to know on how to spend a full day enjoying the Iguazu Falls from Brazil.
Getting a Bus to the Iguazu Falls on the Brazil Side from Puerto Iguazu
If you are staying in Puerto Iguazu, you will go to the bus stop to purchase your round trip tickets to go to the Brazilian part of the national 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. From Puerto Iguazu, it takes less than an hour to arrive at the national park.
(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 Iguazu Falls from the Brazil Side
You can purchase your tickets to the national park in advance from this website. You can also purchase these tickets at kiosks at the park. They also have lockers here for bags if you need them. Information about purchasing tickets to the park has changed over the last few years so you may want to reach out to your accommodation to get the right information. The link above is the official website to purchase tickets and should have the most up-to-date information in both English and Spanish to help you determine how to visit Iguazu Falls from the Argentina side and the Brazil side of the national park.
Navigating the Iguazu Falls from the Brazil Side
The Iguazu Falls from the Brazil side of the park is smaller than the Argentine side but still worth the visit to see the falls from different vantage points. To get the most of your visit, you will want to allocate a full day but if you are short on time can enjoy just the walking portion of the national park in half a day.
The other half of your day can be spent exploring a popular bird park (Parque das Aves) near the entrance to the national park if you already have done the boat safari from the Argentina side. Parque das Aves has spent over 30 years promoting conservation and education of Atlantic Rainforest birds. It is considered one of the best things to do on the Brazil side of the Iguazu Falls and during your visit you will have the opportunity to see over 140 species of birds in a forest setting.
If you are not visiting the Argentina side of the Iguazu Falls or did not do the boat safari, the second half of your day can be on the Macuco Safari. This is an incredible adventure that will take you on the river and up close to the Iguazu Falls. The experience is similar on both sides of the park so the biggest differentiator will be price.
When you get through the entrance, you will wait in line to get on a bus to take you to the walking path. The bus only has two stops: first, the Macuco Safari stop where the adventure boat rides depart and, second, the walking path. These are the two things to do in this park but even going to just one of them makes the trip here worth it.
The Path of the Falls
The main attraction of the park is this walk along a path that offers views of the falls sprawling out in front of you. The path will take you through the rainforest to panoramas of the Argentine side of the falls. These concrete paths are very easy to walk on and will not be as slippery as some portions of the Argentine paths.
Ultimately, you will arrive at a boardwalk at a midpoint of one of the larger waterfalls. Here, you may get wet due to the wind blowing the mist off of the waterfall but most of the time it will feel refreshing due to the heat. When the mist dies down, you will get glimpses of the spectacular falls on the other side of the river.
Finally, the walk ends at an area where you can get almost under the waterfall (getting soaked!). There are usually park photographers in this area to take and sell you a photo. They offer to take you to multiple areas to get different angles. These photographers are pretty insistent, but you can politely refuse them if you do not want to purchase any photos.
Both the boardwalk and getting under the waterfall are avoidable if you do not want to get wet. However, the waterfall might feel refreshing in this hot climate so be sure to have a change of clothes or swimming attire if you do want to enjoy the water.
The end of the walk has the main food area of the park. The food here may be overpriced and not as appetizing as what you can find in Puerto Iguazu or Foz do Iguacu near your accommodations. If you are doing the Macuco Safari adventure boat ride, consider bringing a lunch in a drybag before doing the boat ride. However, if you are doing this adventure on the Argentine side and only are able to spend a half day at the park then you can eat back in the towns. 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 of the park of the Iguazu Falls from the Brazil side.
The Macuco Safari
The boat adventure experience can be done on the Argentine or Brazil side of the national park. 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. Getting up close to the Iguazu Falls is an amazing experience and highly recommended regardless of which side you decide doing it on. We recommend purchasing tickets in advance to guarantee availability of this amazing experience. The company also has packages that includes rafting or a guided forest tour.
The Blueprint Travelers Hiking Staples
Leaving the Brazil Side of the Iguazu Falls
Back at the entrance, head back to where the bus initially dropped you off to pick up the next bus back to Puerto Iguazu. You should have purchased your return ticket 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 they will leave you here while you go through the control. You will just get onto the next bus of the same company for no additional cost.)
Similarly to the experience leaving Argentina, you will stop at the Argentina border for immigration. The bus driver here will wait for everyone to go through and get back on the road for Puerto Iguazu.
