3 Days in Iguazú

The Devil's Throat is the reason people come: a U-shaped canyon 80-90 m wide and 70-80 m deep, taking about half of the river's flow. The Argentine walkway runs 2.2 km out over the river to the lip, so you stand above the drop. You get there by the Tren Ecológico de la Selva, the park train: first departure at 8:20, last outbound 15:30, last back 17:30. When it's open, go first.

Now the honest part. Since 3 August 2026 the park has had the floors and railings of the walkway taken out, as a precaution against El Niño floods, with no official reopening date, though a Paraguayan paper reported the park hoping for December and no more than four months of closure. A guide updated on 5 November still listed it as closed. Check the park's news page before you book. If it's shut, the Upper and Lower circuits are open, and day three puts you on the Brazilian trail, whose walkway reopened on 31 October (ask whether the Devil's Throat end is included).

The Gran Aventura, run by Iguazú Jungle inside the park, starts with a ride in an open truck along the Yacaratiá trail with a bilingual guide. Then a boat takes you up the rapids to the foot of the falls and straight in under the spray. You'll be soaked, and it's meant to be. The operator suggests the 9:15, 10:15 or 11:30 departures, which leave the afternoon for the walkways.

The rules are strict: minimum age 12, original passport (no copies), and no pregnant women or people with a motor or sensory disability, because of 300 m of stairs and some scrambling. The operator says it runs daily but depends on the river, so at high water the boat can stop. Rain doesn't cancel it. Dry bags are lent for phones. Wear shoes you don't mind soaking.

The Circuito Superior is 1,850 m of catwalk along the top of the falls, with the river sliding away under your feet before it drops. It's the gentle circuit, fully accessible to wheelchairs, and the one that shows how wide the river is and how little warning it gives before the edge. Walk it after the boat, when your clothes have started to dry.

The Circuito Inferior is 1,450 m, with stairs, and it takes you down to the foot of the falls. This is where you feel the scale: the cliff drops in two steps of 35 and 40 m, the walkways run beside the curtains and the mist soaks your hair. It reopened on 15 October 2026 while other parts stayed shut after a flood.

From the lower circuit a free boat crosses to Isla San Martín, which has two more lookouts. It's often closed, and there was no 2026 notice either way, so treat it as a bonus and ask at the circuit.

The Sendero Verde is a 650 m forest path linking the Patio de Servicios, the Estación Central and the Cataratas station, and it's where you meet the coatis. They are the park's least shy residents: long-snouted relatives of the raccoon that stroll past the restaurants in gangs looking for a snack. They're wild animals, and a coati that sees a sandwich will go through your bag.

Keep food sealed, eat at the tables and never feed them, since the park bans it. The forest also has about 450 bird species, with toco toucans the most common, and capuchin monkeys on the trails. Caimans live on the Argentine side only.

Back in town, skip the first parrilla and eat the river. The fish of the Paraná and the Iguazú are the local trademark: surubí (a big catfish), pacú and dorado. Aqva, on Avenida Córdoba at Carlos Thays, serves regional Misiones food, with starters like cassava, reviro, chipá guazú (a creamy corn dish) and a surubí tart. Ask for the fish a la parrilla, not breaded. Kitchens fill after 9 pm.

The Sendero Macuco is the quiet side of the park: an unpaved, easy forest path of about 7 km there and back to the Salto Arrechea, a waterfall with a pool below. It's the best place to hear the rainforest instead of the crowds, and you may see toucans and butterflies. There are no services on the way, so bring water and repellent.

Check the status first. The park's August notice listed it among the open attractions, but it opens only when weather and ground allow, it closes at 15:00, and a guide on 5 November still listed it as closed after the October floods. If it's shut, walk the circuits again or visit the Yvyrá Retá and Territorio Yaguareté areas, which the park lists among its sites.

Güirá Oga, on Ruta 12 between town and the park, is a shelter for injured and confiscated wild animals. The guided visit takes about 1.5 hours and gets you close to wild animals that can't go back to the forest. Listings give about 9:00 to 16:45 in winter and 8:30 to 18:30 in summer, but they date from 2020 and the price isn't published, so treat both as unconfirmed. If time is short, the Macuco trail and the coatis already give you wildlife, so skip it.

Misiones eats like Paraguay across the river, and the afternoon snack is the place to start. Chipá is a baked cassava-flour roll with cheese, crisp outside and soft inside. Mbejú is a thin cassava-starch and cheese pancake, best hot. Sopa paraguaya, despite the name, is a dense cheese and onion cornbread, not a soup. Look for a bakery or stand on Avenida Victoria Aguirre and around the bus terminal, and eat them with a coffee or a mate.

At the riverfront the Iguazú meets the Paraná, with Brazil on one bank and Paraguay on the other. The Hito Tres Fronteras is Argentina's marker of the spot, and it's free. The river is wide, brown and slow after the roar of the falls. Come for the last hour of daylight, since the stop itself takes ten minutes.

On nights around the full moon the park opens after dark for the Paseo de Luna Llena. A guide leads you in Spanish and English: a short show by a Guaraní choir, the train to the falls, then a walk along the Upper Circuit lit only by the moon. It has run since 2001. The ticket covers the night entry, guide and train, not dinner or the daytime ticket.

It runs on about five nights a month, in turns at 19:45, 20:30 and 21:15, and sales open 30 to 90 days ahead. Check the park's calendar. The full moons fall on 24 November, 23 December 2026 and 22 January 2027 (Argentine time). The park's calendar lists walk nights of 20-24 November and 19-23 December 2026; January 2027 wasn't published yet. A special Río Uruguay bus runs from the terminal on walk nights, signed Cataratas.

The Tancredo Neves Bridge is how you get to Brazil. A direct Río Uruguay bus from the Puerto Iguazú terminal to the Brazilian park has been listed hourly from 8:30 with a last return around 17:00, but the listing is undated, so confirm at the terminal. Otherwise take the international bus to Foz, then city bus 120 to the park, which cost 5 BRL in 2026.

The rule is simple: get off at each immigration post with your passport when the bus stops, even if the driver doesn't say so. Skipping a stamp can mean a fine when you re-enter. Allow 1.5-2 hours door to door, more on holidays.

This is the view Argentina can't give you. From the Brazilian trail you see the whole front of the falls at once, because on the Argentine side you are always inside them. The trail is about 1.5 km from the visitor center, where park buses drop you, and it brings you closer to individual falls. Tickets are for a chosen slot and sold only online. Foreign adults paid 117 BRL in October 2025 and 2026 reports run higher, so budget 120-135 BRL and check the price at checkout. The page lists weekday opening at 9:00 and weekends at 8:30, with last entry around 16:00.

At the end of the trail a walkway normally pushes out over the river to the Devil's Throat, and you get wet from the spray. The border runs through the Throat, so this is the other half of the canyon you can't reach on the Argentine side right now. The park's 31 October notice was about the walkway reopening, so confirm that the Throat viewpoint itself is open.

The park closes the walkway when the flow passes about 8 million liters per second. It closed on 11 October 2026, reopened 20 days later on 31 October, and the river peaked at 17.7 million in between. That was a flood, not a normal week. If it's shut on your day, the trail still gives you the panorama.

The park's main restaurant, Canoas Mirim, sits at the end of the trail and serves a Brazilian buffet from 12:00 to 16:00; a second one, Cocar, is at the visitor center. It's convenient, not special, and you need a park ticket to eat there. Bring a card or some reais.

The Parque das Aves is a bird sanctuary across the road from the park entrance, opened in 1994 on 16 hectares (40 acres) of forest. You walk through six themed aviaries: rivers and mangroves, butterflies and hummingbirds, toucans, macaws, the "little browns" and the cecropia trees. It's calm and shaded, and a real change from the crowds at the falls. It opens daily from 8:30 to 16:30, and two hours is enough. If you have more time, Itaipu Dam is the alternative afternoon, covered in the Foz do Iguaçu guide.