Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls lie on the Iguazú River at the border of Argentina and Brazil and form one of the largest waterfall systems in the world. The system includes several hundred individual falls spread across nearly three kilometres, including the dramatic U-shaped Devil’s Throat.

The Argentine side provides an extensive network of boardwalks and trails that bring visitors close to many individual cascades and to a boardwalk that projects into the Devil’s Throat. The Brazilian side offers elevated panoramic viewpoints that show the full sweep of the falls.

Boat trips and river excursions take visitors into the channels below the falls for close encounters with spray and turbulent water; wet-weather clothing is recommended for close approaches. The surrounding subtropical rainforest is also home to diverse wildlife and protected within national parks on both sides of the border.

The falls have long been a landmark in the region and were set aside as protected national parkland in the 20th century; the area is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Modern tourism infrastructure developed to provide trails, viewpoints and regulated river access.

The falls sit near the Argentine town of Puerto Iguazú and the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu at the tri-border region with Paraguay, within a subtropical rainforest environment.

• Scale and Devil’s Throat: The entire waterfall system comprises roughly 275 individual drops stretching about 2.7 kilometres, with the U-shaped Devil’s Throat dropping about 82 metres.
• Visit planning: Different national parks and viewpoints are best combined over two days to see both the close-up Argentine walkways and the panoramic Brazilian views.

What to See#

• Argentine circuits (Upper, Lower, Devil’s Throat): A network of walkways and viewing platforms on the Argentine side that provide close-up views of many individual falls and access to the Devil’s Throat boardwalk.
• Brazilian panoramic platform: A single panoramic viewpoint area on the Brazilian side that offers broad, sweeping views across the falls and photographic perspectives.
• Boat excursions (commercial): Commercial rafting and boat excursion operators run trips that reach the base of some falls and the river channels upstream.

Reach the falls via the nearby towns of Puerto Iguazú (Argentina) or Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil). Both towns have airports (Puerto Iguazú IGR, Foz do Iguaçu IGU) and regular road connections; from Puerto Iguazú take a short taxi or local bus service into the Argentine Iguazú National Park, and from Foz do Iguaçu take local buses or taxis to the Brazilian park entrances. Cross-border transfers between the two sides are possible at the international bridge between Foz do Iguaçu and Puerto Iguazú.

• Use both sides: schedule time on the Argentine side first for the extensive walkways that bring you close to multiple falls, then cross to the Brazilian side for the sweeping panoramic view of the Devil's Throat.
• Start early and take the little ecological train to the Devil's Throat platform as soon as the park opens; the earliest trains and circuits (Upper and Lower) have significantly fewer tour groups and better light for photos.
• If you want to avoid the busiest viewing decks, take the longer walking circuits (Lower Circuit or trails toward the forest) which disperse visitors and offer quieter encounters with smaller falls and wildlife.