Iguaçu Falls

[Philmar]

I will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 17 days in December and would like to do some small excursions while there. I plan to fly to Iguaçu Falls and back, from Buenos Aires. I plan to spend 4 days there. I plan to see the falls from both sides.

Do you have any helpful hints? Is the light best early morning? From what i see on google earth it appears east/south facing. But it's difficult to tell.

From what I've read the accommodation is far from the falls requiring a bus/taxi ride - or any expensive stay at the Sheraton.

If I stay on the Argentinian side what is the earliest I can make it to the Brazilian side in the morning taking in to account public transit and the border crossing? As a photographer I value the early morning light so I might decide to spend a night on the Brazilian side if I can't get there early enough.

Similarly if I am on the Brazilian side until evening are there any difficulties in getting return transportation to the Argentinian side? Are the taxistas there fond of overcharging tourists?

Also any advice on water fall photography is appreciated - NDG, tripod....mosquito net - LOL?

I plan on a side trip to Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay for a couple days. Any other photo rich sites nearby Buenos Aires I could go for a day trip?
I've been to Ushuaia, Calafate and El Chalten before. I'd love to go in to Salta and Juyjuy province but that looks like it will have to be a separate trip unless Salta and environs can be done in a meaningful 3 day stay.

[stever]

we were at Iquacu in Oct 2008 and stayed on the Brazil side for 2 nights (which seemed like plenty of time) in the Cataratas Hotel which is right at the falls - and about the same price as the Sheraton.   we had a guide from Blumer travel agency who said our prompt border crossing to the Argentine side (still forms to fill and fees to pay) was facilitated by his company president's organization of soccer games and barbercues with the Argentine immigration military personnel - this is to say that you may have trouble getting across in a reasonable amount of time early in the morning. 

as i recall, the tour buses from the Brazil side didn't show up in the parking lot at our hotel on the Brazil side of the falls until about 9 AM after i had finished morning photography.  all of which is to say if you want to get morning light on both sides, you should probably stay on both sides and arrange for a morning taxi to the falls if you don't stay at the expensive hotels.  the complexity of the falls means you are shooting from many directions on both sides.  it was our opinion that the views of the Argentine falls from the Brazil side were better than vice versa (but i believe that trails on the Argentine side were being improved so that may have changed).

a tripod is okay, but there are areas with lots of spray where you really want a poncho and an optech rain sleeve or equivalent for the camera - it also rained like hell for a while when we were on the Argentine side and the Sheraton was happy to provide us towels when we had lunch there.  don't recall mosquitos being an issue but that may vary with the weather.  some nice birds around in the mornings and a bird park/zoo on the Brazil side

we're going to Buenos Aires, Santiago, and Patagonia in Feb - any advice on Ushia, Calafate, etc. appreciate.

[NickyTaylorphoto]

I was there only about 2 years ago. I was staying on the Argentina side and took a bus over to the Brazil side. The main difference  the Argentine side (Iguazu National Park) has the best close-ups views, while the Brazilian side (Foz do Iguazu) has the most spectacular panoramic view.

I remember taking public transport over to the Brazil side which was easy enough to arrange on the day.


Check out http://sevennaturalwonders.org/south-america/iguazu-falls/ it has a lot of useful info on the sunrise, sunset. Opening times etc.

Hope you have a great trip