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How do you get to Iguazu Falls?
The easiest way to get to Iguazu falls is to fly from buenos Aires.
You can take a bus, but it takes a long time, and flights can be found quite cheaply.
There are several flights a day from Ezeiza International, EZE, and from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, AEP. AEP and EZE are both roughly equal in terms of access from Buenos Aires hotels, and it’s a 2 hour flight.
From EZE you can use LATAM – no Avios earning after 30th April – or Aerolineas Argentinas, who are part of SkyTeam allowing you to earn miles with Flying Blue or Garuda, for example.
Those two also fly from AEP, along with the new South American player, Norwegian.
How do you get to Iguazu Falls from Buenos Aires EZE?
LATAM fly an A320 to IGR from EZE usually on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Return tickets are around £150 but it can be cheaper to buy two one-way tickets, depending on your dates. It’s always worth checking.
Aerolineas fly daily, on an Embraer RJ-190, also starting at around £150 return.
Prices can be 3 or 4 times higher than that, so book well in advance.
How do you get to Iguazu Falls from Buenos Aires AEP?
LATAM have more flights each day from AEP, and on every day of the week. Return prices can be under £100. in general it is cheaper from AEP than from EZE, but prices can vary widely depending on dates.
Aerolineas use a 737 from AEP and fly several times each day. Prices typically start around £115 return.
Norwegian fly twice a day with a 737, from as little as £26 one way with a hand-luggage only fare. Round-trip fares can be anywhere between £80 and £300.
As with the other two, your choice of dates can have the biggest impact on the price, and it is sometimes cheaper to buy two one-way tickets instead of a return.
How do you get to Iguazu Falls with Avios?
The only Avios option is LATAM from AEP daily, or from EZE on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, but in all cases only in economy.
It will cost you 9000 Avios and £28 tax each way. Availability is good on most days.
You can book with Avios up until 30th April, including for flights after the 30th.
However, the cash rates are often low enough that this wouldn’t be a good use of 9000 Avios.
Can you visit the Brazil side as well as the Argentina side?
It’s really quite easy to visit both sides of Iguazu falls.
You can find tours online, or contact your hotel to arrange a car and driver for the day.
My hotel organised a driver to meet me at the airport, take me to the Brazil side, pick me up hours later, and take me to the hotel.
Including handling all the border crossing formalities it was 4300 pesos which is about 75USD. That was organised by the Melia hotel, so you can probably get it cheaper, but I was happy and the driver was very good.
The same driver charged me 12 USD for the ride back to the airport.
On the Brazil side, you can buy tickets at multi-lingual self-serve machines then take the bus to the 3rd stop then walk along the falls viewing areas. Take the bus back from the end.
On the Argentine side, trams run at intervals. Tickets are sold for the next one, until they’re sold out. Then you can buy a ticket for the following tram and you’d have to wait.
An excellent place to stay is the Gran Melia Iguazu. It’s the only hotel in the park on the Argentina side, and you can walk to the viewing areas as soon as the park opens, getting a good 20 minutes head start on the visitors coming in at the main park entrance.
It can be quite pricey, but it can also be an absolute bargain if you buy cheap Melia points. The Melia is a beautiful hotel, with a very nice pool, and you can actually have a room overlooking the falls.
