Brazil versus Argentina: Which side offer the best Iguazu Falls boat ride?

Introduction

Katarina and I dig boat rides. Whether it’s exploring the karst-mountain lakes in Thailand, cruising through Vietnam’s gorgeous Ha Long Bay, sailing the Greek isles sipping wine, or skirting through the Norwegian Fjords wearing dry suits in a rigid-hull-inflatable boat, there’s something about being on the water, soaking in nature while drifting the open water has a certain allure we can’t resist.

So when we saw there were not one, but TWO different boat rides that take your right into the massive Iguazu Falls, there was no question about whether we would take one or not. No way. The Argentina and Brazil sides of Iguazu each offer one. We were definitely going to get ride up in there in those waterfalls and get soaked like the thousands of tourists before us.

But we needed to know: which boat ride should we take?

Well, we decided to weigh our options carefully, do the research on which would be best and most financially sound. Which would we have the best photo ops? Which would take you closest to the waterfalls (hint: they both take you literally right under them)? 

Problem was, I couldn’t figure out which would be the best. So we said screw it and did them both.

I’m sure someone out there (crossing my fingers) loves to do research like me, and I was frustrated when I couldn’t find the answers I was looking for readily available. This article’s for you!

Let’s break it down. By now, you probably know there are two sides to Iguazu Falls to visit and both are spectacular in their own ways.

On each side, the parks offer a rigid-hull-inflatable boat ride straight up the Iguazu River and into the falls. On the surface, both experiences sound very similar. Take a “safari” ride through the jungle, don a life jacket, then hop aboard a neon orange boat where you’ll ride right into the Falls. Oh, and, you’ll get wet. Super, super wet, because the boats take you right under a couple of the smaller falls multiple times.

After having done them both, though, I can tell you that there were a suprising amount of differences. I’m going to break ‘em down so if you’re not crazy like us and manage to fit in both, which you should do.

Macuco Safari (the Brazil side)

The Macuco Safari is super easy to access. The park on the Brazilian side has a free bus that takes you between different stops within the park, and one of those stops takes you right up to the Macuco Safari ticketing desk and gift shop. You can roll right up to the ticketing counter and snag a ride on the Safari pretty easily. Sometimes there are lines for the Safari, but generally in the morning and later afternoon, that’s not too much of an issue. When we went, we got right on.

One of my favorite parts of the Brazilian side is the option of extending your excursion with other mini-adventures. You can go rappelling down a small 20 meter waterfall (which we did) or do a mini white-water rafting trip, all in addition to the main attraction—the boat ride to the falls. Or if for some crazy reason you don’t want to do the boat ride, you can just ride one of the electric trucks around.

Once you get on the truck for your safari, they take you through a well-worn path in the jungle. The tour operator gives you a nice rundown on some of the native species you’ll see. With all the noisy people and the trucks going around, you’re pretty much just going to see plants.

But you’re not here for the “safari” anyway. I hope.

Halfway through the short ride (maybe about five to ten minutes), you stop at a spot where you can get off and talk a walk with your guide that ends at a waterfall. It’s pretty enough; nothing spectacular given the amazing views of Iguazu you get everywhere else. As for wildlife, you’ll mostly see a ton of spiders, which the guide promised are all non-venomous. 

This was also where Katarina and I took a slight detour to rappel down the waterfall. We’ve done rappelling and canyoneering before, having a blast with it in Costa Rica. While I’m glad we did this one, the descent was super slow comparatively. You had to yank the rope through your harness, descending basically hand-over-hand. Not much rappelling really.

All the same, it was a fun addition for the extra few bucks, got us soaked, and we had fun taking some pictures going down the single waterfall. 

After that, we loaded back up onto a truck that took us to a platform above the river (another very short ride). There they had a decent enough gift shop with snacks and drinks as well as lockers you could rent and bathrooms. The lockers are great if you don’t have a dry bag (like this one which I personally used on this trip), and some people used the bathrooms to change into swimsuits for what was to come.

You wait in another (hopefully) short line to get on a funicular which takes you down to a dock. The docks can be a mess of congestion as people are grabbing or getting rid of life jackets, then getting in another mass of people that is roughly organized as a line. One of the nice parts of the Brazil side is that at this point they ask if you want to get wet or stay dry. If you want a dry boat ride (for the love of the Falls, get wet!!!), you can choose to do so, an option that the Argentina side, as far as I’m aware does not offer.

Then boom, you wait a few minutes and hop aboard a boat. You don’t get to choose seats; they just cram you in  the rows of four, and you get pretty cuddly with your neighbors. Then you’re cruising down the river, taking in the sights (if you lucked out and got a seat at the edge). Or in my case, staring at the back of a lot of heads and seeing the river bank.

It doesn’t take long until you get a view of the falls, which I have to say is quite literally breathtaking from the water. You’re not going to get another view like this and it was absolutely stunning. Worth every penny to see them from that angle.

It doesn’t take long for the boat to take you for a quick view of Salto Mbigua, which is a growling monster of a waterfall. Then they zoom away after you have just enough time to snap a couple shots and take a selfie or two. Your next stop is somewhere within the Salto Dos and Tres Mosqueteros. These are on the way to Garganta Diablo (which unfortunately you never actually get close to). These falls are pretty, but not as impressive as the first stop, and this is where your boat goes into the falls, so you can take a nice, refreshing Iguazu Falls shower.

The water isn’t terribly cold, and the feeling is definitely exhilarating. During the whole ride, one of the staff members is taking Go-Pro videos and photos of the experience. After that, you’re whisked away, bouncing through the white water rapids toward the dock. The ride back gets you just as wet and is its own brand of fun.

After ducking and taking the funicular up, you can purchase photos and videos of your trip. We sprung for the USB stick ($20 USD) which included videos of the ride, photos of us and our fellow passengers, and a bunch of random animal and scenic photos that Macuco Safari packs on there, which are kind of cool in their own right. It’s kind of fun to have the shots, but because of the layout of the boats and how we were packed on there, the shots don’t really show us well.  After you purchase the photos at that first gift shop near the dock, you actually get to pick it up after your fairly short (<10 minute) truck ride back to the ticket counter and main gift shop. An attendant checked over the USB stick there with us to make sure the photos were actually our boat ride (initially they weren’t, which is why I’m glad he checked this). Then you’re off and on your way. 

If you’re like us and add an excursion or two, the whole adventure can take a little over three hours. With just the boat ride and no terribly long lines, you might be looking at closer to two hours. Overall, we had a lot of fun.

Iguazu Jungle (the Argentina side)

Like the Brazilian side, we didn’t pick up tickets in advance or buy them at the park’s visitor center. Instead, we walked straight up to the Iguazu Jungle location which is nicely marked on Google Maps within the park. We quickly learned that they only have certain timeslots in which the trucks and boats run, and you have to buy a ticket for a specific time. No big deal, but since we waited the day of, our first choice was sold out, so we settled for a time later in the afternoon.

I recommend showing up to your time slot at least ten minutes, if not twenty minutes early. This is because the line for these time slots, especially in the middle of the day or if they are sold out, gets really long, really fast. From the loading parking lot, you get onto big 4×4 vehicles for a long thirty minute ride through the jungle. The rumbling trucks pretty much scare away any chance encounters with animals, but your guides once again do a decent job talking about some of the wildlife in the area (again, they do introductions in Spanish and English). The truck ride itself is hot and grueling. Honestly, not a ton of fun.

When you’re finally unloaded, you enter this staging area that’s already awash with people waiting to get on your truck. You make your way through that crowd and then descend a long, long hike down some stairs through the jungle. I was a bit worried when I saw a bunch of people huffing and puffing their way up, thinking it was going to be an ungodly long walk, but it wasn’t terrible by any means. However, if you do have difficulty with stairs for any reason, this isn’t a good trip to take (I’m unaware if they can make any accomodations for travelers who cannot walk up and down long sets of stairs).

On the way down those stairs, there is one small building with bathrooms. That’s also where they were offering free dry bags to borrow for the trip. You continue on your way for lifejackets and finally hopping aboard the boat, which doesn’t take too long once you’re down there.

I really liked the boats on the Argentina side. They were bigger, and there was an aisle down the middle. The seats were situated such that pretty much everyone got a decent view on the sides of the boats. The ride to the falls was full of great views and when you arrive to the falls, the scenery is just as breathtaking. The boat stops for a moment at the first set of falls, giving you ample time to enjoy the falls and take pictures. We actually got to observe the falls, rather than just rush by them, which was nice. I wasn’t hurrying to take pictures; I could actually just enjoy being there. 

Then they took us closer to Salto Mbigua and the neighboring falls. The boat paused, allowing everyone who wanted to to get up to the bow and take a couple of pictures (the staff who was doing all the Go-Pro video and photography on this cruise even took some photos for us). It was nice to actually get the time to take a couple nice shots and once again enjoy just being near the falls.

Once the photo session was over, it was shower time. We went straight toward Mbigua, which honestly was an awesome experience, being so close to that raging water, the clouds of mist swallowing you until you get hit with a spray that soaks you to your bones. 

And it wasn’t over yet. We went down the river and hit up the same falls we experienced on the Brazilian side, taking “shower” after “shower.” Like before, we cruised back to our dock, splashing through some rapids, all thoroughly drenched and ready to begin the long hike back up the stairs to the trucks.

The unfortunate part of the return journey is that after you come off this waterfall high, you wait in line for some trucks to appear, watch everyone else load up and leave, then wait some more before finally you get on for your own long journey back. Kind of a prolonged and boring denouement to an otherwise exciting experience.

To top the ending off, we purchased a USB stick full of photos and videos of our trip just for the hell of it again (also $20 USD). It’s not Iguazu Jungle that runs the service, but rather an outside vendor. You can’t pay with credit card, like you can on the Brazilian side. You’ve got to pay in cash right there and then near the dock.

But they also don’t have the photos ready for you until later that evening. They promise to deliver them to your hotel, which only works if you’re staying around Puerto Iguazu for the evening. Our USB stick with the pictures never arrived that night. Didn’t get there the following morning either. With our very, very helpful doorman at the Gran Melia, we finally tracked them down and someone delivered the USB stick with images and videos in the afternoon the next day. Kind of a pain in the ass dealing with all that just for a $20 flashdrive, but at least we got it.

So, which one?

Overall, the Brazil side edges out a win for me. Yes, it’s a little pricier (depending on currency fluctuations of course), but the ride to the boat isn’t nearly as painful and if you’re on a tight time schedule, it’s way easier to do this one at your own convenience. Plus, the add on activities can really add to the adventure. However, the boat ride by itself on the Brazil-side is outclassed. So if really getting into the falls and having more time water-level is more important to you, the Argentina side is the way to go. Just make sure to get your tickets in advance either online, through your hotel, or first thing in the morning at the park to guarantee your timeslot.  

Another decision factor for me: Most people do two full days at the falls, one day for each side. When you’re on the Brazil side, you spend far less time on the pathways wandering around the Falls because there is so much less hiking to do on that side. So I would recommend doing the Brazil boat adventure, that way when you’re on the Argentina-side, you’re not sucking up time you could be walking the many awesome walkways (actually experiencing nature and even wildlife) rather than riding on a hot, uncomfortable truck. 

Macacu Safari (Brazil):

PROS:

• No reservations needed and you can just ride whenever
• Very quick transit to the actual boats compared to the Argentina side
• Optional activities are actually fun and available, adding to the experience
• You get a little nature hike before the boat
• Transportation is easy to get there
• Photo service is quick, reliable, and convenient

CONS:

• More expensive than Argentina side
• Lines can be a bit chaotic and disorganized
• You don’t get to spend as much time taking photos compared ot the Argentina side and the boats are packed tighter
• You only get to go into the one set of waterfalls
• The overall time spent in the boat is less compared to the Argentina side
• You don’t get as close to Salto Mbigua and the first set of spectacular falls like you do on the Argentina side

Iguazu Jungle (Argentina Side)

PROS:

• Slightly cheaper than the Brazil side
• You go into the waterfalls several times more than the Brazil side
• The boat ride is longer
• The boats are more comfortable and the seating layout is more spacious, giving you better views
• You get specific opportunities to take lots of pictures and are actively encouraged to do so
• They provide you with a dry bag to keep your clothes, camera, and other goodies safe from the falls

CONS:

• Our experience with the photo service (a separate vendor from Iguazu Jungle) was a bit of a mess
• The truck ride to and from the docks are nearly thirty minutes, hot, and tedious
• There’s a long hike up and down stairs to get to the dock, which can be problematic for those who can’t deal with stairs
• No extra activities
• Time-slots for the rides are on a much more limited basis
• The bathrooms are not as numerous are easily accessible near the docks
• No “dry” boat option (but really, dry is no fun!)

---