Help with Buenos Aires - Iguazu Falls - Rio trip

[ESF]

H and I trying to plan a trip to South America next year.  We'd like to go to Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, and Rio (or the reverse order, whatever makes more sense). Probably 10 or so nights.

In IF, we'd like to stay on the Argentina side, and we'd like to see both sides of the falls.   What seems to make the most sense would be to fly from BA to the Argentinian IF airport, spend 2-3 nights there, and then fly out of the Brazil IF airport to Rio (or the reverse).   But what I'm trying to figure out is:

(1) is it going to be a huge pain and time suck to cross the border twice, once to tour and once to fly out? 

(2) Is there some place were we can put our suitcases after crossing in the morning to allow us to tour without them, then retreive them for a later flight?

(3) Is it possible to fly from the Argentinian IF airport to Rio? If so, is it relatively painless?  I've read the Argentian airports can be unpredicatable, so I'm a little nervous but if it's NBD, might be an easier option than the other two.

Anything else I should know?  If there's something about this trip that would be made easier by doing Rio, IF, and then BA, we are open to going in that direction too.

Thanks!!!

[majesty318]

I went in 2019. We stayed on the Argentina side and crossed to the Brazil side. Crossing the border was super easy and painless both times, though apparently it totally depends on traffic. We had hired a driver so at least we were not looking for taxis or anything. The Argentina side is much bigger and requires more time. Brazil side can be done in a couple hours, including the bird park which is not part of IF but is right outside.

We flew around BA, Mendoza, and IF and had no issues with any of the airport or flights, so if it is possible to fly to Rio from Argentina side I would not worry.

One random thing, Argentina is the only place I have traveled in the past like 20 years where I changed money instead of using the ATM. At least in 2019, the ATM's were famous for running out of money, having long lines, or having huge fees. Or all of the above. I brought 100 dollar bills to change - most places will not change smaller bills.

[mich1]

We went in 2020, right before the pandemic at the end of a cruise. The cruise ended in BA and I found a tour that did both the Argentinean and the Brazilian side of the falls. We stayed in Argentina and took a day trip to Brazil but that day trip we probably spent at least 2 hours waiting at the border. Had we been in an individual car, it would have been worse.

The flight to Iguazu from BA left from the domestic airport, so was a cheap cab ride from where we were staying in BA. Returning to BA, the Iguazu airport was a mess and there were 3 flights leaving from the same gate.  To this day, I have no idea how we managed to get on the right flight!

I paid for a tour rather than doing this a la carte. The one advantage of this was that we had someone picking us up and hauling us around so it made it much easier for the 3 days we were there.

I do highly recommend taking a boat under the falls. It is an incredible, exhilarating experience and you wind up totally soaked (but well worth it). The falls are even more spectacular seeing them from the water.

Oh, and about money in Argentina......if you DO find an ATM that has money, you will be limited as to what you can take out. I wanted to take out about $100 in pesos, and wound up having to take it out in 4 separate withdrawals (luckily my bank reimbursed all the ATM charges). There was a limit to about $30/withdrawal. The ATMs in the airports seemed to be the best serviced - as well as those associated with the big hotels. Due to the currency situation, many places do accept American $$ though, so you want to make sure you have cash there too. Some places wanted US $ others Argentinean pesos.

[tvlmm]

mich1, are credit cards widely accepted in BA? Or should we plan to have cash for food/activities/cabs?

[mich1]

Sept 8, 2022 6:05:24 GMT -5 tvlmm said:

mich1 , are credit cards widely accepted in BA? Or should we plan to have cash for food/activities/cabs?

Credit cards are widely accepted at restaurants.  Cabs prefer cash/pesos.  However, the US $ is king, and if you can pay in cash, you get an incredible discount.  I bought a pair of handmade shoes in Buenos Aires.  If I charged it on my card, it would have cost me about $200 in pesos.  I paid $100 cash for them.

The first time we were in Argentina, we ran out of $$.  The second time, we took much more because of the benefit of paying in $$.  DH stopped to get some t shirts.  I told him to pay cash, then he went back without me to get the second t shirt, and automatically pulled out his card.  He paid about 2x what he did for the first shirt.

[tvlmm]

mich1, this is great to know, thanks! Can I pay cash in restaurants, too? So, the way I'm reading this is, bring lots of USD cash and pay with USD whenever possible and don't bother converting any money?

[mich1]

I am not sure about restaurants taking US cash. We went to a couple of well regarded steak restaurants, and never tried to pay in cash. I do know the night we went out for dinner in Iguazu that the restaurant was cash only, and we paid in pesos. I do remember remarking that my meal of a filet was obscenely cheap……maybe $12?…..and quite excellent.

Cabs wanted pesos only, IME. The HOHO bus wanted US$.

We were in Argentina/Iguazu 5-6 days. I took out $120 in pesos, then another $50 in pesos at the airport going to Iguazu. We used most of it up.

[majesty318]

Sept 9, 2022 6:23:35 GMT -5 tvlmm said:

mich1 , this is great to know, thanks! Can I pay cash in restaurants, too? So, the way I'm reading this is, bring lots of USD cash and pay with USD whenever possible and don't bother converting any money?

In 2019, I converted USD to pesos. I do not recall trying to pay in USD anywhere. We went to one restaurant that only took debit card or cash, no credit cards.