The World’s Largest Waterfalls — In Awe on The Brazil Side

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There’s a reason why I crossed back into Brazil in the middle of the jungle—I wanted to explore the Iguazu Falls, one of the seven wonders of the natural world.

Forget about Niagara Falls. Yeah, it’s nice and everything but it’s just one big waterfall when the Cataratas do Iguaçu (spelled “Iguaçu” in Portuguese or “Iguazú” in Spanish, this is “big water” in Guaraní) offers 257 individual falls over 2.7 kilometres—take that, North America!

These amazing waterfalls, courtesy of the Iguazu River, are split between Argentina and Brazil. Both parks are very different and absolutely amazing—the Brazilian side is the grand overview while the Argentinian side offers more hiking opportunities and a closer look at most falls.

I decided to start with the often-overlooked Brazilian side of the largest waterfall system in the world. I had nothing else to do. Everything is closed on Sunday in Foz do Iguaçu, the city is dead quiet except around 6 p.m. when the many churches start the whole worshipping routine.

I bought my ticket online (100 reais) and picked a time. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get there so I booked for 1:30 p.m. No need to buy tickets in advance, by the way, there were still about 300 tickets available for each hour the night before. And no need to take your passport either, nobody asked for it.

I took the bus at the Terminal de Transporte Urbano – Pedro Antonio de Nadai and I didn’t wait long for it, which was a miracle and pure luck considering I didn’t check the schedule. The five reais bought me a very sweaty (no air con) 40-minute ride to the entrance of the national park. I was a bit late but the time didn’t seem to matter—my ticket was scanned and I was in.

I immediately boarded the park bus (included in the ticket) with my new friend, a digital nomad from Spain. “Feels like we’re entering Jurassic Park!” she said when she saw the double-decker bus.

It kind of did actually and it really did when we started spotting iguanas all over the place.

The bus dropped us off at the beginning of the short 1.5-kilometre trail with a lot of stairs. It took us to the bottom of an imposing 200-meter jump where you get very wet from the mist, offering tons of panoramic views along the way.

I took way too many pictures.

Next up… the grandiose Argentinian side!