Iguazu Falls Hotel Tropical das Cataratas

[LibLively]

We just returned from our cruise and a 3 day post-cruise excursion to Iguazu Falls. We stayed on the Brazilian side at the Tropical which is located in the park right at the Falls. Thought I would post a couple of comments on the hotel and our trip. First of all, it was brutally hot when we were there...93-94 degrees every day with very high humidity. We thought the hotel was fine...our room was well air-conditioned and one of the "renovated" ones, which we had been warned to ask for. This is a lovely old hotel, but not all rooms are equal. The common areas are spacious and very nice and we found the food to be very good at the pool bar-b-q where we ate each night. The dining room food we had heard was not as good, so we ate there only at breakfast. The trail on the Brazilian side is relatively short, but does contain many stairs, so there's a lot of up and down. The view of the Falls from the front of the hotel is spectacular...you are really pretty close without even walking the trail! There is a very good restaurant at the top of the trail on the Brazilian side that sits right at the edge of the river as it leads into the Falls. That being said, I think we should have stayed on the Argentinian side, because, to get to the Argentinian side, you have a good 45 minutes each way by car or bus. The heat was so brutal, we never made the trip over to the Argentinian side because we literally had to be inside from around noon until 4 pm, the hottest part of the day, and didn't want to just sit in the lobby of the Sheraton for that period of time. We did go to the Bird Park at the entrance to the Brazilian side, however, and that was really fabulous!! We did the Macuco boat trip too, and it was great fun and we loved getting soaked it was so hot.

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks Gliblib for posting of your experience at the falls. We are booked into the Sheraton in early January and expect the weather to be a little cooler. Living here in the Southern Hemisphere, February is always a much hotter month than January and I think that must be the same in Brazil and Argentina.

 

Jennie

[Lvteks]

I have been intrigued by the Falls and would consider a add-on to see them....any idea of a private arrangement, and a general cost for room, transportation and such would be appreciated. Infinity 01/2006

 

Thanks,

 

Blessings,

[DaisyGal]

Hi,

 

I would also recommend Iguazu Falls and the Tropical Hotel. We stayed there in the beginning January '04 and had a fabulous time. We booked this part of our trip through Brazil Nuts (brazilnuts.com). To give you an idea of price, we paid a total of $550 USD for 2 people. This price included: 3 nights at the Tropical in a superior double room, breakfast, hotel tax, and airport transfers. The airfare on Varig from Rio to Iguazu was $492 USD for 2 tickets. It's about 45 minutes from Rio to Sao Paulo (you must stop here) and then around 2.5 hours to Foz do Iguazu. Also, we added on the Argentina side day trip (a must), Itaipu Dam and Tres Fronterias, and a Maruco Safari boat ride (the company that picked us up at the airport was the same company we booked the other excursions through - I forget their name, but Carlos, our guide, was excellent). The Bird Park was fabulous as well.

 

It was definitely hot when we visited, but not so much like LibLively described (sounds like we got lucky!).

Have fun!

[Lvteks]

Thank you muchly....am really looking into this, pics are awesome! Will check all that you mentioned. Gracias, Grazie etc.

 

Blessings,

[Splinter]

I went on my own (not during a cruise) as a side trip to a business trip to Brazil. It was August, and while it was still very hot, it was bearable. I also stayed at the Hotel das Cataratas and loved it...an old style resort hotel which has hosted popes, presidents and other celebrities. I would also endorse both the breakfast buffet (included with the room) and the dinner buffet in the pool-side area. I did go to the Argentina side as part of my package (private tour with a guide in a car). Prices for my package were very reason able, and I arranged it through a company here in the USA: http://www.southstartours.com Compared to what the ship's charge for similar tours I saved a bundle.

[Wahoo89]

For airfare to Iguazu Falls, one option I would recommend considering is the Mercosur Airpass. The Airpass has a mileage-based fare based on how far you need to travel.

 

If you have cruise-line airfare, this option may not be the best. If you do airfare on your own, this is a great way to cheaply get from your debarkation port back to where you started. (For example, my wife and I had free airfare to Rio, then used the airpass to fly to Iguazu, then to Buenos Aires to board the Norwegian Crown, then used the pass again to get from Santiago back to Rio).

 

The cost to us was just $400 or so, much cheaper than doing a round-trip just to Iguazu.

 

More info here:

 

http://www.lastfrontiers.com/flights/airpass.htm