Argentina and Brazil: Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls and Rio

1. Day 1: Arrive in Buenos Aires

   Ezeiza International Airport to your hotel in Buenos Aires

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Buenos Aires
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Ezeiza International Airport (EZE), about 35 km south-west of the centre, where a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive into the city, usually 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic. The rest of the day is yours to settle in. If you land early, walk to the nearest café for a cortado and a medialuna, or stroll the leafy streets around the hotel: Buenos Aires is a city of wide avenues, plane trees and apartment balconies, best seen on foot. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the trip, the money question in Argentina, the border crossings at the falls and the Brazil e-visa. Then we walk to a neighbourhood parrilla for a welcome dinner of grilled beef, provoleta and salads. Argentines eat late, but tonight we sit down early so you can sleep off the flight.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Ezeiza International Airport (EZE)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner at a parrilla

   Free time: Free until the early evening briefing

2. Day 2: Plaza de Mayo, San Telmo, La Boca and tango

   Plaza de Mayo to San Telmo on foot, then La Boca by van

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Buenos Aires
   Day 2 details

   We start at Plaza de Mayo, the square where Argentina's history has been argued over for two centuries: the pink Casa Rosada, the Cabildo where the 1810 revolution began (we go inside when its museum is open that day), and the Metropolitan Cathedral, which holds the tomb of General San Martín. From there we walk south down Calle Defensa into San Telmo, the oldest neighbourhood, with its cobbles, antique shops and the iron-and-glass San Telmo Market; on Sundays the street fair fills Defensa. Lunch is in San Telmo. In the early afternoon the van takes us to La Boca, the old port quarter by the Riachuelo, to see the painted tin houses of Caminito and the area around the Boca Juniors stadium in daylight. The afternoon is then free. In the evening we go to a tango house: a short beginners' class for anyone who wants to try, then dinner and a show by professional dancers and musicians. Expect a late finish, as the show usually starts after dinner.

   Included

   • Plaza de Mayo, the Casa Rosada (outside), the Cabildo (inside when its museum is open) and the Metropolitan Cathedral with your guide
   • San Telmo on foot, with the San Telmo Market
   • Caminito in La Boca
   • Lunch in San Telmo
   • Tango evening: a short beginners' class, dinner and a show

   Optional experiences

   • Guided tour of the Teatro Colón, the city's opera house, in the free afternoon

   Free time: Afternoon free before the tango evening

   Activity: About 3 km on foot in the morning, partly on cobbles.

3. Day 3: The Paraná Delta and Recoleta

   Buenos Aires to Tigre, the Delta by boat, then Recoleta

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Buenos Aires
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast we drive about an hour north to Tigre, the river town at the edge of the Paraná Delta, a maze of channels and wooded islands where people live in stilt houses and the grocer, the school bus and the post all come by boat. We board a boat for a slow trip along the Sarmiento and Luján rivers, past rowing clubs, old wooden houses and jetties, with your guide explaining how life works on the islands. Lunch is at a riverside restaurant in the Delta. Back on the mainland there is time for the Puerto de Frutos market before the drive back into the city. By mid-afternoon we are at Recoleta Cemetery, which closes at about 5:30 pm, to walk through a city of marble mausoleums where Eva Perón lies in the Duarte family vault, and then you have the evening free in Recoleta or Palermo for dinner on your own.

   Included

   • Boat trip through the Paraná Delta from Tigre with your guide
   • Lunch at a riverside restaurant in the Delta
   • Puerto de Frutos market in Tigre
   • Recoleta Cemetery, entry included

   Free time: Evening free

4. Day 4: Fly to Iguazu, the Brazilian side

   Buenos Aires Aeroparque to Puerto Iguazú by air, then across the border to Foz do Iguaçu

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Foz do Iguaçu
   Day 4 details

   A mid-morning flight from Aeroparque, the city airport, takes about an hour and fifty minutes north to Puerto Iguazú, in the subtropical forest of Misiones. Lunch is in Puerto Iguazú, then we stop at the Hito Tres Fronteras, where the brown Iguazú runs into the Paraná and you can see Brazil and Paraguay across the water. We cross the bridge into Brazil, through both border posts, and drive into Iguaçu National Park, listed by UNESCO in 1986. The Brazilian trail runs about 1.2 km along the canyon wall, facing most of the falls on the Argentine bank, so this is the side for the wide view. It ends on a walkway out over the river below the Garganta del Diablo, where the spray soaks you in seconds; a lift takes you back up. We reach the hotel in Foz do Iguaçu in the early evening. If the flight runs late, we move this visit to the morning of day 6.

   Included

   • Flight from Buenos Aires Aeroparque (AEP) to Puerto Iguazú (IGR)
   • Lunch in Puerto Iguazú
   • Hito Tres Fronteras viewpoint
   • Iguaçu National Park, Brazilian side, entry included

   Free time: Evening free in Foz do Iguaçu

   Activity: Border queues vary; your guide handles the paperwork, but you need your passport and your Brazil e-visa.

   

5. Day 5: The Argentine side, from opening

   Foz do Iguaçu across the border to Iguazú National Park and back

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Foz do Iguaçu
   Day 5 details

   Today is the long day, and it starts early: we leave Foz at about 7:15 to cross the border before the queue builds and reach Iguazú National Park, a UNESCO site since 1984, at the 8 am opening. We take the first rounds of the small park train to Garganta station and walk the 1.1 km walkway over the open river to the Garganta del Diablo, the Devil's Throat, where the river drops into a U-shaped chasm in a roar of spray, before the main crowd arrives. Back down the line, the Upper Circuit runs along the top of the falls and the Lower Circuit brings you close to their base. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the park. In the afternoon, the included boat ride takes you up the river into the spray below the falls; expect to be soaked. We are back in Foz by late afternoon with the evening free.

   Included

   • Iguazú National Park, Argentine side, entry included, from the 8 am opening
   • The park train and the Garganta del Diablo walkway
   • The Upper and Lower Circuits with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in the park
   • Boat ride to the base of the falls

   Easier option: Skip the Lower Circuit and the boat: rest at the café by the Upper Circuit and meet the group after lunch.

   More active option: The Macuco trail, a forest walk of about 3.5 km each way to a small waterfall, with your guide, in place of the boat ride (when the park has it open).

   Free time: Evening free

   Activity: About 7 to 9 km on walkways with some stairs on the Lower Circuit. Bring a rain jacket, a dry bag for your phone and shoes that can get wet.

   

6. Day 6: A slow morning in Foz, fly to Rio

   Foz do Iguaçu to Rio de Janeiro by air, then Copacabana

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 6 details

   No early start today. The morning is free in Foz do Iguaçu: sleep in after yesterday, walk the quiet side streets of Centro around the hotel, or take the optional visit to the Parque das Aves, a bird park opposite the Brazilian park gate where you walk through big aviaries of toucans, macaws and hummingbirds from the Atlantic Forest. Foz airport is only a few minutes from the park, so the drive is short. Lunch today is on your own, in Foz or at the airport. The flight to Rio de Janeiro takes about two hours when direct; on some dates it connects in São Paulo, and we tell you which when we confirm your dates. From the airport we drive into the city along the bay and through the tunnels to the hotel in Copacabana or Ipanema. In the early evening your guide walks the group along the beach promenade, with its wave-patterned pavement, to show you the neighbourhood, where to swim and how to get around, then the evening is yours.

   Included

   • Flight from Foz do Iguaçu (IGU) to Rio de Janeiro
   • Orientation walk on the Copacabana or Ipanema promenade

   Optional experiences

   • Parque das Aves bird park in the morning

   Free time: Morning free in Foz, lunch on your own; evening free in Rio

   

7. Day 7: Corcovado early, Santa Teresa and the Selarón Steps

   Cosme Velho up Corcovado, then Santa Teresa and down to Lapa

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 7 details

   We leave the hotel at about 7:15 to be at the Cosme Velho station for the first train of the day, at about 8 am, which climbs through the Tijuca forest to the top of Corcovado, 710 m above the city. Christ the Redeemer, finished in 1931, is a 30 m statue on an 8 m pedestal, and in the first hour you have room to see it and the view: Sugarloaf, the bay, Copacabana and the lagoon. If the summit is in cloud, we swap today with day 9. Coming down, we head to Santa Teresa, the hill neighbourhood of old mansions, artists' studios and steep lanes, served by the restored yellow tram where it runs. Lunch is in Santa Teresa. Then we walk down the Selarón Steps, 215 steps covered in tiles from around the world by the artist Jorge Selarón, to the white arches of the Lapa aqueduct. We are back at the hotel by mid-afternoon, with the rest of the day free for the beach.

   Included

   • First Corcovado train and Christ the Redeemer, tickets included
   • Santa Teresa on foot with your guide
   • Lunch in Santa Teresa
   • The Selarón Steps and the Lapa Arches

   Easier option: Ride the van from Santa Teresa down to Lapa instead of walking the steps.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Santa Teresa is hilly and cobbled; the Selarón Steps are walked downhill.

8. Day 8: A favela walk and Sugarloaf at sunset

   A favela walk with a resident guide, then Praia Vermelha up Sugarloaf

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 8 details

   This morning a guide who lives in the community leads a walk through one of Rio's favelas, in a community such as Santa Marta in Botafogo. We choose a resident-run or community-organised walk and confirm how the fee is shared with the community before your dates are set. The point is to meet the place on its residents' terms: how the houses were built up the hill, how water, transport and schools work, the music and art projects, and the view back over the city. We do not take photos of people without asking, and the guide says where cameras are welcome. Lunch is at a family-run restaurant in the community. After a free afternoon we take the cable car from Praia Vermelha in two stages, via Morro da Urca, to the top of Sugarloaf, 396 m above the bay, timed so you watch the sun go down behind Corcovado and the city lights come on. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Favela walk led by a resident guide
   • Lunch in the community
   • Sugarloaf cable car at sunset, tickets included

   More active option: Walk up the forest trail on Morro da Urca to the first cable car station, about 30 minutes uphill, and ride the rest of the way.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: If a community walk is cancelled on the day for safety reasons, we replace it with a guided walk through the historic centre at no extra cost.

9. Day 9: Rio your way, and a farewell dinner

   The Botanical Garden or a Tijuca forest hike, then the beach

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Rio de Janeiro
   Day 9 details

   Today keeps a lighter shape, and it is also our weather reserve: if Corcovado was in cloud on day 7, we go up this morning instead. Otherwise choose one of two guided mornings, both included. The easy one is the Jardim Botânico, the Botanical Garden founded in 1808, with its avenue of royal palms, its orchid house and toucans and marmosets in the trees, followed by a walk around the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon; the garden keeps shorter hours on Mondays, so on a Monday we walk the lagoon first and swap the order, or take the Pedra Bonita morning if the garden is closed. The active one is a hike with a licensed guide to Pedra Bonita in Tijuca National Park, about 30 to 40 minutes uphill through forest to a granite platform where hang-gliders launch, with a view down to São Conrado beach. The afternoon is free for the beach, Ipanema's shops or a nap. In the evening the group meets for a farewell dinner, with moqueca, feijoada or grilled fish and a last caipirinha.

   Included

   • Choice of the Botanical Garden with your guide, entry included, or a guided hike to Pedra Bonita
   • Farewell dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Tandem hang-gliding from Pedra Bonita, weather permitting

   Easier option: The Botanical Garden and the lagoon, on flat paths.

   More active option: The Pedra Bonita hike in Tijuca National Park.

   Free time: Afternoon free

10. Day 10: Depart from Rio de Janeiro

    Your hotel to Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    The last morning is yours. Swim before breakfast while the beach is quiet, walk to the Arpoador rocks between Copacabana and Ipanema, or have a last coffee and pão de queijo near the hotel. There are no group activities today, so you can leave whenever your flight requires. We drive you to Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport (GIG), about 30 km from the beach neighbourhoods and usually 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on traffic; your guide arranges the transfer time with you the day before and makes sure everyone has what they need. If your flight is late in the day, the hotel can store your luggage after checkout. If you would like to stay longer in Rio or add a few days on the coast at Paraty or Ilha Grande, ask us when you book and we arrange the extra nights.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport (GIG)

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

    Activity: Book an international flight leaving after about 12 noon, allowing three hours at the airport.

Wildlife and weather: Rio is hot and wet from December to March, with afternoon storms; Buenos Aires is cool from June to August. The volume of the falls rises and drops with rain upstream; very high water can close the Garganta del Diablo walkway or the boat ride for a day. Look for coatis, toucans and swifts around the falls.

• Buenos Aires3 nights
• Foz do Iguaçu2 nights
• Rio de Janeiro4 nights