Argentina & Brazil in ONE WEEK!
Written: Apr 16 '06 (Updated Jul 31 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Iguazu Falls are amazing!
Cons: Argentina is less distinctive vs Brazil
The Bottom Line: If you have a week for South America, go to Iguazu Falls on both sides of the border and spend the rest of your time in Rio!
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| chenmyu's Full Review: Argentina |
Travel Review
Our family traveled to Buenos Aires, Iguassu Falls, and Rio de Janiero on the dates of March 11-18, 2006. To help readers of this review, I find it useful for us to give you a few basic facts about our trip so that you can gauge our comments. Our group was a family vacation with ages spanning 28-62 so it had a balance of indoor and outdoor activities. However, none of our planned activities were high intensity activities requiring significant physical conditioning. The trip was planned on Big Five Tours, a Conde Nast recommended tour company which is generally considered a high end operator. We chose a private guided tour with our own guide separate from the large bus tours. My overall tips are listed at the end, but a day by day itinerary serves as an example of a 1 week trip to South America:
March 11: We fly into Buenos Aires from San Francisco where we are picked up at 10 AM by the guide. In general, you will fly into the city in the early-mid morning so try to get sleep on the plane so that you can do activities in the city on this first day. Arriving on a Sunday has some benefits—the city has two outdoor flea markets that are quite interesting and provide a great representation of city life. The first flea market is the antiquities market in San Telmo, a charming old European style market. Tango dancers, classical guitarists and other street performers line the cobble stone roads. This market occurs only on Sundays so traveling to the city on the weekend is a bonus if you can arrange it. There is a second market in Recoleta at the main park. This has more artisans and has the feel of a San Francisco park where city dwellers lie languidly on the lawn, playing with their pets. It’s not quite as interesting as San Telmo so if you only have time for one, choose that one. It, too, occurs only on Sundays.
At night, we go to the famous restaurant Cabana Las Lilas which has the classic Argentinian grilled meats. Here you’ll find the traditional fare with a nice waterfront view. Overall, however, we wouldn’t recommend it necessarily as it has two flaws. One, it is quite expensive. Two, if you sit outside, there are quite a few mosquitos which can be rather bothersome.
When you travel in the city, you must be a bit careful on the taxis that you select. The guides will typically tell you that you should not use any taxi but a “Radio Taxi” in which the restaurant calls the taxi for you. However, in our experience, the key is actually whether the taxi uses a meter. If they do not, prepare to get screwed. Thus, my advice is always make sure the meter is running in your taxi.
March 12, Buenos Aires. This day we were bamboozled into going to one of the “Pampas” tours. These tours are basically day trips to area ranches where you go horseback riding and watch a cultural performance. This is the typical tourist experience that some will like but most should hate. There is little to nothing authentic about this experience and I can think of little redeeming value of the experience. Basically, you spend a couple hours driving each way in typically bad Argentinian traffic for the pleasure of a 15 minute horse “walk” along a muddy path. Then you are regaled by horrible karaoke type performances which make even the nicest tourist cringe. This is all accompanied by barely edible food. In short, save your money or don’t say I didn’t warn you.
As an alternative, we had great success organizing a private tango lesson with a set of instructors in the city. You can go to any tango club at night, especially one with group lessons, and ask the instructor at that club for a 2 hour slot. You’ll find it a wonderfully authentic experience that you could only get in Argentina.
Lodging: We stayed in the Cesar Park Hotel which is minutes away from the Four Seasons in the Recoleta. The hotel is a nice boutique hotel with good amenities, nice service, and reasonable facilities. It is located right across from the Patio Bullrich, an upscale shopping mall that offers the typical US and European name brands. Overall, it is a reasonable mid-upper end choice but it will be unlikely to make your stay memorable.
March 13, Iguassu Falls, Argentina side. Be prepared for the highlight of your South American trip. You will typically arrive around mid morning on flights from Buenos Aires and this allows a full afternoon in the national park. I would recommend dressing for the falls from Buenos Aires—meaning shorts, T-shirt, and sandals or tennis shoes. If you go in March, it will be fairly hot but check the weather. If you come dressed, then you will be able to go directly from the airport to the falls which will save you considerable time. If you carve out 4-5 hours, you can do 80% of the Argentinian side experience. This consists of boarding a train to 2 different walks that give you completely different views of the falls. If you have a full day, you can do 2 other hikes which also sound quite interesting. The first is to a separate waterfall with a trail that is ideal for birdwatching. The drawback is that it is a 3 hour hike that does not take you to the main falls. The second hike is a loop trial that takes you down to the falls level but we did not do this hike for lack of time. Overall, the two hikes off the train are actually quite nice and are good for any age. The Argentina side is wonderful for the views of the lower section of the falls and is a must see. It can, however, be done easily in an afternoon and in my opinion is not worth a second day.
We stayed overnight on the Argentina side at the Grand Iguazu Resort & Casino, about 15 minutes from the national park. This is a five star resort with a casino and wonderful resort style amenities. We only had a single night here but the rooms are huge with wireless internet. Overall, the service is top notch with a good location right next to the Brazilian border (allowing you to go to dinner across the border. Most tours recommend staying at the Sheraton or the Brazilian hotel right in the national park. In our mind, the hotels there are not quite as nice and the location is not that much better. Still, since you will likely only stay a single night, it may not matter much ultimately which location you choose.
For dinner, we would recommend going to the Brazilian side because the restaurants and bars are more lively. From Thurs-Sat you can go to dance clubs to experience the typical Brazilian night life. We went to a restaurant called Emporio Da Gula (Av Brasil 1441- Centro) which is a wonderful restaurant with grilled meats, fish, and traditional side dishes. We paid a $40 set fee for our guide to take us to the restaurant and pay for an all you can eat meal. This is a very nice restaurant, although it still caters primarily to a tourist crowd. We would NOT recommend the samba show on the Brazilian side as the location seemed rather mundane and the food mediocre.
March 14th, Iguassu Falls, Brazilian side.
This was the highlight of our trip. We started the day early at 8:30 AM where we checked out of the hotel and checked in ahead of time at the airport (this allows you to get rid of your large bags and save you time at the end of the day). Then, we went directly to boats which take you down the Brazilian side of the river up to the lower set of falls (the Three Musketeers). You will get soaked but in a wonderful, exhilarating way. The trip to the boat is a pleasant 45 minute walk/wagon drive that allows you to get a quick intro to the flora of the are as well. If you tip the boatman well, you can get the boat to go deeper into the falls which is a nice touch.
After this trip, we took a 1 hour walk to the main platform on the Brazilian side. Here you can see all the “Hidden Falls” which are the falls that can only be seen from this vantage point. Here you can take a wonderful set of photos and get up close to the main falls which is beautiful.
Finally, we did the helicopter tour for 10 minutes. Some will enjoy this as it provides an eagle eye view of the falls which you cannot get from land. Further, it offers the opportunity to experience a helicopter trip which is enjoyable in itself. However, at $66 USD per person, it is a steep price to pay for 10 minutes of thrills.
From Iguassu Falls, we left at 5 PM to Rio de Janiero—giving us just enough time to catch a wonderful dinner. Tonight, we eat at Marius seafood, a Brazilian style buffet oriented around seafood of every sort. This is a VERY expensive choice at nearly $65 per person excluding drinks and tips, but the food is wonderful a great end to an amazing day. To get there, simply ask your hotel to get a taxi as the restaurant is very well known. Be sure to starve yourself for hours before going as the food is as copious as it is tasty!
March 15th, Rio de Janiero
We begin our experience with a tour of the urban forest in Rio and a visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue. You can do this tour on an organized, guided tour but our experience was rather average. I would recommend simply getting a taxi to take you to Christ the Redeemer as the statue is primarily interesting for the view of the city. The forest tour is quite boring and not worth spending 2 hours on an organized tour.
We then went to Ipanema and Leblon which are the “high-end” areas of the city. Here you can find your typical luxury good stores a la Fifth avenue in NYC. However, Brazil is a very protectionist country and has huge tariffs on imported goods. As such, you will find no bargains here for any well known international brands. One fun option, you can try the HStern private tour which can be picked up at any of the top hotels in the city. The company offers free transportation to their factory in Ipanema as well as complimentary coffee and ice cream. The tour is about 20 minutes and they will, of course, try to sell you jewelry so this is really only interesting if you were planning on shopping here anyways. But, it’s actually a Brazilian experience since it is one of the few places to get good Imperial Topaz (which is only mined in a single mine in the world in Brazil.
The beach here is also fantastic. The sun is intense so I found that mid afternoons were great times to go. Caution is important in regards to safety at all times in Rio, however. So, if you go to the beach, have a friend watch your belongings and avoid bringing anything of value. Otherwise, it won’t be there long.
Dinner was at Ten Kai, a Japanese restaurant in Ipanema. The sushi was fantastic but very similar to the food I already have in San Francisco. By this point in the vacation, we were tired of red meat in prodigious quantities and were ready to return to lighter cuisine.
March 16th, Rio de Janiero
The second day in the city, we went to Sugar Loaf, a granite peak that provides breathtaking views of the city and the Bay. Again, I would recommend doing this on your own by hiring a taxi from your hotel. The entry fee is steep--$35 reals—and they do not take credit cards so take plenty of cash. Indeed, this is an important point. We heard that credit cards were widely used but many of the things we wanted to do or purchase required cash. As such, I would recommend bringing plenty of cash for both Buenos Aires and Rio.
The afternoon was spent on the beach at Copacabana and the shopping mall of Rio Sul (the largest mall in Rio). The mall is interesting in that there are few international brands in the mall, making it more interesting to those who want to shop local brands. However, others might miss some of the brands they are accustomed to. My personal bias is always to have at least one fast food meal in every country I visit as it reflects a good part of the area culture. It doesn’t hurt to be cheap either! The second floor of this mall has a number of tasty food court options, much like the US but with a distinctly Brazilian flavor.
The beach at Copacabana is similar to Ipanema. Both beaches have a Waikiki quality to them. They are huge, memorable, and well-known and they have their own special character. But, at the end of the day, a small beach that is missed by the tourist crowd is a lot more interesting to me. I didn’t find it in my 2 days in Rio but Copacabana is not one of them. Regardless, it is a wonderful beach for people watching, body surfing, and boogie boarding.
The evening was spent at Rio Scenarium, a samba club located in Lapa. Lapa on Friday nights is a raucous experience that was absolutely magical. With crowds pouring into bars, clubs, and outdoor restaurants, Lapa is an extremely vibrant area that can keep you entertained til dawn—and if you have the time, take advantage! Rio Scenarium is a particularly special club. It has three floors—the first housing a live band and a small but lively dance floor. The upper two floors can view the bottom floor via an open balcony on each floor. The design allows the “young” who like to dance mingle easily with the “old’ who might prefer the quieter tables of the upstairs. Prices are higher ($20 real for entry , $10-$15 dishes, $5 real beers) but the atmosphere is worth it. I see it as the Moulin Rouge of Lapa.
Unfortunately, we depart the next day via Sao Paolo back home!
Overall, here are my key tips for a trip of Buenos Aires, Iguassu Falls, and Rio de Janiero:
General
• Bring plenty of cash as many tourist spots (e.g. helicopter rides, tips, taxis, tourist destinations) accept only cash. USD is fine but you will lose a bit on exchange rate each time. My recommendation, change $300 USD or so at the airport since the exchange rate there is often better than a hotel.
• Avoid planned tours. I have done both forms of travel and used planned tours on this trip since I was traveling in a larger group that was less amenable to budget travel. However, in my estimation, booking tours is so easy from the two cities that it is far superior and dramatically cheaper (2-3x). In retrospect, I would book my hotels ahead of time but plan most of my activities upon arrival. Iguassu Falls, in contrast, is easier to plan ahead of time since there are not opportunities to do individualized activities anyway in this controlled national park.
• Be careful with taxis and make sure the meter is on for every ride; otherwise, you are guaranteed to get cheated.
• We chose Big Five as the tour operator and they are highly rated in Conde Nast. In general, I was not terribly impressed with their organization and would not recommend them given the healthy price premium that they charge.
• Be prepared to eat a lot of red meat. We got sick of it by day 5 and switched to international cuisine. Still, make sure you get the experience!
Buenos Aires
• Take a private tango lesson and avoid the tourist shows. The shows are long, boring, and expensive with mediocre food. A private lesson is invigorating, authentic, and much cheaper!
• Avoid the Pampas tours unless you have a lot of time and are willing to waste it to see the countryside. In my mind, if you want to see Argentina outdoors, go to Patagonia.
• Lodging: Cesar Park Hotel is a very nice upscale choice given its location in the Recoleta opposite Patio Bullrich (a nice shopping mall). The Four Seasons is also wonderful.
• Shopping: Markets tend not to negotiate to the degree you see in Asia. If they only drop the price by 10%-20%, they might actually be honest!
• 2-3 days is plenty of time for this city
Iguassu Falls
• Can’t miss. Plan ahead of time with a tour as they can help explain the scenery and take pictures of your group.
• I would spend 2 days (1-2 nights) here as you can do many hikes and activities that are incredible.
• Lodging: Iguazu Grand Resort & Casino is fantastic with spectacular grounds and wonderful rooms. This is about the only reason to stay 2 nights as you can realistically do the Falls in 2 days and 1 night.
• Go to the Brazilian side for food but go with a guide as it is not easy to navigate the entry process alone.
Rio
• Rio is so big that it really deserves 3-4 days to experience it. I would highly recommend coming on the weekend to ensure that you can experience the nightlife of Rio at its best.
• Security is a real issue here. I thought it was overblown but had a neighbor hotel guest get assaulted right outside the hotel by the beach. Always keep your valuables in the safe and do not walk along the beach at night after 9 PM.
• Spend your mornings sleeping or visiting the key tourist spots, your afternoons on the beach, and nights in Lapa.
• Lodging: The Le Meridien is a solid 3 star hotel but is nowhere close to a 5 star hotel. I would recommend the Copacabana Palace Hotel if you are going to stay in that area.
I hope you enjoy your trip!
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
chenmyu
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Reviews written: 21
Trusted by: 5 members
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