kiyotaka

Which side of the plane should we select our seats? To have a good view of the falls & great city of BA?

bingocallerb22

Pretty hard to say, depends on approach, which depends on wind, which depends on...

sdsearch

I'm not sure how much it matters. You're assuming the plane flies over the falls and over BA proper. I'm not sure of that at all. The IGR airport is several miles away from the falls and toward BA, so unless they need to circle around I'm not sure if they would be flying where you could see the falls from the plane. (Certainly when I took off from IGR in the other direction we didn't fly over the falls.)

Similarly, AEP is on the northwest side of the city, so if takeoffs are toward the north, you probably won't see BA proper, unless they turn south after takeoff. But that I'm less sure about. I was flying into AEP from SLA (Salta), which is also toward the northwest, and it didn't seem that we flew over BA proper and then circled, as I only seemed to see suburbs at best, but it was night when I was landing so I'm not absolutely sure, and how AEP-IGR takes off may or may not be different.

If you get no other information, I'd say right side would have slightly better chance of BA, simply on the assumption that if they take off "vertically" from AEP (which of course they can't) and then immediately turn toward IGR, BA is to your right (since AEP is on the northwest side of the city, and IGR is toward the northeast, and so a window on the right would look toward the southeast and if you strain maybe the south which is about where I would expect BA to be, if visible from there).

Btw, make sure you're not over a wing (or anywhere close) though. It's hard to be more precise, and if seated over a wing the only direction in which you might be able to see BA might be obscured by the wing!

If you really really want to see the falls from the air, there are helicopter rides at the falls. But they do cost. Otherwise, just make sure to also see the falls from the Brazilian side, since that's where you get the "overview" views. (On the Argentinian side there's more trails and more views, but they tend to be closer views.)

kiyotaka

Thank you. We'll be staying in Sheraton & I heard they can arrange trip to Brazilian side so we'd like to take advantage of it.

sdsearch

At the Sheraton, I hope you get upgraded to the falls view (assuming you didn't book it outright), but if not, don't panic, essentially an identical view is available from the rooftop terrace where it's not hard to get access as a guest.

And while it's nice to be able to look out and see the falls, it's a pretty distant view (a mile or two further than the Canadian hotels' views of the falls at Niagara). The main benefit IMHO is being able to see the falls at sunrise and sunset (when they may take a golden color briefly), which you might not be able to do from any closer easily. (Of course, only some days is there anything special to actually see at sunrise and sunset, since weather has to cooperate!)

More on the Sheraton Iguazu here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...er-thread.html

OskiBear

The few times I've flown into and out of AEP I seem to recall going from the SE towards the NW (where the city is to your left and the terminal is to your right).

However, that said, I also recall that the approach required several turns so everyone got great views of BA from boths sides of the plane.

kiyotaka

Thank you.

phlashba

We loved the Sheraton for the location! Be sure to enter the park as early as you can in the morning. We never got tired of it!!!

You do know you need a visa to enter Brazil don't you? If you are short on time the Argentine side is enough to fill a couple of days and I honestly don't think you would miss much if you don't go to Brazil. As they say: On the Brazilian side you have the view; on the Argentine side you are inside the view!

kiyotaka

Yes, we have Brazilian visa. We'll be there from 2:45 pm on Sun till 12:10 pm on Tues, how should we allocate our time in Argentina & Brazilian side?

phlashba

If you are going soon just remember that now that it's winter here the days are short so Sunday may be pretty much shot by the time you get to the hotel and get settled in your room. That leaves you with just Monday. If it were me, I would just stick to Argentina given that time frame but others may differ. I suppose you could do Monday morning in Argentina and the afternoon in Brazil if you decide to do it. That way you take advantage of the best thing about the Sheraton: being able to enter the park early in the morning.

kiyotaka

We are going next Feb.

sdsearch

I'm not sure where exactly you mean by "there" (airport arrival departure or Sheraton arrival departure)?

If that's hotel time, and as you stated in your followup message it will be next Feb (and thus late summer there), I would say, assuming weather looks good throughout, you'll have just a couple hours on the day you arrive, so I suggest taking the train to the Devil's Throat area soon after you arrive, as with the sun out there should be beautiful rainbows below, above, and around you as you peer down into the Devil's Throat (you're on a walkway just above the top of one side of it). Then in the morning go to Brazil (if there's any chance of rainbows there, it would be in the morning at the Devil's Throat end), then come back and do the upper cicuit (some rainbows there in the afternoon). Tueday morning do the lower circuit (some rainboxs there in the morning), and if time allows repeat some or all of the upper circuit (there may be rainbows in different places there in the morning perhaps).

If weather looks iffy for part of your stay, you may want to rearrange that, keeping in mind that the Devil's Throat on the Argentinian side in the afternoon is the best place for the best mist rainbows. IMHO the experience from the Brazilian side, which is mostly getting an overveiw of the falls, is the one least diminished by poor weather, because you can still at least see the vastness of it all (way over 200 invidividual falls in the system!). The Argentinian side is more about seeing them closer up and from different perspectives including from above (on both the upper circuit and the Devil's Throat), but the rainbows only happen when the sun comes out (whether on a sunny day or more intermittently on a partly cloudy day).

There's an island you may be able to go to on the Argentinian side but may not be able to go to. If you can, I'd try to squeeze that in as the next most important after the above. It has a trail which leads to a viewpoint right in front of one of the more impressive falls. (While I was there last late November, the island was closed due to too high water levels for the boats, and had been closed for quite a while, and was expected to stay closed for quite a while.)

I wouldn't bother with the falls that you have to hike a couple miles to on such a short trip. I also wouldn't bother with any of the (pay extra!) side trips they offer on the Brazilian side on such a short trip.

kiyotaka

sdsearch, thanks for your detailed info. Unfortunately, 2:45pm is the flt arrival time, so we probably will be in hotel about 4pm? Do you think we be able to do Devil’s Throat on the arrival day?

AlwaysOnTheRoad

I was just there two weeks ago and stayed at Sheraton for two nights as well as the Hotel Cataratas on the Brazilian side.

1. In theory park on Argentinean side closes at 5 PM. This definitely impacts the train to the Devil's Throat. I doubt you can do that on day of arrival. It is 10 minute walk to train station, 10-15 minute train ride + you need to wait for a train to depart, 30 minutes or more to walk from Cataratas train station to the view point.

2. I was easily able to fill a day and half on the Argentinean side. Worthwhile to take the free ferry to Isla San Martin in the middle of the river. You need to hike down to the landing, cross the river on ferry, and hike up Isla San Martin.

3. I recommend walking all three major trails - lower, upper, and to Devil's Throat. I did all of them twice. My first visit to Devil's Throat had perfect conditions. On the second visit, the wind was blowing the spray onto the view point. Good for water action but not so good for taking pictures.

4. It took me less than an hour door-to-door from the Sheraton to the Hotel Cataratas. I used a taxi which has a fixed rate of 350 Pesos. However, taxi can only go to entrance of the Brazilian side of park. From there I used hotel shuttle bus. If not staying at the hotel then you probably need to take the park bus. You will also need to pay the entrance fee to the park on the Brazilian side.

5. The views on the Brazilian side are much more expansive - encompassing.

sdsearch

I doub it. But you should have time to do the Upper Circuit if you go there right after you check in. The park closes officially at 5 pm, I think, so I doubt there's any trains to Devil's throat after 4.

So reverse the days of the Upper Circuit and Devil's Throat. If by chance you don't even have time for the Upper Circuit the afternoon you arrive, just squeeze it in whenever you can. Although afternoon is a slightly better time for it, the rainbows on it are not as great as the ones at Devil's Throat. So I'd say plan to get over to the Brazilian side in the morning (say, right after breakfast) on your full day there, and then you should be able to complete that by midday and be back at your hotel by early afternoon. If you're early enough for an hour or more on Upper Circuit and still have plenty time to catch the last train to Devil's Throat, do that. If you only have time for Devil's Throat, do that, and do both Lower Circuit and Upper Cicuit your last morning.

Note: You don't need a train to get to or from Devil's throat. There is a very wide trail that parallels the train, and takes maybe 40ish minutes (?) to walk briskly one-way. (But that's not counting the longish walk from Devil's Throat train station to the actual overlook.) You can't officially walk this outside of park hours, but unofficially it shouldn't be any big problem (they don't barricade the trails "hard" at closing, they just post signs which it's not hard to walk around), especially coming back. So that's a backup plan to consider if you can't make the train schedule well. It can even be pleasant to walk this trail, at least one direciton, to have more of a chance to see the wildlife that is often seen along there outside the middle of the day. (It's more fleetingly seen from the trian.)