From Brazil to Argentina

Now let me tell you straight up, and I am speaking from first-hand experience. Ignore what all the guidebooks tell you about crossing the border via the local bus network. They talk in literal time frames as indicated on the timetable. Not what actually happens for a foreign traveller to cross from one country to another.

I made this mistake when calculating the time frames needed to cross the border. As well as how many days and how much time we would want to spend on both sides of the Falls. With the information at hand, I organised 1 full day on each side as well as an additional half a day for flying in from Rio and then out to Buenos Aires. The plan was to catch the earliest bus available, jump across the border, dump our bags at the hotel and then spend that entire day on the Argentinian side.

The guide books will tell you it takes about 30-60 minutes to cross over. no! just no! That might be the length of the actual bus journey from the bus terminal at Foz du Iguazu, Brazil to the bus terminal in Puerto Iguassu, Argentina. But things not taken into consideration, a shady bus schedule, the bus driver not speaking English and being able to tell you what is going to happen at immigration, then NOT waiting for you, no suitable signage telling you where to go AND a tour bus full of people arriving at the same time and getting to passport control seconds before you.

So what actually happened?

We jumped into a cab right out the front of our hotel. Unfortunately, the bus terminal was not within comfortable walking distance with our luggage. We told our driver to please take us to the bus terminal that would take us to Argentina. What he understood was, Argentina! So off we went in the opposite direction to the bus terminal. Shit! Although not entirely his fault. The two countries are so close, getting a taxi across the border is actually a favourite method for a lot of travellers. In hindsight, we should’ve just let him keep driving.

Once at Terminal Transporte Urbano (TTU) we were able to purchase our ticket for R5 and were advised again by the attendants the journey should take 30 minutes. Instead of waiting inside the local terminal, we were directed down a side street to wait at a bus stop. The bus arrived within 5 to 10 minutes

The local buses have turnstiles by the driver at the front so we were advised to get on via the back door with our luggage. We sat on the bus for only about 20 minutes before the driver stopped at a huge building and started yelling and gesturing for us to get off.

We had no idea what he was saying, luckily a young Argentinian family told us to get off the bus with our luggage get another bus ticket from the driver and go through immigration. Strange we had to take our bags, but hey maybe they want to do a brief search before we get back on the bus, we think.

Once on the ground, we were looking for signs of where to go, all the other passengers that had alighted were nowhere to be seen. We wandered around the exterior of the building until we came around the corner and saw a huge line of people coming from one of the buildings and their tour bus waiting off to the side.

Great! We are going to be here for ages. if only there were some signs we could’ve got there quickly before the group. oh well. we wait and it really doesn’t take that long actually. In and out within 10 minutes if that, and no search of the bags.

We wander back out and head back toward the bus that is still waiting, but just as we get close he drives off. WTF!?

That’s slightly irritating, but still okay, as we had read the timetable at the terminal before leaving and the buses run every 20 minutes. Sweet, we’re good. Only a short wait and we’ll be back on our way.

90 Minutes later (yeah, you read that right!) and after about 10 other buses had passed through, at speed without stopping, or getting halfway onto a couple to be told to get off again, a bus came that let us on!

Now I’m definitely confused and annoyed!

We pass our tickets over and settle in for the next leg of the journey, which surprisingly only takes 10 minutes…..we could’ve walked in the time we had waited!

Time to get off again, with our bags and pass through Argentinian Immigration, this time the driver tells us he will pass the bus through inspection and WAIT on the other side for us…Thank you, Sir!

Again immigration is a breeze, we pass through with no issues and wait out the other side for the driver and the bus.

The journey from immigration to the Omnibus station in Puerto Iguassu takes a further 15-20 minutes with a few stops along the way for the locals.

The entire exercise took close to 4 hours and ate into our entire morning and plans at the Falls…ughhh

One saving grace was the clocks went back 1 hour, so in the midst of all this, we did gain an hour back in our day. But still, we were arriving in the middle of the day in the hottest part of the day..

What did we learn?

Research is important, and something I do pride myself on, but my first mistake in this instance was taking the advice of one guidebook and not reading personal blogs or looking on a site such as www.busbrazil.com.

My second mistake was not allowing enough time to see the Falls at a leisurely pace.

The third mistake not factoring in things that could go wrong when using the local transport.

Advice for others

Taking local transport is still a great budget-friendly option.

Just do not have anything else planned for the day you are going to travel in the event that what happened to me, happens to you.

Be aware that at Brazilian Immigration the bus driver will not wait for you.

If you’re lucky and can get off, with your luggage, through immigration and back out to the stop, he might still be there.

But chances are you will have to wait for the next bus.

Be aware that the timetable is not accurate. It says every 20 minutes but as mentioned, we waited for 90 minutes.

Take a snack and some water just in case.

Also, there are two seats at the bus stop so be prepared to sit on the ground.

If you don’t want to risk it, have limited time or just can’t be bothered, get a cab!

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