So I’ve seen a few blog posts already(** link up when i find it) (one of which was most helpful) about the journey from Punta Del Diablo to Foz Do Iguacu and just wanted to write about mine so other travellers can make their own decisions about it.
The back story of this trip was to go from Buenos Aires to Colonia, up through the coast of Uruguay and then into Brazil, ending in Sao Paulo. We were on an afternoon bus from Punta Del Este to La Paloma. Landed, looked around, was able to see the town in a good 4 hours with a long lunch break and a snooze at the beach. By this time, it might’ve been 5pm. I was hoping to get moving to Punta Del Diablo, but there weren’t any buses that night. The first would be at 6am the next day. We did that, got in at about 8am, again, walked around town and saw most of what it had to offer by 12pm. Just to let you know, I might have been a bit over sun and beaches and so did not want to stay. Decided to check out my options to get out of there and get to Iguacu.
So from the mentioned blog, there are a few ways. I decided to bus it to Porte Alegro and then a bus to Foz Do Iguacu. The other way, which I would’ve considered if I wasn’t so far along was to get back to Montevideo for a bus to Iguacu. My experience was similar to the other blog. A regular bus to Chuy/Chui which leaves every hour or so. Chuy isn’t a bad town, since it is full of duty free shops, but otherwise, is very quiet at night. The bus from Chuy was the 11 pm bus to arrive at Porte Alegre at 7 am. The other option was a 12:30 pm bus which we had missed (not 100% sure on that time). This left me with a 2 buses from Porte Alegre to Iguacu – 3pm (?) and 7pm. 12 hours in this city is a good amount of time to walk around, have a few meals and just to experience Brazil for the first time. 7pm, the bus leaves the terminal, and does stop twice, once for dinner and the other for breakfast – the dinner one i slept through. It arrived a bit late into Iguacu at 10am instead of the 9am it said. I was hoping to get a good start on a tour when I arrived, but it seems that it might be an issue since the Argentinian tours start at 8am. The brazillian side can be done in a few hours on your own. In saying this, it was possible to catch the earlier bus from Porte Alegre which would land you in Iguacu at 6:30 am.
Having been given the chance to do this all again, I would’ve travelled only as far as Punta Del Este and then headed back to Montevideo before a long single bus to Iguazu. La Paloma and Punta Del Diablo are surfing towns and hit their peak in late December and early January, otherwise they would be half day visits each.
Written by Milton Lai