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So we're going to Iguazu falls for about 3 days. We're taking the overnight bus from Buenos Aires and then leaving from the Brazilian side's airport to Rio.

We are trying to decide whether to stay on the Brazilian or the Argentinean side.

I've heard the Argentinean side, there is more to do and that the Brazilian side, you need only half a day or so.

So we were thinking of staying on the Argentinean side. However, because we're not sure how long it usually takes to go from the Argentinean side to the Brazilian side's airport.

How many hours do we need to get to the Brazilian airport? Are there likely to be long lines etc. at the border?

The other option is to just stay on the Brazilian side and do day trips into the Argentinean side. Just seems fairly inconvenient as every day we would need to make the trip across the border.

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    I assume you are taking public buses. I crossed that border several times and it was never very busy. You usually get off the bus to go into immigration and then have to wait for the next one. Locals don't have to get off and the bus goes straight through, you have to tell the driver that you want to get off. I think there were buses every 20min. I once managed to get on the same bus, because immigration was quick. I can't remember how long it took to the airport, its on the road to the falls, maybe 20min from the border.
    – Peter Hahndorf
    Feb 8, 2014 at 11:34
  • @PeterHahndorf : ah ok cool - yeah it sounds like it's not much of a problem. The plane leaves at 12, so if we took off after breakfast it should be fine
    – Mr Pizzzzzza
    Feb 8, 2014 at 11:53
  • I did this a month ago with a car. On the way form Argentina to Brazil, it took about 15 minutes. On the way back it took more than 60 minutes, but it seemed to be the rush hour in the evening. I would recommend to visit both sides. The Argentinian side offers way more things to do and I think it was much nicer to walk there. On the other hand, on the Brazilian side, you have a very good overview about the falls and you can get very very close to the falls.
    – RoflcoptrException
    Feb 8, 2014 at 15:30
  • @RoflcoptrException : yeah we'll definitely do both. The question really is, whether to stay on Argentinan side and leave a bit earlier to get to the brazilian airport, or stay on the brazilian side and spend a bit more time commuting to the argentian side
    – Mr Pizzzzzza
    Feb 9, 2014 at 0:20

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I recently came back from a 6 month trip to Argentina where I also visited Iguazu falls. I only stayed on the Argentine side instead of crossing over to the Brazilian side. I will tell you one thing that I didn't see mentioned in the comments. You should add way more time to whatever you plan on doing because it is currently summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

When I visited, it was winter in Argentina/Brazil. Because of that, there were literally no lines. It took everybody in our group about 10-15 minutes to buy their ticket and enter the park. My guide told me that during the summer it can take as long as 2 hours just to enter the park because there are so manny people.

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There are hardly any lines at the border. But when I was going by bus from Brazilian to Argentinian side, and had to step off the bus to get my passport stamped (which took maybe 5 minutes for 10 people), the bus driver did not wait for us. We had to wait for the next bus, which go every 30 minutes.

Then, going from Argentine to Brazilian airport by bus, you have to change to another bus (no. 120, direction "Parque Nacional"), and reserve about an hour just to get there by bus.

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