Northeast Region Guide

Argentina’s northeast is subtropical, watery and green, and it holds one of the great sights of the world.

Iguazu Falls is 275 separate cataracts spread across nearly three kilometres of jungle, carrying more water than Niagara over a wider front. The Argentine side has the walkways: a system of catwalks that takes you along the top of the falls, below them, and finally out over the Devil’s Throat, where half the river drops eighty metres into a cloud of spray you cannot see the bottom of.

Upstream, the Jesuit missions at San Ignacio Mini are red sandstone ruins of a remarkable social experiment that lasted 150 years.

And south lie the Ibera wetlands, second only to the Pantanal in South America, where capybara, caiman, marsh deer and now reintroduced jaguar and giant otter can be seen at close range.

Iguazu

Give it two days. The Upper Circuit walks the top of the falls, the Lower Circuit takes you beneath them, and a train runs to the walkway over the Devil’s Throat, which is best early before the crowds and the heat. The boat trip drives you under a cataract and you will be soaked to the skin, which is the point. The Brazilian side, across the border, gives the panoramic view and takes half a day.

Ibera

The wetlands from Colonia Carlos Pellegrini or one of the other gateway villages: boat trips among floating islands with capybara, caiman and hundreds of bird species, night drives, horse riding, and increasingly a real chance of jaguar.

The Jesuit missions

San Ignacio Mini, the best preserved of the Argentine reductions, with carved red sandstone facades being reclaimed from the forest. UNESCO-listed, along with three others nearby.

Other water

The Mocona falls, where the Uruguay river drops sideways along a three-kilometre fault line rather than across its course — an unusual and little-visited sight.

Wetland and forest

the dry forest of Chaco Province, and the Saltos del Mocona provincial parks.

The northeast is the Litoral — river country — and it is culturally closer to Paraguay and southern Brazil than to Buenos Aires.

Guarani

The Guarani language is a living presence here, spoken in Corrientes alongside Spanish and holding official status in that province. Place names, plant names and a great deal of everyday vocabulary are Guarani, and the accent and rhythm of local Spanish come from it.

The Jesuit experiment

Between 1609 and 1768 the Jesuits organised Guarani communities into reductions — self-governing settlements of several thousand people each, with their own farms, workshops, printing presses and orchestras, largely insulated from colonial labour demands. It is one of the more remarkable social experiments in colonial history, its motives and effects still argued over, and it ended abruptly when the order was expelled.

Mate

This is where yerba mate grows, and Misiones and Corrientes produce nearly all of Argentina’s. The Jesuits worked out how to germinate it commercially, and the plantations are a defining feature of the landscape.

Chamame

The regional music — accordion, guitar and bandoneon, in a lilting rhythm with Guarani lyrics — is UNESCO-listed and utterly distinct from tango.

Ibera is one of the world’s great rewilding projects, and it deserves support. Former cattle ranches were bought and donated to create a national park, and jaguar, giant otter, giant anteater, peccary and macaw have all been reintroduced — the jaguar returning after seventy years absent. Visit through the community-run posadas in the gateway villages, which is deliberately how the project was designed to work.

At Iguazu, stay on the walkways, do not feed the coatis — they bite and they have become aggressive precisely because visitors feed them — and go early to avoid both crowds and heat.

The Atlantic Forest here is a remnant: over ninety per cent has been cleared across its range, and the Misiones fragment is among the largest left. Choose lodges inside or adjoining the protected areas.

Guarani communities live in Misiones and run some tourism themselves; go through them rather than around them.

Yerba mate is the regional crop; buying from smaller cooperatives supports growers.

April to June and August to October are the best windows: warm rather than hot, less humid, and comfortable for walking. The falls carry good water and the wildlife is active.

December to March is the southern summer — hot, humid and above 35°C, with heavy rain. Iguazu is at its fullest and most spectacular after storms, which is the compensation, but the heat on the catwalks is punishing.

June to August is mild and dry, pleasant for Ibera, and the falls can run lower.

Iguazu’s flow varies enormously. After heavy upstream rain the Devil’s Throat is overwhelming and the lower walkways sometimes close; in a drought year the falls can thin dramatically. Neither is predictable.

Ibera wildlife is good year round, with winter offering clearer viewing and fewer mosquitoes.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the region

Iguazu park entry and the boat trip are fixed costs that add up; Ibera’s community posadas are excellent value for what they include.