Northeast
Discover Northeast
Introduction
The Argentine Northeast is the subtropical corner squeezed between Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay, and it is wet where the rest of the country is dry. Two enormous rivers, the Paraná and the Uruguay, define it, and the land between them was Guaraní territory and then Jesuit mission country.
Iguazú is the reason most people come. Two hundred and seventy-odd waterfalls spread across nearly three kilometres of jungle river, with the Devil’s Throat at the centre taking about half the flow in a single horseshoe; the Argentine side has the walkways that get you closest, and the whole thing is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Ruins of the Jesuit reducciones at San Ignacio Miní are an easy detour and are UNESCO-listed too.
South of that lies something quite different and much less visited: the Ibera wetlands, a vast complex of marsh, lagoon and floating island roughly the size of Belgium, where a long rewilding programme has brought back jaguar, giant anteater, marsh deer and macaw. Capybara and caiman are everywhere and unbothered by people. The region is also the home of yerba mate, grown here and drunk everywhere, and of chamamé, an accordion music with nothing tango about it. It is hot and humid most of the year; winter is the comfortable season.