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[derv]

Hi all


My friend and I are going to South America in May, we are flying into Sao Paulo and would like to spend a few days in Rio. We are planning on heading up to Campo Grande to visit the Pantanal and going to Bolivia from there. Just want some advice because we want to go to Igazu falls and I didn’t know if it was a better option to go Sao Paulo – Rio – Sao Paulo – Igazu – Campo Grande or to go to Igazu when we are in Buenos Aires/Argentina a few months later?

Also is it easy to get to Campo Grande from Igazu and/or Rio?

Any help would be very much appreciated!!

Thanks

[mmbcross]

Hi all


My friend and I are going to South America in May, we are flying into Sao Paulo and would like to spend a few days in Rio. We are planning on heading up to Campo Grande to visit the Pantanal and going to Bolivia from there. Just want some advice because we want to go to Igazu falls and I didn’t know if it was a better option to go Sao Paulo – Rio – Sao Paulo – Igazu – Campo Grande or to go to Igazu when we are in Buenos Aires/Argentina a few months later?

Also is it easy to get to Campo Grande from Igazu and/or Rio?

Any help would be very much appreciated!!

Thanks

Hi,
At first glance, and as you didn't advise if you were flying or bussing around, I would save the Iguassu visit to your stay in B.A. as I don't see any direct flights from Foz de Igucu to Campo Grande, only via Sao Paulo, so you would have to do a round trip SAO-IGU-SAO. In this case it's six of one, half a dozen of the other. You can take a flight from the downtown airport in B.A. and stay on the Argentine side. If you do this, make sure you cross over to the Brazilian side as the views are better there, though you can walk in boardwalks right over the falls on the Argentine side. If you are a U.S. citizen, make sure you get a multiple entry visa for Brazil. If you are bussing, and have lots of spare time, then visit Iguacu while in Brazil. It will take half a lifetime to get there from Sao Paulo by bus, and the other half of your life to get from there to Campo Grande. Are you going to take "O Trem da Morte" from Cuiaba to Santa Cruz? Tha Pantanal is amazing.
Enjoy
Martin

[derv]

Thanks Martin!

We are planning on bussing it around keeping the costs down, and not really in any major rush, we have 16 weeks in Sth America in total and are planning a loop sort of up to Brazil, across Bolivia, down Peru, Nth Chile over to BA and back across to Santiago via Puerto Madryn and Barlioche time permitting, we are more into getting to see Bolivia Peru BA etc than the rest so if time runs out we will be just legging it to Santiago...

Where were you looking at the flights if you don't mind me asking? we have to get some form of onward ticket out of Brazil before we leave as our ticket leaving Sth America is more than 90 days from when we get in...

Ye I am really looking forward to the Pantanal myself... I presume you have been there judging from your comment, did you go from Campo Grande? Ye going to take the train! Should be fun!!

Thanks again for your advice!!

[mmbcross]

Thanks Martin!

We are planning on bussing it around keeping the costs down, and not really in any major rush, we have 16 weeks in Sth America in total and are planning a loop sort of up to Brazil, across Bolivia, down Peru, Nth Chile over to BA and back across to Santiago via Puerto Madryn and Barlioche time permitting, we are more into getting to see Bolivia Peru BA etc than the rest so if time runs out we will be just legging it to Santiago...

Where were you looking at the flights if you don't mind me asking? we have to get some form of onward ticket out of Brazil before we leave as our ticket leaving Sth America is more than 90 days from when we get in...

Ye I am really looking forward to the Pantanal myself... I presume you have been there judging from your comment, did you go from Campo Grande? Ye going to take the train! Should be fun!!

Thanks again for your advice!!

Hi,

Thanks for getting back. If you have the time, then bus into Foz do Iguacu from Sao Paulo, but be sure to stop off in Curitiba. I don't know if it still operates, but the passenger train through the mountains to the coast at Paranagua is spectacular. There should be a bus from Foz do Iguacu to Campo Grande. According to a Lonely Planet blog, Expreso Medianeira, Eucatur and Helios bus companies run on this route. This trip takes 14 hours and costs about 40.00 US$. Here is Ecuatur's website (in Portuguese). http://www.eucatur.com.br/

Nevertheless I saw another blog recommending you go straight from Foz to Curumba (that's where O Trem da Morte starts from, not Cuiaba as I stated earlier). Corumba is on the edge of the Pantanal. It stated:
Corumbà is one of the best places to enter the Pantanal. All good places are situated along the old road from Corumbà to Miranda. "Passo do Lontra" is another good place for making trips in the Pantanal; In Corumbà city centre, you will find a lot of companies who make trips in the Pantanal. Discuss very well what is included and what not.

In the end, you will have to do lots of research if its better from Campo Grande or Corumba. I entered the Pantanal from Cuiaba and stayed in Porto Jofre, which is well off your route.

Here's the Bolivian railway site in Spanish (Doesn't include Corumba-Sta. Cruz line)
http://www.fca.com.bo/servicios.htm

Times may have changed, but the transandine train from Antofagasta to Salta must be one of the world's great train rides. Regrettably, according to Wikipedia, the line is presently closed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tren_de_las_Nubes.

I'm not sure why you need an exit ticket from Brasil, but here is the website I accessed:
http://www.us.despegar.com/paginas/vuelos/busquedavuelos.asp

Hope this helps a bit.
Cheers

[chasingbohemia]

this is such a half-assed response, and i'm sorry for that, but igazzu is apparently definitely better from one side than the other... but i don't remember which, I think it was from the argentinian side... last time i went, it was rio to sao paulo to buenos aires but we're so stupid and didn't have time for iguzzu

[derv]

Wow thanks for all that info!! will really have to see if Corumba is better, I presume (in my innocence) that the same types of trips will be offered from there....

Thanks for all the links and stuff I will have to get onto babelfish and translate the portugese site.

I will check into that train also, I remember seeing it in my lonely planet but at the time we were planning on doing Igazu when we are in Argentina but thats changing now!!

Thanks for all your help!

D.

[mmbcross]

this is such a half-assed response, and i'm sorry for that, but igazzu is apparently definitely better from one side than the other... but i don't remember which, I think it was from the argentinian side... last time i went, it was rio to sao paulo to buenos aires but we're so stupid and didn't have time for iguzzu

Hi ChasingBohemia,

Shame on you for missing Iguassu! FYI the views of the whole falls are better from the Brazilian side, but there is an intricate system of boardwalks on the Argentine side that brings you up close and personal to the raging water, where you can actually overlook the lip.

[mmbcross]

Hi Tibets,

Which website are you referring to? As this is a Brazil forum, you may be in the wrong place.

[kiwi_surfer]

just a quick one, can some explain to me, what Pantana is exactly? looks like some sort of wild animal zoo thingy??

[big_red_truck]

just a quick one, can some explain to me, what Pantana is exactly? looks like some sort of wild animal zoo thingy??

I think you mean the Pantanal? Wikipedia can explain much quicker than I can...