Review: Iguazu Grand Resort – Iguazu Falls Argentina

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The Iguazu Grand is located roughly 20 minutes via taxi from the Argentinian entrance to the Iguazu Falls. It’s a solid 4 star hotel with casino attached, 3 pools, restaurants, spa, and offers an affordable tropical option for families looking to visit the falls, but stay outside the park itself. Room rates start in the mid 100s if you book far enough in advance, and suites can be had for a bit over $200. Comparing those rates to the Belmond or the Gran Melia and you’ll see significant savings although you are a ways away from the grounds, and you won’t have access pre or post hours like you would staying at either of those hotels inside the park.

Location:

The location of the Iguazu Grand suits itself to a minimum of a two night stay.  We ultimately did it in 1, but it was basically an all out foot race to get both sides of the park done in that time. If you can only do one night, choose inside the park. If you’re arriving into the Argentinian side, you’ll spend roughly 1/2 hour getting to the hotel, and you’ll pass the Argentinian park entrance en route. This means you’re actually closer to the Brazilian border than you are the Argentinian entrance to Iguazu Falls national park.  I’d recommend splitting your time and doing a day in Argentina, and then a day in Brazil if you’re going to choose this hotel as your homebase.

In terms of getting to Brazil, it’s about 1/2 mile from the Brazilian border, and visas are processed very quickly. Taxis move between borders on the regular, and you’ll hop out of your vehicle to get stamped and have your visa processed. From there, it’s roughly 20 minutes to the Brazilian entrance to the park.

Arrival:

We flew from Buenos Aires to IGR. By an incredible stroke of luck, after requesting taxi service, we ended up with an incredible driver/guide named Umberto. You can reach him via Whatsapp +54 9 375 755 8128. I couldn’t recommend him more, and he reinstilled my faith in humanity. We were on very limited time, ultimately had to leave our bags in his car, and without knowing him from Adam, he proved to be incredibly honest, knowledgable, helpful, on time, and connected. He helped expedite us through ticketing, immigration, raced us here and there, and charged I believe $20 each way between the hotel and the park. Roughly the same to and from the airport.

First Impression:

The hotel is feels a dated and kind of like staying at an older property on the Las Vegas strip. The thing is…who cares. You’re not flying to the Iguazu Falls area to spend time at your hotel, you want to be where the action is, and had we booked sooner, we could have saved probably $100 on our room. But, our plans changed mid-journey and the property was still offering rooms at half the cost of other similarly rated hotels.

The Room:

We had a large 1 bedroom suite that we paid roughly $275 for the night. It’s a 1.5 bath with a full living room and they brought in a roll a way bed as well. Originally we had booked into the Belmond, but our plans changed, and their prices shot north of $800…too rich for my blood. To land a suite for $275 when rooms everywhere else were selling out and skyrocketing seemed like a great deal.

I think we were given someone else’s room by mistake, but hey…a free welcome amenity is a free welcome amenity right? The space was incredible, and if I were traveling with a family, it’d be ideal

A guest bath was great to wash my face, brush my teeth while my buddy was using the main bathroom

The main bathroom was huge and featured a large soaker tub, dual vanities, and separate shower. Even a couple of nice robes!

The bedroom featured a large king size bed and couch

Dining:

There are 4 restaurants at the Iguazu Grand and we had the pleasure of eating at La Terraza which is their “meat” option near the pool. As a pescatarian I didn’t know what to expect, but I ordered the Salmon with a couple of sides ( mashed potatoes and risotto) and it was absolutely delicious. Throughout Argentina I’ve been blown away by the quality of the food and the affordability. This was no different.

Overall:

Nothing can really compare to staying in one of the two parks, but price is a major factor, and this will certainly undercut the in-park properties by at least 50% if not considerably more.  With that said, you need to budget commuting time and the expense of going back and forth between the park and the hotel.  I’d make sure to contact Umberto for your arrival pick up and transport between the park and hotel. He was on time for us at every pick up and drop off.  There are spa and fitness facilities; however, due to the extremely limited timeframe we had at the property I didn’t even see either of them.