Some trips are for my clients, some are for research, and some are just for the people I love. This one was the third kind: me, my dad, and Charlie, three generations, one whirlwind trip through Argentina and Brazil. We based ourselves at the Four Seasons Buenos Aires to start, and the city pulled us in immediately. I can honestly say that Buenos Aires is officially on my top five favorite cities list!
La Boca was our first stop, all those colors – incredibly saturated, like crayons come to life. Houses stacked together in green, blue, red, and mustard yellow, corrugated metals popping with vibrant street art. Life-sized statues of Maradona and Evita waved at us from a balcony, which tells you everything about how seriously (and how playfully) this city takes its own legends. We wandered the cobblestones of Caminito for a while before ducking into a market stall bursting with the most gorgeous produce and cute little boutique kiosks with local artisans showcasing their wares.
Dinner in Buenos Aires meant steak, of course, every night. We learned the reason that Argentinian empanada cursts must be folded exactly 13 times. On our unanimously favorite day we escaped the city entirely for the Tigre Delta, gliding along muddy brown channels lined with reeds and old wooden boathouses, a completely different Argentina just an hour from the skyscrapers. One night, we found ourselves pulled into an impromptu tango lesson, all skirts and dips and laughing at our own two left feet, which is exactly the kind of thing you can’t plan for and end up remembering the most.
The first thing to know about Iguazu Falls is that it straddles both countries, Argentina and Brazil, and Belmond has claimed the most privileged spot of all, tucked inside the national park on the Brazilian side, close enough that you can hear the roar from your room. We saw the falls twice, and tbh, you need both versions to really understand them. First from above, walkways threading along the top of the cascades for that classic, sweeping, postcard rainbow view. Then from the water, boarding a boat that takes you directly into the falls themselves. Our carefully ordered-in-advance ponchos were no match. We came out completely, hopelessly soaked, shrieking and laughing the entire time, and I wouldn’t have traded a second of it.
Rio, by contrast, felt like walking straight into a vintage travel poster. The Belmond Copacabana Palace has that kind of effortless icon status, just walking up to the lobby you know that you’re about to enter a truly storied building. But really, the whole city has that same iconic quality: Sugarloaf rising out of the harbor, Christ the Redeemer watching over everything from the mountaintop, those famous Ipanema beach stretching out below. We were granted exclusive backstage access to one of the Samba Schools where they prepare the legendary floats and costumes for Carnivale – and oh-em-gee, both were larger than life. It’s a place that somehow lives up to every image you’ve ever seen of it, which almost never happens.
What I keep coming back to about this trip is how different each stop felt while still adding up to a single, cohesive experience. Buenos Aires’ European elegance and hybrid of cultures, the raw power of Iguazu, the easy glamour of Copacabana. That’s the kind of contrast that makes South America such a rewarding region to plan for multigenerational travel, there’s enough range in a relatively short flight path to keep everyone, from a twenty-something to a grandparent, completely engaged.
If a trip like this, spanning generations and countries in equal measure, sounds like something your family has been circling for years, I’d love to help you build it.
The quick facts
- Where we stayed: Four Seasons Buenos Aires, Belmond Iguazu, Belmond Copacabana Palace
- Who went: three generations, grandfather, daughter, and grandson
- Don’t miss: La Boca and Caminito, an empanada class, a tango lesson, the Tigre Delta by boat, Iguazu Falls, Sugarloaf, a backstage Carnivale experience, visiting Copacabana Beach
- Best for: multigenerational families wanting culture, nature, and beach in one trip
Rebecca@Wanderology.com 