Iguazú, Foz & Iberá

This is the subtropical corner of the country: red earth, rainforest and water everywhere. The Iguazú Falls, shared with Brazil, are the reason most people come, and they deserve their fame. South of them, the Esteros del Iberá are something else entirely, a wetland the size of a small country where capybaras, caimans and marsh deer live in the open and the horizon is all water and sky.

Two nights at Puerto Iguazú are the standard, one day for the Argentine side of the falls and a few hours for the Brazilian panorama from Foz. Travellers with more time add a night in the forest at a lodge near Andresito or Puerto Libertad, or go upriver to the Moconá falls at El Soberbio. Iberá is best treated as its own destination: two or three nights at Colonia Carlos Pellegrini or at an estancia on the wetland's edge, reached by road from Posadas or from Mercedes, with the Jesuit ruins of San Ignacio on the way.

The falls run all year. Summer, from December to February, is hot and humid and the water is at its fullest; winter is mild and the walkways are quieter. Iberá is at its best from April to October, when the days are cooler and the wildlife easier to see; in high summer the heat is serious, and the afternoons are for the shade.