Continental Inn, Foz de Iguacu

In August 2007, my fiancé and I went travelling in Brazil. We went to Sao Paulo, Foz do Iguassu and Rio de Janeiro. I did some research on the web and found this really good tour company. They are called Iguassu Falls Tour and their website is www.iguassufallstour.com. They have a lot of different packages to suit your tastes and needs! We chose the Great Deal package which includes 2 nights standard double room at the 4-star Continental Inn Hotel with breakfast, transfers in and out of the Airport, tour of the Brazilian side of the Iguassu Falls, visit of the Itaipu Dam, tour of the Argentinean side of the Iguassu Falls, Safari Boat Trip and Landmark of the three frontiers in Argentina. The tour guide can speak English, Portuguese and Spanish. It costed USD548 (EUR432.42) for the 2 of us. We also add about USD100 (EUR78) to join the tour ‘Falls by moonlight’. It can only be done when it is full moon, you can check the full moon date on this website. You will see the most beautiful silver rainbow at night time. It is worth it to go and this is a once in a life time experience. August is a low-season to visit Brazil because it is their winter time over there so we had the tour guide all by ourselves, but it is a little cold at the waterfalls. The best time to visit Brazil will be November to February, but it might get a bit crowded.

Our tour guide was waiting for us at the Airport Arrival hall with our names in his hands. He helped us with the luggages and then took us to his private air-conditioned car. He handed a gift each to us. The gifts were a T-shirt with the Iguassu Falls print and a cap with Iguassu Falls Tour logo. The hotel is about 13.5 kilometres from the Foz do Iguassu International Airport. It took about 20 minutes to get there.

The hotel looks quite nice from outside and the lobby is quite big with sitting areas, telephones for calling guests and a bar and it felt really welcoming. There was no queue at all, so we were checked-in straight away. The hotel staffs are really friendly and also offered us the welcoming drinks, the drinks can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic. So we took the drinks and enjoy it in our room. The bellboy took us and our luggages to the lift and then to the second floor and straight to our room.

Our room is a little dated but air-conditioned. The bed spread seems a little plain, but the bed is quite comfortable and the size of the room seems ok. There was a bedside table on each side and a lamp for each side and a telephone on one of the bedside table. There was a table along side the bed with a safe on the wall and a chair, in front of the bed is a built-in double doors wardrobe with a small 14-16 inch satellite television and a stocked-up fridge. The en-suite bathroom is quite clean and equipped with a walk-in shower, a toilet, a sink, a wall-mounted hairdryer next to the sink and mini shampoo, shower gel and conditioner. The shower is pretty hot and the temperature maintained through-out and the hotel supplied us with a big bath towel each.

The hotel has 1 restaurant and 2 bars. The restaurant is located right next to the outdoor swimming pool with ceiling to floor windows. The restaurant serves Continental-style buffet breakfast everyday between 6.30 and 10.30. Because it is low season in Brazil so we didn’t have to queue up for breakfast and the restaurant is quite quiet with only a few tables occupied. The buffet table is right in the middle of the restaurant and serves hot dishes like bacon, sausage, boiled egg, scrambled egg, mushrooms and porridge etc. Choices of yoghurts like strawberry, chocolate and banana and choices of fruits like watermelon, melon, pineapple, orange and grapes etc. You can also get bread, cereals, milk, tea, coffee and fresh fruit juices. Breakfast was quite nice overall and the fruits are freshly cut.

There is an outdoor swimming, a sauna, coffee shop, fitness centre and a game room. The swimming was closed because it is their winter time in August. There is an internet centre with 4 computers and 4 chairs. You can contact the restaurant staff to open the door for you and you also need to give them your room number in order for them to charge the fee to your room. I cannot remember how much exactly we paid, but the rate seems ok. There is also a small souvenir shop before you enter the restaurant, but we never went in there to have a look.

The hotel is located in the city centre. There is a convenient store across the road. Our tour guide told us, it is not that safe to walk around the street at night in certain area. So just make sure you stay clear of those areas. Our tour guide also told us the best food to try in Brazil is called ‘Palmito’. It is also called the heart of palm. We tried it and we loved it so much! You can get them from the convenient store opposite the hotel. It is like a white tube and kept inside a clear jar. There are about 8 tube (depends on the size of the tube) in a jar with brine. I think it was about EUR3-4 a jar.

We supposed to check-out by 12pm but our flight was departing at 4pm so we had our check-out time extended for 2 hours without any charges. We just had to hand in our key card and paid any extra that we spent on the internet etc. We didn’t have to pay the room charges to the hotel because the tour guide paid for it already, so we just had to pay the tour guide directly.

The staffs are really friendly and always have a smile.

Overall we really enjoyed our stay and everything was perfect. I would highly recommend any type of tourists to stay here.