The Argentina with kids argument: the country that gives the children the most dramatically contrasting single-country experience available in South America — the Buenos Aires evening (the 9:30pm restaurant, the steak, the specific Buenos Aires night that the Argentine family with children considers unremarkable and that the UK family considers a revelation), the Iguazú Falls (the waterfall that makes Niagara look considered, the Devil’s Throat walkway above the 80-metre horseshoe fall, the coati visible at arm’s reach on the path, the rainbow visible in the mist from the viewing platform at 10am), and the Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia (the 5km-wide glacier calving into Lago Argentino, the ice blocks visible from the walkway as they fall from the 60-metre face, the specific glacier that the National Parks Service has arranged the walkway to give at the correct distance and the correct angle for the full scale to register).
Reading time: 9 minutes | Last updated: 2026
The Argentina Family Geography
Argentina for families divides into three zones:
Buenos Aires (Ages 6+): The tango, the steak, the MALBA, the Tigre Delta day trip. The most accessible Argentina for the family arriving from the UK — English spoken in the tourist areas, the city infrastructure comparable to any European capital.
Iguazú Falls (Ages 5+): The most dramatic waterfall in the world, the tropical jungle, the coati (the racoon-adjacent South American mammal that has learned the visitor carries food), the butterflies. Universal child appeal.
Patagonia — El Calafate and the Perito Moreno Glacier (Ages 8+): The specific Patagonian experience — the glacier, the condor, the flamingo in the lake, and the specific child encounter with the physical scale of the glacier face.
The Family Argentina Circuit (12 Days)
Buenos Aires (3 days, Ages 6+)
The Feria de San Pedro Telmo (Sunday market):
Full detail in 7 Days in Argentina. The specific family addition: the street performer circuit (the tango dancer at Plaza Dorrego performing for the market crowd, the mime artist, the living statue — the specific Sunday Buenos Aires street performance visible from the market edge). The child audience reaction to the living statue (the child who cannot determine whether the statue is human or mechanical until the statue moves) is the specific Buenos Aires Sunday family moment.
The Tigre Delta:
The Tigre Delta (the river delta 35km north of Buenos Aires — the weekend retreat of the Buenos Aires population since the 19th century, the wooden houses built on stilts above the Paraná Delta channels, the grocery boat delivering to the riverside houses):
The Sturla boat service from the Tigre Pier (the catamaran service visiting the delta channels, the 2-hour circuit): ARS 2,000-4,000 / £1.87-3.74. The specific Buenos Aires day trip that replaces the city with the river.
Iguazú Falls (3 days, Ages 5+)
The Argentina side (Day 1):
The Iguazú National Park (the Argentine side — the network of elevated walkways above and beside the falls, the Devil’s Throat walkway (the 1.5km boardwalk to the platform above the 150m wide, 80m deep horseshoe waterfall): the mist visible from 1km away, the sound audible from 500m, the full scale comprehensible only from the platform directly above the fall):
The coati (the Nasua nasua — the South American procyonid visible throughout the Argentine Iguazú park, the animal that has learned the visitors carry food and that approaches to within arm’s reach): the ranger instruction at the park gate (do not feed the coati — the instruction given at entry) and the coati’s instruction to the visitor (ignore the ranger, give me the food) visible in real time throughout the park visit.
Entry: ARS 9,000-12,000 / £8.41-11.21 per adult, ARS 4,500-6,000 / £4.20-5.61 per child.
The Brazil side (Day 2):
The Iguazú from the Brazil side (the Foz do Iguaçu National Park — the panoramic view of the full falls system from the cliff opposite, the single view giving all 275 falls simultaneously): the Brazil side gives the wide-angle view that the Argentine side’s close-up experience does not. Both are correct and both are different.
The Brazil visa for UK citizens: Visa-free 90 days (since 2024). The Brazil entry at the Foz do Iguaçu crossing: the passport and the Brazilian entry stamp, the 45-minute bus from the Argentine town to the Brazilian park entrance.
The boat under the falls (Day 3):
The Gran Aventura (the raft that approaches the base of the Devil’s Throat from the Argentine side — the passengers in the waterproof ponchos, the raft positioned at the base of the fall where the water volume is 6,500 cubic metres per second): ages 7+ recommended (the noise and the drenching are genuinely overwhelming for younger children who have not been prepared); COP equivalent in ARS 8,000-12,000 / £7.48-11.21 per person.
El Calafate and Perito Moreno (3 days, Ages 8+)
Fly Buenos Aires-El Calafate (3 hours, Aerolíneas Argentinas):
The Perito Moreno Glacier:
The Perito Moreno (the 250 square kilometre glacier — the 5km wide, 60 metre high calving face advancing at 2 metres per day into Lago Argentino, the glacier accessible from the walkway system (the boardwalk giving the glacier face at 200 metres distance, the calving visible from the platforms)):
The calving: the ice breaks from the face in blocks ranging from the size of a car to the size of a house, the crack audible 3-5 seconds before the ice enters the water, the impact wave visible from the platform. The frequency: approximately every 30 minutes during the warm months.
Entry: ARS 8,000-12,000 / £7.48-11.21 per person.
The specific family glacier instruction: The child who stands at the Perito Moreno viewing platform and is told that the ice moving past the platform was frozen 5,000 years ago and that the glacier is one of the few in the world currently advancing rather than retreating is receiving the specific Patagonian climate education — the glacier that bucks the global trend by advancing, the scientists studying why.
The flamingo lake:
The Laguna Nimez (the bird reserve on the edge of El Calafate — the Chilean flamingo visible in the lake from the walkway, the 86 bird species recorded at the reserve): free.
What It Costs — Family of Four
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (UK-Buenos Aires, 4 persons) | £2,400-4,000 | £3,200-5,600 |
| Internal flights (Buenos Aires-Iguazú, Buenos Aires-El Calafate) | £240-520 | £400-800 |
| 12 nights accommodation | £240-600 | £600-1,440 |
| Food (12 days, blue dollar rate) | £120-300 | £300-720 |
| Activities (Iguazú entry, glacier, boat) | £120-250 | £200-420 |
| Total (family of 4) | £3,120-5,670 | £4,700-8,980 |
