San Martin Hotel is located within a few minutes' walk to the entrance of the Brazil side of the Iguacu Falls park. Although the location was wonderful and the resort grounds look lovely, I would not recommend this place as a base point for travelers who wish to see the falls. Foz do Iguacu is only about a 40 minute bus ride away from the falls and offers more places to stay and also restaurants to choose from also. My husband and I had heard Foz was gritty and not a good place to stay but when we explored it, we found it interesting and relatively safe. San Martin is rather isolated so although the pool and nature trail on the grounds provide some forms of entertainment for daytime activities (when you'd be at the falls anyhow), at night, there is little to see and do and only a restaurant and bar to get food from.
Also, our experience at San Martin was a disappointing one. I booked directly with the hotel via its Web site and was confirmed for a double room. However upon check-in, the rather terse reception lady told me our room had two twin beds, which counted as a "double" and if I wanted a larger bed that could fit two people on it, I would have to pay more. What kind of rip-off is that? My husband and I were there celebrating our first wedding anniversary so did not like the thought of having to sleep in separate beds for such an occasion but the thought of having to pay more when I'd confirmed a room a month earlier did not sit well with us. So we kept the room they gave us, which actually had three twin beds instead of two, so doesn't that constitute as a triple rather than a double? And so one double bed didn't seem like it should have been out of the question. We were only there one night though and decided to just let it be since we were tired and would check out early the next day anyhow. As an aside, we were able to fit on one twin bed just fine so it worked out in the end.
The Brazil side of Iguacu Falls only takes a few hours to experience so ultimately I would advise travelers to base themselves out of Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, which is not quite as bustling as Foz and so a relaxing place to stay. From Puerto Iguazu, you can easily see the Argentine side of the falls one day, stay overnight and then see the Brazil side another day and stay overnight in Argentina again after that.


















