Tigre Delta 1-Hour Panoramic Boat Cruise with Audio Guide

Estación Fluvial Tigre, the river station

The cruise departs from the Estación Fluvial Tigre, the passenger river station on the bank of the Luján River in the centre of Tigre, where island ferries, water taxis and tour boats share a long covered dock. Your boat leaves from local 10, and if anything is unclear the partner office is inside the station a few metres from the dock. Show your mobile or printed voucher directly at the dock; there is no need to queue for tickets.

Travellers wondering how to get to Tigre from Buenos Aires have an easy answer: the Mitre line train from Retiro reaches Tigre station in about 50 minutes, and the river station is a five-minute walk away across the park; the Tren de la Costa from Maipú station is a scenic alternative. Arrive 15 minutes before your departure to find the right dock.

The Luján River and Paseo Victorica from the water

The first river of the route is the Luján, the broad waterway that gives Tigre its waterfront. From the deck you see the back of the Estación Fluvial, the lawns of the riverside park and then Paseo Victorica, the town's elegant promenade, with its rowing clubs founded by British, Italian and Argentine communities, their painted boathouses and the eights and sculls training on the river in the morning.

At the end of the promenade stands the Tigre Art Museum, the cream-coloured belle-époque palace of 1912 whose terraces and staircase descend straight to the water; this is the best view of it, and the reason many visitors call this stretch the finest part of any Tigre boat tour. The audio guide explains the history of the clubs and the museum as you pass.

The Carapachay and Angostura rivers

Leaving the Luján, the boat enters the Carapachay and then the narrow Angostura, two of the island rivers where the real life of the delta begins. Wooden houses stand on stilts above the flood line, each with its jetty and its boat, and between them you spot island schools, small chapels, a floating grocery launch doing its rounds and the yellow collectivo boats that serve as the delta's buses.

The channels here are lined with willows, ceibo trees with their red flowers in summer, poplars and reeds, and the water is the brown of the Paraná's sediment, not pollution. This is where the Tigre Delta boat ride feels furthest from the city, although Buenos Aires is barely 30 kilometres away. Keep the camera ready for herons, cormorants and the occasional kingfisher.

The Sarmiento and Espera rivers and the Delta Terra reserve

The route continues along the Sarmiento River, named after the 19th-century president who championed the settlement of the islands, and into the Espera, a quieter waterway where the Delta Terra nature reserve protects a stretch of native forest, marsh and wildlife. Here the banks are wilder, the houses fewer and the birdlife richer, and the audio guide explains how the islands grow each year as the river deposits new sediment.

This part of the cruise shows why the Paraná Delta, one of the largest in the world, is also a weekend refuge for Argentine families who come to row, fish and stay in island lodges. After the Espera the boat turns back toward the Luján and the Estación Fluvial, completing the one-hour circuit of five rivers.

Tigre town around the station

Because the cruise lasts only an hour, you have the rest of the day for Tigre itself. From the river station it is a short walk to Puerto de Frutos, the riverside craft and furniture market in the old fruit port, and to Paseo Victorica, where the Naval Museum, the Mate Museum and the Tigre Art Museum stand along the promenade. Cafés and parrillas line the streets near the station.

The best time to visit the Tigre Delta is spring and summer, from October to March, when the banks are green and the afternoons long; weekends are livelier, weekdays calmer. With five departures a day between late morning and late afternoon, you can combine the cruise with lunch and a museum and still catch an evening train back to Buenos Aires.