The Iguaçu Falls located on the border of Argentina and Brazil and consisting of approximately 257 individual waterfalls over 2.7 km (1.7 mi) were chosen as one of the "New Natural Seven Wonders of the World.

The city's annual average temperature is 23.8 °C (74.8 °F), but can be as high as 40 °C (104 °F) in the summer (highest) or as low as -5 °C (23 °F) in the winter (lowest).

The climate of the city is hot or warm throughout the year, due to the relatively low altitude (standing only 173 m, 567 ft (173 m), above sea level).

In 1549, a Spanish explorer, Cabeza de Vaca, found the falls while travelling down the river.

[6] The city experienced a big economical boom in the 1960s to the late 1980s, first with the construction of the Friendship Bridge, concluded in 1965, and the Itaipu Dam, in operation since in 1984.

On 19 October 2005, a proposal was made to revert the spelling of the city name to Foz do Iguassú.

Another reason for the proposed adjustment back to the original was that 146 of the 198 member countries of the United Nations do not have the "ç" character in their alphabets.

The region that today is part of Foz do Iguaçu, is described by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in his diary that narrates the very experience at the beginning of the European colonization in the Americas.

In contemporary literature one of the city's neighborhoods appears in a subjective way in the work of the writer Leonid R. Bózio, who reports in the book Tempos Sombrios,[7] from the series Autofagia, local mysticism through the figure of Pombero, a creature from Guarani mythology.

The city's population is heterogeneous, with immigrant communities from many parts of the world, such as Arabs (mostly from Lebanon or Syria), Asians (mostly of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean descent), Europeans (mostly Germans, Italians, French, Swedes, Portuguese, Poles, and Ukrainians), and other Central and South Americans (mostly Paraguayans and Argentines with some Haitians, with UNILA attracting students from all over the Americas).

Source: Paranaense Institute for Economic and Social Development (2014) Since 1940, Lebanese and other Arabs have settled in the southwestern city of Foz do Iguaçu, in the "Triple Border" area where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil converge in a region of loosely controlled borders.

[8] People of Lebanese heritage constitute around 90% of the population from Middle East in the city, with others from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria and Palestine.

[6] As of 2004, the prefecture of the city decided that a major revitalization of "Avenida Brasil" (Brazil Avenue) was needed.

[6] The revitalization proposals asks for removal of parking space, giving major attention to pedestrians.

Public education has been a priority of the municipality of the city and the government of the state of Paraná; however, most middle and upper-class families continue to send their children to elite private schools.

In addition, there are 7 universities: In January 2010, the Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana (UNILA) was founded.