Paraguay 7 Day Itinerary
Paraguay receives fewer international tourists per year than any other country in South America, which is either a warning or an invitation depending on how you travel. The infrastructure is thin, the distances are real, and the rewards tend to be proportional to the effort. This itinerary assumes you fly into Asuncion, have a week, and are willing to move.
Day 1: Asuncion, Arrival and the Old Centre
Silvio Pettirossi International Airport (ASU) sits about 15 kilometres northeast of central Asuncion. Taxis from the official rank outside Arrivals cost around 100,000 to 130,000 Guaranis (roughly 13 to 17 USD) to the city centre and take 25 to 40 minutes depending on traffic. Rideshare apps (Uber and InDriver both operate) are cheaper but require a local SIM or working data connection.
Check in and then walk the historic downtown while daylight lasts. The Palacio de Lopez, built in 1857 in Italianate style, is worth circling even though interior access is restricted. The Casa de la Independencia is free to enter and houses the documents and relics from Paraguay’s 1811 declaration of independence from Spain, in the same building where it happened. The National Pantheon of Heroes is a scaled copy of Les Invalides in Paris, which sounds absurd until you see it, at which point it just looks stately.
A critical note: the plaza around the cathedral turns sketchy after dark. Eat dinner before 8pm in the La Costanera area along the Rio Paraguay riverfront, which is well-lit and has decent restaurants, or try the 8Rios Food Hall at the Sheraton Asuncion for something more polished, with four distinct concepts run by Argentine chef Juan Jose Britez.
Day 2: Asuncion, Museums and Neighbourhoods
The Museo del Barro in Barrio Herrera has free admission and one of the best collections of indigenous Guarani art and contemporary Paraguayan work in the country. Allow two hours. The Loma San Jeronimo neighbourhood is the city’s street art district, a tight cluster of painted houses on a hill overlooking the river. It is photogenic and worth 45 minutes, but keep your phone in your pocket and do not carry anything you cannot afford to lose.
For lunch, La Cuadrita is an open-air dining promenade with a mix of grill houses and local restaurants where you can eat grilled meat with manioc (mandioca) for under 30,000 Guaranis. Order whatever is on the parilla.
Afternoon: La Costanera promenade is the best place in Asuncion to do nothing in particular. Bike rentals are available from riverside vendors. The sunset over the Rio Paraguay from the promenade is genuinely good and requires no effort beyond showing up.
Day 3: Encarnacion and the Riverfront
The overnight bus from Asuncion to Encarnacion takes about five hours and costs 80,000 to 100,000 Guaranis in a semi-cama seat. Alternatively, the daytime bus lets you see the route through the interior. Encarnacion sits on the Parana River opposite the Argentine city of Posadas and has been substantially rebuilt since the Yacyreta Dam raised the water level in the early 2000s, creating a Copacabana-style beach along the riverfront that nobody outside Paraguay seems to know about.
The Costanera de Encarnacion in summer (December through February) is one of the most animated beach scenes in South America. If you visit in February, the Encarnacion Carnival is legitimately among the better carnavals on the continent. Buy tickets only from official booths: scalpers around San Pedro Avenue sell convincing fakes for 150,000 Guaranis that get confiscated at the gate.
Check in to a hostel or mid-range hotel in Encarnacion. The town is small enough to walk.
Day 4: Jesuit Missions
The UNESCO World Heritage missions at Trinidad and Jesus de Tavarangue are 28 and 38 kilometres from Encarnacion respectively. A combined entrance ticket covering all three Paraguayan Jesuit missions costs around 45,000 Guaranis (6 USD) and is valid for three days.
From Encarnacion bus terminal, local buses toward Ciudad del Este stop near Trinidad (about 10,000 Guaranis, runs every 20 to 60 minutes). A taxi round-trip covering both missions costs 80,000 to 150,000 Guaranis and is worth splitting if there are two or more of you.
Trinidad is the better-preserved site, with carved stone friezes, a partially intact bell tower, and a scale that gives a real sense of what these mission towns were before the Jesuits were expelled from South America in 1767. A guide is included in the ticket price. Jesus de Tavarangue, a few kilometres further, is more ruined but less visited and has a different quality of silence. Allow half a day for both.
Day 5: Itaipu Dam and Ciudad del Este
Itaipu Dam, on the Parana River at the Brazilian border near Ciudad del Este, is the second-largest hydroelectric power station in the world. Guided tours of the dam and turbines run from around 70,000 Guaranis and include bus transport around the facility. The scale is difficult to convey in photographs: the structure is 7.9 kilometres wide.
Ciudad del Este itself is primarily a duty-free shopping hub serving Brazilian day-trippers. Electronics and perfumes are cheaper here than almost anywhere in South America, and the Friendship Bridge market is chaotic in an entertaining way. However, fake goods are everywhere, unofficial guides at the border crossing demand fees for free customs forms, and fake taxis cluster around tourist areas. Stay alert, do not hand money to anyone who approaches you unbidden, and verify taxi credentials before getting in.
Day 6: Return to Asuncion
Return by bus (the journey takes around five hours from Ciudad del Este via the main highway). If you have energy, one more evening in Asuncion allows a final dinner in the Paseo La Galeria shopping and dining complex, which has a terrace area that works well after dark.
The best food buy in Asuncion is sopa paraguaya, which is not soup but a dense cornbread made with cheese and onion, sold everywhere. Order it. The other thing worth eating before you leave is chipa, a cheese bread made with manioc flour that is sold from roadside carts across the country and is better than it sounds.
Day 7: Botanical Garden and Departure
The Jardin Botanico y Zoologico in Asuncion is more pleasant than most urban botanical gardens in Latin America, with a reasonable zoo section and large shaded grounds. It costs almost nothing to enter and takes about two hours at a slow pace. A reasonable last morning.
Allow 90 minutes from the city centre to the airport at peak times.
Things to know:
- Most citizens from Europe, North America, and much of South America enter Paraguay visa-free for 90 days. Confirm with your consulate before travel.
- The currency is the Paraguayan Guarani (PYG). USD is accepted in many tourist-facing businesses. ATMs in Asuncion and Encarnacion are reliable. In smaller towns, carry cash.
- Spanish is the official language. Guarani is the co-official language and is spoken widely in rural areas. English is rarely spoken outside major hotels.
- April through October is the best travel window: temperatures are mild (20 to 25 Celsius) and humidity drops considerably compared to the southern-hemisphere summer.
- Buses between cities are cheap, reliable, and air-conditioned. They are the correct way to travel between Asuncion, Encarnacion, and Ciudad del Este.