7 Day Paraguay Itinerary: From Asuncion to Ciudad del Este

Having spent several weeks in Paraguay with my girlfriend who is from the country, I have crafted the perfect 7 day Paraguay itinerary to help you enjoy South America’s last remaining hidden gem.

When I first visited Paraguay in 2022 I was stumped. What can I do in this unknown country? After all, there was no Machu Picchu or Patagonia to be found here. I asked Facebook groups for suggestions but only visited Asuncion and Aregua.

Fast-forward to 2024 and I’ve since spent much longer in the country getting to know the best places in depth. I have therefore crafted this action-packed itinerary for you to make the most of a 1-week Paraguay trip combining my experiences from several weeks in the country with my girlfriend’s local knowledge which will help you maximise your enjoyment here.

The best places to visit in Paraguay are Asuncion, Aregua, San Bernardino, Encarnacion, the Jesuit Missions and Ciudad del Este. Therefore I would recommend adding these spots to your weeklong itinerary. Read on for more detailed information.

7 Day Paraguay Itinerary

Most people will start backpacking Paraguay in one of three ways. By taking a long bus from Bolivia to Asuncion (don’t do this, it took 25 hours when I did and saved little money compared to flying), by flying into the capital city, or by crossing the Triple Frontier border from Iguazu Falls to Ciudad del Este.

Since the capital is the most popular place to start, let’s do that. If you do however enter via Ciudad del Este then simply follow this itinerary in reverse.

Days 1-2: Asuncion

If flying, you will enter Paraguay via Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Luque, a city in Metropolitan Asuncion. If entering by bus then you will arrive at Terminal de Omnibus in Asuncion.

By the time you make it to Paraguay, you will have half a day left for activities. I would suggest reading my list of the best things to do in Asuncion and picking whatever catches your eye there.

If you want my recommendations for your remaining 1.5 days in the capital, they would be as follows:

Day 1 afternoon: Stretch your legs a little with a short hike up Cerro Lambare. This hill provides great views over Asuncion, including over the Paraguay River. You can even peer into Argentina from here! It takes under 40 minutes each way, so this isn’t a long one.

Day 1 evening: Go for dinner at an all-you-can-eat steakhouse where you can get, well, literally all you can eat for prices that barely go over the £10/US$13 mark. These places are incredible and I particularly recommend Paulista Grill for some of the best meat in the world, a generous dessert selection and efficient service.

Day 1 night: Head to Negroni Skybar and enjoy rooftop views over the Paraguay River. Admittedly Asuncion isn’t the prettiest city in the world, but the views here are still pretty good and Negroni has a chilled atmosphere which makes for a fun night out.

Day 2 morning: Use your first full day in the capital to explore the major cultural highlights. They are generally clustered in the same area making it easy to walk between them.

Walk along the Costanera (waterfront) and you will be able to enjoy views of yellow beaches mixed in with the city skyscrapers behind them. But really your goal here is to find Palacio de los Lopez which is where the president works. If you’re lucky as I was during my first visit in 2022, you may even see the president arriving to his office.

If you approach the palace from the Costanera, you will see a large sign that says “Asuncion”. For some reason almost every half-major town or city across the world has one of these signs these days. To be fair they do make for good photos at times.

You can’t enter the palace, but it is a nice landmark to take some pictures of.

Just around the corner is Centro Cultural Manzana de la Rivera. Even if your español isn’t perfect just yet, you may well have worked out that this place is a cultural centre. More specifically one which educates visitors about key aspects of Paraguay’s history, culture and traditions. You may struggle to understand much without knowing a lot of Spanish however. Although the guides will help you as much as they can.

Nearby is another historical building, Casa de la Independencia. This was the most important building in Paraguay’s quest for independence from the Spanish. Plans were drawn up here to force out the Spanish, and they ultimately worked with the colonial power unwilling to engage in violent conflict.

Under 5 minutes away is the jewel in Asuncion’s crown, the Pantheon of Heroes. This small mausoleum houses the remains of many Paraguayan heroes from bygone eras. It’s free to enter and you can learn a little about the country’s history here.

This is probably the most unique attraction in Paraguay. Whilst I’ve seen mausoleums elsewhere in the world, none contain so many influential figures from a single country.

Day 2 afternoon: Experience local life at chaotic Mercado 4. You probably won’t see any other western tourists in Paraguay, let alone in Mercado 4. This is local life in a nutshell with people selling all sorts of goods from a sprawling labyrinth of stalls. Just be aware that pickpocketing isn’t uncommon here, so keep a close eye on your belongings. Paraguay is a safe country, but it does have its problem spots.

Day 2 evening: Head to another of Asuncion’s greatest restaurants for another incredible all-you-can-eat dinner. I recommend posh Acuarela or Brasa y Leña, which is home to the best meat cut I have ever had (ask for the cupim).

Day 2 night: Lastly, party the night away in the lively Carmelitas district. This is where Asuncion has a lot of bars which get popular after dark. So popular in fact that some will require reservations to enter such as Capitao. A lot of Paraguayan bars/restaurants don’t have websites, and you will have to find their WhatsApp details on Instagram to reserve a spot.

Enjoy yourself, but try and get back at a reasonable time, because there’s a lot more I would recommend as part of this action-packed itinerary before you leave Paraguay.

Day 3 (Winter): Aregua

With only a week in Paraguay, you won’t be able to see everything unfortunately. However if you go during winter time (June-August, although I would also recommend this in September), you should take a trip to Aregua.

During the strawberry harvest season, which generally takes place from mid-July until mid-September, Aregua is home to a strawberry expo which sells all sorts of strawberry products, and of course, strawberries themselves.

I’ve been to the expo twice now, in both 2022 and 2024, and would definitely recommend heading to Aregua at this time.

The city is also famous for ceramics with locals from across the country coming to buy pots, figurines and more from the street stalls here.

You can also head towards the beach, ride a horse and take a boat ride around Lake Ypacarai if you wish. Even winter is sunny in Paraguay which means you almost certainly won’t need to worry about bad weather.

Aregua is an easy day trip from Asuncion, with the journey taking just over an hour each way. You will need to learn about the bus system in Asuncion, as this also applies to Aregua trips.

Day 3 (Spring, Summer or Autumn): San Bernardino

As Aregua’s strawberry expo packs up for another year in September, time creeps towards the popular summer season which is when San Bernardino comes to life.

San Bernardino in Paraguay is where the country’s rich and famous come every summer for their holidays.

It’s a popular beach resort with a lot of bars, restaurants and activities, although the latter only really open up as summer (December-February) approaches.

If you’re as lucky as I was, you can visit on a national holiday and may see traditional Paraguayan dance performances alongside craft markets and amazing food stalls. More specifically, the asado stall.

Some of Asuncion’s best restaurants (namely Acuarela and O Gaucho) can also be found in San Bernardino, so if you fancy something a little more filling then these are the places to go. Although Acuarela is only open during the summer season.

Just like Aregua, San Bernardino is an easy day trip from Asuncion. Whilst my recommendation would be to visit Aregua in the winter and San Bernardino at other times of year, you should read my Aregua and San Bernardino travel guides to decide which one meets your preferences.

Day 4: Encarnacion

On day 4 get up at the crack of dawn and head straight to Asuncion’s Terminal de Omnibus ready to board a 6-8 hour bus down to Encarnacion, a city just north of Posadas in Argentina, with the two cities separated by the Parana River.

Unfortunately in Paraguay, you can’t always rely on the bus timings. If your bus leaves the terminal around 5am-6am I would expect to arrive in Encarnacion roughly around 1pm-2pm.

This city isn’t amazing, so I would only use it as a base for activities on days 5 and 6 rather than considering it to be a great place in its own right.

There is however one attraction which draws people here, and that is the beach. Just as I did, you may well associate beaches with the seaside, but being a landlocked country, Paraguay has to utilise its river spaces, and that’s something it does well here.

San Jose Beach is full of yellow sand which attracts a lot of tourists in the summer time. In the winter it’s a little quieter and attracts fewer tourists, however I would still recommend spending your afternoon here. You can kick a ball around the beach if you wish, or go for an ice cream. Hopefully the weather holds up and you can enjoy your time.

Unfortunately Encarnacion doesn’t have the great array of incredible restaurants that Asuncion does, so I don’t have any specific recommendations in this area. It does have a range of different cuisines including Italian and Japanese amongst others, so there are some choices.

Pack your bags ready for some of Paraguay’s highlights over the next couple of days.

Day 5: Jesuit Missions of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana and Jesus de Tavarangue

Did you know that Paraguay only has one UNESCO World Heritage Site? Well today is the day to visit it.

The Jesuit Missions of La Santisima Trinidad de Parana and Jesus de Tavarangue are ruins left behind from the days when Jesuit missionaries came to spread religion amongst the locals. They are around a 40-minute bus ride from Encarnacion.

The Jesuits worked with Guarani natives to build up communities and they brought in more advanced social and technological systems which benefitted local people. Now they did have an ulterior motive, which was to spread Christianity. However they were a net positive and the two groups worked together in harmony to form the communities.

My Jesuit Missions guide explains everything you need to know in order to visit them. I would thoroughly recommend checking them out for a few hours.

Day 6: San Cosme y Damian

Your ticket to the Jesuit ruins will also allow access to San Cosme y Damian, another Jesuit site which is located a 2-3 hour bus ride from Encarnacion.

This one is a long way away from the others, and there’s only one bus (a school bus) heading back to Encarnacion at 4pm every day. Make sure you catch this, because you won’t find a hotel in this quiet town which felt like a ghost town the moment the schoolkids went in for classes. Beyond the scarcely-visited ruins, there’s nothing to do here.

These ruins differ from the others because your ticket entitles you to a guided tour of two places. One is the ruins themselves, but before that you will be shown around a space observatory. The town was once one of the most important in South America for astrological research, and you can learn all about that, although your Spanish will need to be good to understand it.

The ruins themselves still have a functioning church. I didn’t understand everything my guide said, but he was keen to point out that almost every part of the church was either original, or relatively new.

San Cosme y Damian was my favourite of the three Jesuit missions, although you must get that 4pm bus at all costs. Otherwise you will have to hope Uber works and can take you all the way back to Encarnacion. It picked up a signal when I tried using it, although there were no apparent drivers nearby.

Day 7: Ciudad del Este

Last but not least, you should leave Encarnacion and head to Ciudad del Este, a rugged city which makes up part of the Triple Frontier border region between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.

I’ll be honest, this city is not the nicest, but there are two good reasons to come here.

One is the Saltos del Monday waterfalls. They are known as a budget alternative to Iguazu Falls. And yes, they aren’t impressive when compared to their near neighbour. But they are still pretty cool to see.

We had the whole place to ourselves, which definitely wasn’t the case at either Brazilian or Argentinian Iguazu Falls (the falls straddle the border between both countries, and both sides are worth seeing).

The other attraction here is Itaipu Dam, one of the 7 World Wonders of Civil Engineering. Not to be confused with the “official” world wonders such as Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal.

The dam is massive, and a mightily impressive engineering feat. I wondered how such a monumental structure could be built by mankind. It is also surrounded by countless electrical pylons which provide power to Paraguay.

Whilst it is possible to view the dam from the Brazilian side, I do not recommend this. It is free to do in Paraguay, but not Brazil.

You can book a tour by sending an email to [email protected] and waiting for them to confirm your spot.

Is Paraguay Worth Visiting?

It depends on what you’re looking for. If you just want to see major tourist attractions, then Paraguay is not for you. The Jesuit Missions, Itaipu Dam and Saltos del Monday waterfalls are Paraguay’s highlights, and whilst they are cool, they are no Machu Picchu or Galapagos Islands.

If you appreciate cultures however without needing to see any major bucket list destinations, then this is a country worth visiting. The Paraguayan people are friendly, and the country is home to many little-known indigenous groups, mostly spread across the vast Chaco region.

I even went to a village belonging to the Toba people, who speak the rare Toba Qom language and rarely understand Spanish, or even the Paraguayan language Guarani which is spoken widely in rural areas. The village had locals selling hunting bows and even an indigenous Jesus nailed to a cross. Christianity is part of their culture.

I would recommend more than one week in Paraguay if possible, as this will give you time to explore the remote Chaco which is also home to a lot of wildlife.

Is Paraguay Safe to Visit?

Paraguay is amongst the safest countries in Latin America. Crime is relatively low by regional standards, with the exception of a handful of hotspots including the border city of Pedro Juan Caballero. Asuncion is mostly safe but does have some dodgy spots still, such as the Chacarita slum and even Mercado 4.

I wrote a complete Paraguay safety guide which you should read for more detailed information on this subject.

Follow basic travel safety advice and you will be fine here. It’s a country with a growing expat community attracted by favourable tax laws and relatively low crime (by Latin American standards). If it’s safe enough to live in, then it’s certainly safe to visit.

What is the Weather Like in Paraguay?

Paraguay is mostly sunny throughout the year. Rain is rare, although it can be heavy when it does come. Snowfall is virtually non-existent.

Paraguay is a warm country, with Paraguayan winters comparable to European spring time. It can get cold in the winter, but not to the point where you will need a scarf and gloves.

Read more here on the best time for a trip to Paraguay.