Salta to Asuncion by Bus (Clorinda/Jose Falcon Border)

My girlfriend and I struggled to find information whilst travelling overland from Salta to Asuncion by bus. Our full journey would take us from San Pedro de Atacama to Asuncion which meant starting in Chile, crossing through Argentina, and ultimately ending up in Paraguay.

However, it turns out you need to spend a night in Salta to complete this journey. And one leg of the trip was trickier than the other.

Taking the Salta to Asuncion bus route means travelling to the small Argentinian town of Clorinda first, and crossing the border into Jose Falcon of Paraguay.

We made the mistake of crossing on a Sunday, and it cost us a fair bit of money… So don’t make the mistakes we did. Here I will explain everything you need to know about travelling from Salta to Asuncion overland on a budget.

Flights aren’t cheap, so this is by far the best way for you to make this journey.

How to Travel From Salta to Asuncion by Bus

You will need to start your journey in Salta’s Terminal de Omnibus. Now if you want to head north and catch a bus from Salta to Uyuni in Bolivia, I’ve done that journey too, and written all about it.

To get to Asuncion, you will need to purchase a ticket to Clorinda with Via Tac. Frustratingly, they charge around 30% extra for card payments. They also cannot fit the card machine through the window which means they ask you to write down your PIN number and give your card to them.

For me, this was a big security no-no, so I refused and told them we would come back the following morning to pay in cash after exchanging our US dollars for pesos.

The bus to Clorinda costs £45/US$59 if paying in cash, it leaves at 6pm daily and takes 16 hours, arriving at 10am the following day.

It costs around £59/US$77 when paying by card.

Oddly enough, the bus doesn’t drop you off at the terminal despite Clorinda being the last stop on the route. Instead you will be dropped off in the south of the town, where the red marker is on the map pictured below.

You will have to take a 15-minute taxi ride from here to the border. The price is possible to negotiate, but should cost around £5/US$6. Otherwise you are looking at a 75-minute walk to reach the border, which is marked by the white dot on the map.

I don’t recommend walking given the very hot temperatures this part of South America often experiences.

After crossing the border (find out how in the next section), you will need to head to Asuncion. There are two ways to do this.

The cheapest is via colectivo (shared bus) costing £2/US$3 and taking around 2 hours to reach central Asuncion. They run at random times (welcome to Latin America) up until around 3pm.

However, they do not leave on Sundays, something we didn’t know until we happened to cross the border on a Sunday…

In this case, you will have to take a taxi for around £15 (US$20) to £20 (US$26), with the price varying depending on where in Asuncion your final destination is, and how good your negotiation skills are.

The taxi should take roughly an hour.

Option 3 is a brutal 5+ hour walk in the blazing heat, so I wouldn’t recommend that one. The colectivo is the best option, and the taxi is the next-best.

How to Cross the Border Between Clorinda and Jose Falcon

This border is a really easy one to cross. It took us around 10 minutes in the end.

From the taxi drop-off point, you will see some booths on the left. Ignore these.

Then you will have to walk for around 5 minutes and cross a yellow bridge. It will feel like you’re entering Paraguay without exiting Argentina, but that’s not the case.

As soon as you cross the bridge, you should see a building in front of you, again with several small booths.

Head straight to this building and get scanned out of Argentina. Then walk anticlockwise around the building and literally 10 seconds later you will find the Paraguay entry point. Get stamped in here and you’re ready to go.

How Much Does it Cost to Travel From Salta to Asuncion?

With one-way flights costing upwards of £150/US$195 to go from Salta to Paraguay’s capital, with a layover in Buenos Aires, the bus is by far the cheapest option to get to Asuncion.

If you do want to fly, and you have enough time to explore Argentina’s capital, check out how to spend 24 hours in Buenos Aires.

However, you’re probably here because you want to save money, and you can do a lot of that with the bus route. Here are all the costs you will incur on your journey:

Bus from Salta to Clorinda: £45/US$59

Tips for baggage handlers in Salta and Clorinda*: £2/US$3

Taxi from the drop-off point in Clorinda to the border: £5/US$7

Taxi from the Jose Falcon border to Asuncion: £15/US$20-£20/US$26

OR Colectivo from the Jose Falcon border to Asuncion: £2/US$3

Total: £67/US$89-£72/US$95 (Taxi from Jose Falcon to Asuncion)

Total: £54/US$72 (Colectivo from Jose Falcon to Asuncion)

*Tipping baggage handlers in Argentina is not compulsory, but they can get angry and even aggressive if you don’t do it.

I would say based on my own observations that around 70% of people gave tips for having their baggage placed in the hold.

Is the Bus From Salta to Asuncion Safe?

The Salta to Clorinda bus is as safe as any other in Argentina. You shouldn’t have any problems if you follow basic safety precautions.

I always lock my bags up with padlocks, including a cable lock which I use to chain possessions to my leg whilst sleeping on sleeper buses. It’s not comfortable but it’s an effective anti-theft measure. I have many more travel safety tips from years of solo adventures across the globe.

Argentina is one of the safest Latin American countries right now. Which means risks of theft are much lower than in other countries in the region. However, bus terminals and border towns do often carry a heightened risk.

Clorinda and Jose Falcon can be chaotic, with the border being notorious for smuggling of illegal goods.

On the plus side, the illegal goods are generally electronics rather than drugs (Pedro Juan Caballero is the most infamous drug smuggling location, and the dodgiest place in Paraguay which is mostly safe).

This means any shady characters in the area are likely to be tax dodgers rather than violent criminals who pose a threat to you.

The bottom line is that if you take precautions, you are unlikely to have any safety issues on this journey.

Is it Possible to Travel From San Pedro de Atacama to Asuncion by Bus?

Not many people travel overland from San Pedro de Atacama to Asuncion, which means there isn’t much information available online.

But we worked out a way. You have to go from San Pedro de Atacama to Salta first. There are direct buses running with two companies.

Andesmar buses are the more expensive of the two. They leave daily at 7:30am and cost 58,000 Chilean pesos (£47/US$61)

Pullman is the budget option, costing 50,000 Chilean pesos (£41/US$53) and leaving an hour later at 8:30am daily.

The journey can be a bit bumpy, winding through the mountains which will expose you to altitude. You can expect to take around 1-2 hours crossing the Chile/Argentina border, and there is a small chance you will feel rough with the altitude.

Once you get to Salta after around 10 hours on the road, simply follow the rest of this guide and you will be able to get to Asuncion from there.

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