Is Paraguay worth visiting? An honest answer

Paraguay is for curious travelers, not stamp collectors. You will like it if you:

• Care about the history of the Americas: Asunción was founded in 1537 and is called the «Mother of Cities».
• Eat with curiosity: chipa, sopa paraguaya (a corn bread, not a soup), mbeju, vori vori and a good asado.
• Would rather talk with people than stand in lines: tereré is shared in a circle, and accepting a cup is an invitation to chat.
• Want nature without crowds: flamingos in the Chaco, waterfalls in Atlantic forest, Pantanal wetlands.
• Travel on a tight budget: it is one of the cheapest countries in the region (see our costs guide).

The Jesuit missions. Trinidad and Jesús de Tavarangüé (Tavarangue) have been UNESCO World Heritage sites since 1993. Jesús is a colossal church that was never finished: roofless, in the middle of farmland, and free of crowds.

Tereré. Its practices and know-how are UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage since 2020. It is yerba mate with ice-cold water and herbs, passed around in a circle.

Itaipú and the east. The dam has twenty generating units and 14,000 MW of capacity, and the tour is free with advance booking. The Monday Falls are close by.

The Chaco. Mennonite colonies such as Filadelfia, Chaco War fortines and salt lagoons with flamingos between June and September.

Asunción. A small capital, walkable downtown, with free museums, a riverside promenade for sunsets and the Museo del Barro.

Better to know before you buy the ticket:

• If you want Iguazu (Iguaçu) Falls. You can't see them from Paraguay: they are viewed from Argentina and Brazil. From Ciudad del Este you can cross the Friendship Bridge to Foz do Iguaçu; what Paraguay adds is Itaipú and the tri-border area.
• If you want a coastline or big mountains. Paraguay is landlocked: it has river beaches, like those of Encarnación in summer.
• If you need everything in English. Little English is spoken outside big hotels and agencies; Spanish and Guaraní rule.
• If you hate heat. From December to February Asunción goes above 35 °C.
• If you want everything organized for you. Distances to the Chaco are long and dirt roads get cut off by rain.

• 3 days: Asunción and the Lake Ypacaraí circuit (Areguá, San Bernardino, Caacupé). It is the most honest sample of the country.
• 7 to 10 days: add Encarnación and the Jesuit missions, plus Ciudad del Este with Itaipú and the Monday Falls.
• 2 weeks: you can add the Central Chaco or the north, where distances are long.

If you have to cut something, travelers generally drop the Chaco before Asunción. See the full itineraries to build your route.

Mercosur and associated countries enter with a national ID; the European Union, the United Kingdom and Mexico need no visa for up to 90 days, and the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are exempt by law until August 13, 2027. Check your case at migraciones.gov.py.

The airport is in Luque, 10-15 km from downtown Asunción. There are flights from Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Panama, Santiago, Lima and Bogotá, and Air Europa has the only direct flight from Europe (Madrid). From North America you connect through a hub.