Fulgencio Yegros
An immigrant town with a one-of-a-kind diagonal street plan, a museum honoring Elvio Romero and liqueurs made from native fruits.
What it is
Yegros surprises you right from the map: nine by nine blocks with a central plaza, four satellite squares and diagonal streets converging on the center — a layout unlike any other town in Paraguay. It keeps its old railway station, with the water tank that once fed the locomotives and a replica steam engine. On the square, the Don Elvio Romero Library and Museum honors the poet born here and displays objects brought by the immigrants. Small-scale producers make liqueurs from native fruits and wines from grapes and yvapurũ (jabuticaba).
What to see and do
- The central plaza and the diagonal avenues of the town plan
- Don Elvio Romero Library and Museum, with an open-air display of ox carts, train wheels and the town's first power plant (1930)
- The old railway station, with its water tank and a replica locomotive
- Small-batch liqueurs made from aguai, loquat, banana and other fruits
- The Fierro Punta railway bridge over the Pirapó River
Did you know…?
It is billed as the only town in the country with this grid of streets crossed by diagonals.
Nobel laureate Miguel Ángel Asturias praised Elvio Romero's poetry for its flavor of earth, wood, water and sun.
Between Yegros and Yuty, the Fierro Punta railway bridge crosses the Pirapó River; its iron structure is more than a century old.
History
Yegros was founded in 1888 by German and Swiss settlers, later joined by families of more than twenty nationalities. It grew with the Carlos Antonio López Railway, which crossed Caazapá on its way to Encarnación. Elvio Romero was born here on December 1, 1926 — a poet exiled after the 1947 civil war, winner of the National Literature Prize in 1991, who died in Buenos Aires in 2004.
Tips
- Check the museum's opening hours at the town hall before you go.
- Combine Yegros and Yuty in a single day trip from Caazapá.
- Fierro Punta is out of service and has no tourist facilities: ask locals about access and don't walk on the bridge.
- There used to be a Liqueur Festival in December: ask at the town hall whether it's still held.
Don Elvio Romero Museum: confirm hours at the town hall.
Best time: April to October, when temperatures are pleasant for exploring the town on foot.
What to try
- Small-batch liqueurs made from native fruits such as aguai and yvapurũ (jabuticaba)
- Homemade grape and yvapurũ wines
Activities
Festivals and events here
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Researched and reviewed in September 2026 with 5 sources. A second reviewer checked dates, coordinates and lodging. Hours and prices may change.