Must-see
Del Puente Remanso a la frontera con Bolivia · Presidente Hayes
Ruta Transchaco (PY09)
A road trip of some 780 km through palm groves, marshes and thorny scrub, from the Paraguay River to Bolivia.
20 km2-3 days
Regions · Presidente Hayes · Boquerón · Alto Paraguay
The Chaco and the Pantanal
More than half of Paraguay's territory and very few people: the Chaco is a vast sky, thorny scrubland, groves of karanda'y (a native fan palm) and salt lagoons where flamingos spend the winter. This is where the Chaco War (1932-1935) was fought, and its forts and trenches can be explored today; it's where the Mennonite colonies thrive, with their museums, cooperatives and German cooking; and it's home to the Nivaclé, Enlhet, Ayoreo, Yshir and Western Guaraní peoples. In the far north, the Paraguay River opens onto the Pantanal, one of the largest wetlands on the planet.
What to see 47
Must-see
Filadelfia · Boquerón
Filadelfia (Colonia Fernheim)
The Mennonite capital of the Chaco: wide streets, pioneer and cooperative museums, and the best base for exploring the region.
470 km1 day
Must-see
Colonia Menno (distrito Teniente Irala Fernández) · Presidente Hayes
Laguna Capitán y lagunas saladas del Chaco Central
Salt lagoons deep in the Chaco where flamingos, coscoroba swans and hundreds of waterbirds spend the winter.
480 km1-2 days
Must-see
Boquerón (Neuland) · Boquerón
Fortín Boquerón
Trenches, cemeteries and a museum where Paraguay's victory in the Chaco War began.
500 km2-3 hours
Must-see
Bahía Negra (acceso por Madrejón) · Alto Paraguay
Parque Nacional Defensores del Chaco y Cerro León
Paraguay's largest protected area: dry forest, jaguars and Cerro León rising above the endless plain.
700 km2-3 days
Must-see
Fuerte Olimpo · Alto Paraguay
Fuerte Olimpo
A colonial fort from 1792 and three hills above the Paraguay River: the gateway to the Pantanal.
780 km2-3 days
Must-see
Bahía Negra · Alto Paraguay
Bahía Negra y el Pantanal paraguayo
The last Paraguayan town upriver: caimans, capybaras, otters and Yshir culture in the Pantanal.
900 km2-3 days
Asunción / Nueva Asunción (ex Chaco'i) · Presidente Hayes
Puente Héroes del Chaco
A cable-stayed bridge opened in 2024 between Asunción and Nueva Asunción, with a bike path and pedestrian walkway.
15 km30 minutes
Villa Hayes / Mariano Roque Alonso · Presidente Hayes
Puente Remanso
The 1978 bridge over the Paraguay River linking Mariano Roque Alonso with Villa Hayes and opening the door to the Chaco.
20 km15 minutes
Villa Hayes · Presidente Hayes
Villa Hayes
The gateway to the Chaco, half an hour from Asunción, named after a president of the United States.
31 kmhalf a day
Villa Hayes · Presidente Hayes
Museo Histórico Salvador Garozzo Simón Bouvier
Villa Hayes municipal museum with about 3,000 pieces: Chaco flora and fauna, war objects, sacred art and founding documents.
31 km45 minutes
Villa Hayes · Presidente Hayes
Embarcadero y mirador de Villa Hayes
A pier and promenade on the Paraguay River at the north end of the Villa Hayes waterfront, with 400 m² of rest area.
31 km1 hour
Villa Hayes / Limpio · Presidente Hayes
El Peñón del río Paraguay
A rocky rise on a small island in the Paraguay River, between Villa Hayes and Limpio, topped by a small castle.
36 km2 hours
Pozo Colorado (distrito de Villa Hayes) · Presidente Hayes
Pozo Colorado
The Chaco's great crossroads, where the Transchaco meets the road to Concepción: a must-stop for every traveler.
267 km1-2 hours
Teniente Esteban Martínez · Presidente Hayes
Reserva de Recursos Manejados Tinfunqué
Pilcomayo wetlands and a Ramsar site, ruled by marsh deer and waterbirds.
300 km1 day
Campo Aceval · Presidente Hayes
Campo Aceval, la «capital de los fortines»
A Chaco municipality with more than fifteen forts and Chaco War sites, including Gondra, Campo Vía and Pozo Favorito.
400 kmHalf a day
Puerto Pinasco (zona La Lota) · Presidente Hayes
Centro geográfico del Paraguay
The point of the country furthest from its extremes, deep in the Chaco: no marker or monument and hard to reach.
420 km1 day (from Pozo Colorado or Puerto Pinasco)
Campo Aceval (Colonia Falcón) · Presidente Hayes
Fortín Falcón (puesto de comando de Estigarribia)
A fort that served as Marshal Estigarribia's command post; it now has an access arch, a museum and a lookout.
439 km1 hour
Filadelfia (desvío a Filadelfia) · Boquerón
Centro de Interpretación del Gran Chaco Americano (CIGCHA)
The best introduction to the Chaco: history, wildlife and Indigenous peoples in a bioclimatic building ringed by samu'u trees, with SENATUR tourist information.
455 km1-2 hours
Neuland · Boquerón
Neuland (distrito de Boquerón)
The youngest of the Mennonite colonies: a pioneer museum, preserved native forest and the gateway to Fortín Boquerón.
470 kmhalf a day
Colonia Menno (cerca de Loma Plata) · Presidente Hayes
Fortín Isla Po'i (Museo Ruta Chaco Boreal)
The great Paraguayan headquarters of the Chaco War, now an interactive museum and the cemetery of those who fell at Boquerón.
470 km1-2 hours
Filadelfia · Boquerón
Museo Científico Jakob Unger
A Chaco natural history museum with birds, mammals, insects and Indigenous objects, grown from the collection of Jakob Unger and his son.
470 km1 hour
Filadelfia · Boquerón
Museo Hogareño Knelsenhaus
A 1948 house turned into a Mennonite home museum, with furniture and utensils of the Chaco's first settler families.
470 km30 to 45 minutes
Filadelfia · Boquerón
Museo Casa de la Colonia (Koloniehaus)
A 1933-1934 building raised by communal effort: it was the administrative seat of the Fernheim colony and is now its history museum.
470 km45 minutes
Filadelfia · Boquerón
Museo Industrial de Filadelfia
Agricultural and industrial machinery inside the Fernheim plant, with the 1957 refinery building as its centrepiece.
470 km45 minutes
Filadelfia · Boquerón
Museo al aire libre Ruedas Pioneras
A park at Filadelfia's east entrance with the settlers' first vehicles: the "Laurita" locomotive, the Mennonite cart and more.
470 km30 minutes
Neuland · Boquerón
Museo Histórico de la Colonia Neuland
Museum of Neuland's German- and Russian-origin settlers, with an old schoolhouse, machinery, instruments and pioneer clothing.
470 km1 hour
Filadelfia · Boquerón
Fortín Trébol
A park and cemetery for fallen Chaco War soldiers, about 5 km from Filadelfia; it supported Fortín Toledo's right flank.
475 km45 minutes
Loma Plata · Boquerón
Loma Plata (Colonia Menno)
The oldest Mennonite colony in the Chaco and home of its big livestock fairs.
480 km1 day
Loma Plata · Boquerón
Museo Histórico y Heimatmuseum de Loma Plata
The Menno Colony museum tells of the first settlers' arrival in 1927 and their coexistence with Indigenous communities.
480 km1 hour
Mariscal Estigarribia (zona Laguna Negra) · Boquerón
Fortín Toledo y Proyecto Taguá
A Chaco War fort that is now a refuge for the taguá, the peccary once thought to be extinct.
485 km2-3 hours
Loma Plata (aldea Osterwick) · Boquerón
Iglesia Osterwick
The first Mennonite church in South America, opened in 1932 while the guns of the Battle of Boquerón could be heard.
485 km30 minutes
Mariscal Estigarribia · Boquerón
Mariscal Estigarribia
The “military town” at the heart of the Chaco, a crossroads toward Bolivia and home base of the Transchaco Rally.
525 kmhalf a day
Mariscal Estigarribia · Boquerón
Iglesia San Miguel de Mariscal Estigarribia
A 1956 brick church of the Apostolic Vicariate of Pilcomayo, within the III Army Corps compound.
525 km20 to 30 minutes
Puerto Pinasco · Presidente Hayes
Puerto Pinasco
A former tannin port on the Paraguay River, where the idea for Friendship Day on July 30 was born.
527 kmhalf a day
Mariscal Estigarribia (comunidad Santa Teresita) · Boquerón
Arete Guasu en Santa Teresita
The great festival of the Western Guaraní: masks, drums and circle dances that bring the living and their ancestors together at Carnival.
528 km1 day
Loma Plata (zona Casanillo) · Boquerón
Museo Punta Riel (km 145)
A railway museum 70 km from Loma Plata: the old Fred Engen station and the story of the Troxler family in the Chaco bush.
550 km1 to 2 hours
Puerto Casado · Alto Paraguay
Puerto Casado (Puerto La Victoria)
A tannin town on the Paraguay River, with the old Carlos Casado factory and the railway that opened up the Chaco.
650 km1 day
Puerto Casado (La Victoria) · Alto Paraguay
Iglesia San Ramón Nonato (La Victoria)
A church from the tannin-industry era with a European design, carved images and bells bearing soldiers' pencil marks from the Chaco War.
650 km30 minutes
Mariscal Estigarribia (zona La Patria) · Boquerón
Parque Nacional Teniente Agripino Enciso
Dry forest, Chaco War trenches and silent nights in the far northwest of the country.
660 km1-2 days
Mariscal Estigarribia (frontera con Bolivia) · Boquerón
Parque Nacional Médanos del Chaco
Sand dunes, dry forest and the tragic Picada de la Desesperación, in Paraguay's remote northwestern corner.
700 km2-3 days
Carmelo Peralta · Alto Paraguay
Carmelo Peralta, entrada al Pantanal
A town on the Paraguay River facing Porto Murtinho (Brazil), gateway to the Pantanal and start of the Bioceanic Route.
716 km1 day
Carmelo Peralta · Alto Paraguay
Cerro Siete Cabezas (Cucaani)
An isolated 248 m hill, the highest point of the Carmelo Peralta municipality; to the Ayoreo people it is Cucaani, "the hill".
720 kmHalf a day
Fuerte Olimpo · Alto Paraguay
Catedral María Auxiliadora de Fuerte Olimpo
A stone cathedral on a small hill in Fuerte Olimpo, with views of the three hills known as Los Tres Hermanos.
780 km30 minutes
Bahía Negra · Alto Paraguay
Observatorio Astronómico «Niokit Owush»
An observatory in Bahía Negra inspired by the Yshir worldview: dark Pantanal skies and free entry.
900 km1 to 2 hours
Bahía Negra · Alto Paraguay
Parque Nacional Río Negro y Puerto Caballo (triple frontera)
Pristine Pantanal wetlands and the corner where Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil meet.
910 km1 day
Bahía Negra (río Negro) · Alto Paraguay
Estación Biológica Los Tres Gigantes
A Pantanal reserve reachable only by boat, named after the giant otter, the giant anteater and the giant armadillo.
940 km2-3 days
Getting there
From Asunción, cross the Remanso Bridge and take Route PY09 (the Transchaco highway), paved all the way to the Bolivian border: Filadelfia is about 470 km away (≈ 6 h by car). Daily overnight buses reach the Mennonite colonies in about 7-8 h. Fuerte Olimpo (≈ 780 km) and Bahía Negra (≈ 900 km) are reached via PY09 and PY15 (the Bioceanic Corridor) plus dirt stretches that close when it rains; there are weekly buses, SETAM flights on Wednesdays and a cargo-and-passenger boat from Concepción and Vallemí. Schedules change, so check before you go.
Best season
May to September (the dry winter) brings mild days, cool nights and passable dirt roads, with flamingos on the salt lagoons throughout those months. In the Pantanal, the dry season (July to October) concentrates the wildlife around the water. From November to March temperatures often climb above 40 °C and rain can cut off dirt roads. Key dates: Arete Guasu at Carnival, the Expo Rodeo Neuland (April-May), the Expo Rodeo Trébol (mid-August), Fuerte Olimpo's anniversary (September 25), Boquerón Victory Day (September 29), the Transchaco Rally (October 30 to November 1 in 2026) and the patron saint festival of Villa Hayes (second Sunday of October).
Cities
Festivals
Feb→ Mar
Arete Guasu of the Western Guarani
The Guarani “great festival”: masks, flutes, drums and circle dances that bring together the living and the ancestors.
IndigenousSanta Teresita (Mariscal Estigarribia), BoquerónFeaturedApr→ MayNeuland Rodeo Expo
Rodeo, parades, concerts and Brahman cattle in the youngest Mennonite colony of the Central Chaco.
ExpoNeuland, BoquerónMayChaco Pioneers Expo
Farm technology, machinery demonstrations and training sessions in the productive heart of the Central Chaco.
ExpoFiladelfia (Chaco Central), BoquerónAugTrébol Rodeo Expo
The Chaco’s great Mennonite livestock fair: rodeo, auctions, the Asadero Chaqueño barbecue contest and thousands of visitors.
ExpoLoma Plata, BoquerónFeaturedSepVictory of Boquerón (September 29)
Ceremonies at the fort where Paraguay won its first great victory of the Chaco War, in 1932.
CulturalFortín Boquerón (Boquerón), BoquerónOct→ NovTranschaco Rally
The country’s toughest and most iconic race: rally cars flat out on the dusty roads of the Chaco.
SportMariscal Estigarribia y Chaco Central, BoquerónFeatured11OctNuestra Señora de la Victoria · Villa Hayes
A procession along Avenida Mariscal López, horse events, torines (Paraguayan-style bullfights) and a family lunch on the parish grounds.
Patron saintVilla Hayes, Presidente HayesFeaturedRoutes
14 days
Asunción, the capital · Greater Asunción and Lake Ypacaraí · Cordillera and Paraguarí: hills, waterfalls and villages · Guairá and Caazapá: hills, colonies and legends · The Jesuit Missions and the South · The East: water, energy and borderlands · The Chaco and the Pantanal
The Grand Paraguay in 14 Days
From the lake to Guairá, the missions, Itaipú, and the Mennonite Chaco
5 days
The Chaco and the Pantanal
Mennonite Chaco and the Chaco War
Colonies, forts, flamingos, and the endless sky of the Central Chaco
8 days
The Chaco and the Pantanal
The Paraguayan Pantanal: Fuerte Olimpo and Bahía Negra
An expedition into the continent's largest wetland, with caimans, wood storks, and river life
6 days
The North: river, hills and history · The Chaco and the Pantanal
Historic North: Laguna Blanca, Cerro Corá, and Concepción
Where the Great War ended, the Pearl of the North, and turquoise waters
Where to stay
Eco-lodge · Bahía Negra
Estación Los Tres Gigantes (Guyra Paraguay)
Guyra Paraguay's biological station in the heart of the Pantanal, reachable only by boat from Bahía Negra; giant otters, caimans and hundreds of bird species.
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