How To Spend 72 Hours Travelling Around Paraguay
Time spent in Paraguay: 5 days/ 4 nights
Paraguay Travel Facts
Language: Guarani is Paraguay’s national language however, Spanish is the most widely spoken
The official unit of currency: Paraguayan Guaraní, some places also accept USD
Size of Paraguay: 112,492 km²
Capital of Paraguay: Asunción
Transportation
Travelling Paraguay is easy due to their good, modern road system. Bus travel is inexpensive, with numerous companies serving the main routes from Asunción’s Terminal de Omnibus. We used a combination of public buses and Ubers. The public buses have been cheap, clean and spacious. Ubers are great for shorter journeys and have averaged around £3 for a 20-minute drive.
Paraguay travel restrictions (valid as of 21/03/2022):
Travellers are allowed to travel around Paraguay with limited restrictions. The use of face masks is mandatory whenever you are inside a public space.
Visas & entry requirements
Residents of European Union countries, a large range of South and Central American countries as well as a few others don’t need a visa to enter. UK citizens do not. However, check with your local embassy before visiting. You also need a negative COVID-19 test result. Either an Antigen taken 24 hours before or a PCR taken 72 hours before.
Land border crossings with Brazil are open and international commercial flights are operating to certain locations. We flew into Asunción airport and had no issues with this. We had also read that you need your yellow fever vaccine and proof of travel insurance with Covid-19 cover. However, we weren’t asked to show either of these.
Looking to travel other South American countries? You might also like Ecuador Travel Guide: 10 Days Spent In Mainland Ecuador
Our Paraguay travel Route:
Asunción – 3 nights
Ciudad del Este – 1 night
Our 4 days travelling Paraguay
Ok, so technically we spent longer travelling Paraguay than 72 hours but, this is plenty of time to see what we did in the little, untravelled country of Paraguay. Especially if you’re a little short for time on your South America travel. We visited two spots whilst travelling Paraguay; the capital city Asunción and the town of Ciudad del Este; the border town of Brazil and home to the lesser travelled Monday Falls.
Read on to discover why you should add travelling Paraguay to your South America travel bucket list!
Asunción
Our first stop was the capital, Asunción. A fascinating under-visited city, a place which can only be described as a perfect juxtaposition of old meets new. The city is filled with decaying old buildings and uneven sidewalks. A fusion of cosmopolitan coffee shops and industrial-chic hotels. Plus, we even managed to find a few vegetarian restaurants hidden here! A totally different city to others we have visited whilst backpacking South America.
Where did we stay?
The main area to stay in Asuncion is Villa Mora. This is one of the modern areas within the city complete with shopping centres, restaurants and supermarkets. We stayed in an apartment around a 20-minute walk outside of Villa Mora as this area was out of our budget, especially when compared with other South American or Central American cities.
The apartment was lovely and had a balcony with a bbq on it, a rooftop pool and a gym.
You can book Departamento 1 habitación zona exclusiva here.
Top things to see in Asunción
Although there are a few ‘must-see’ places and things to do in Asuncion, most travellers (including us) usually find out one day is enough to see the best Asuncion has to offer. However, if you are looking for a place off the beaten track to relax for a couple of days then we would absolutely recommend Asuncion.
1. Loma San Jeronimo
A bit away from the city centre is the colourful neighbourhood of Loma San Jeronimo. What was once a poor, run-down area has now been regenerated to attract artists and tourists. Famous for its brightly coloured houses, colourful tiled stairs similar and artisan shops. The neighbourhood is pretty small so only takes around 30 minutes to walk around. Despite this, we really liked Loma San Jeronimo especially because it was one of few places in Asuncion which tried to proactively attract travellers.
2. Museo del Barro
Somewhere we didn’t actually visit but one that we have heard great things about since is the Museo del Barro found just on the outskirts of the city, where you can learn more about Paraguayans’ complicated history and the indigenous culture. The entrance is free and you can either take a taxi there or hop on bus number 28 or 30.
3. Costanera de Asunción
Despite being one of the only landlocked countries in South America this didn’t stop the little country from getting a beach! Playa de la Costanera. Costanera de Asuncion is a famous promenade where locals often come around sunset and leisurely stroll along the shores of the Paraguay River.
4. Go Shopping
Asunción is filled with upmarket shopping centres where you can find all sorts of clothes, electronic and homeware stores as well as an abundance of restaurants. One of the more famous shopping centres is the Mona Lisa Paraguay.
5. Look at all of the Graffiti in Asunción
Similar to Colombia, Paraguay also has a huge graffiti culture, and street art can be found around every corner. So, walk around Asuncion with your eyes wide open!
How to get from Asunción to Ciudad del Este
Next on our trip to Paraguay was the border town of Brazil, Ciudad del Este. Conveniently also home to the beautiful Monday Falls. To get here we headed to the main bus station in Asuncion, Alberdi, Ascensión, we booked the bus with Crucero Del Este. They cost us £9 each and took 6 hours. We got the 12.35 bus, they ran roughly every 2 hours but there was also another company that had buses running during the 2-hour gap.
Ciudad del Este
Known as the triple frontier the three border cities include Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina and you can easily cross between the three cities here. We started in Ciudad del Este, the border town to Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. We stayed here for one night so that we could visit Monday Falls and then cross into Brazil the following day. There isn’t much to see in the border town itself so one day here is plenty.
Where did we stay whilst travelling Paraguay?
There isn’t much in terms of hostels in Ciudad del Este however, there are some lovely looking hotels and a whole bunch of apartments. We opted to stay in an apartment and it was HUGE. Very empty but huge, good location and secure. All in all, it was great value.
This is called ‘Comfortable and well-located apartment in CDE’ and can be booked here.
Top things to see in Ciudad del Este
Monday Falls of course! Monday Falls pronounced mon-da-ugh, and otherwise known as Saltos del Monday is the name of the river where the waterfalls are located. The word ‘Monday’ actually has nothing to do with ‘Monday’ in English. ‘Mondá’ means ‘thief’ and ‘Y’ means water in Guarani, Paraguay’s official language.
Anywhere else in the world these falls would be all over Instagram and flooded with visitors daily instead, not many people have heard of them and when we visited at least, they were empty! The falls span 5 meters tall and approximately 120 meters wide and are truly breathtaking.
Getting to Monday Falls, Paraguay
We hopped in an Uber to Monday Falls, which cost us approximately £5 and took us around 25 minutes to get here.
Entrance to Monday Falls
Entrance costs $10 per person and can be paid in Paraguayan guaraní or USD. They do not accept cards here so make sure you withdraw cash beforehand.
There are plenty of trails you can enjoy whilst you’re here or head straight down to the waterfalls. As we were crossing the border that afternoon we didn’t have tons of time so opted to head straight to the waterfalls. It’s about a 5-minute walk from the entrance and then there they are! We enjoyed a coffee, right in front of the falls and walked around admiring their force. We spent around 1 hour here but, if you opt to do one of the trails as well then you could easily spend longer here.
That was it for our short, but sweet, time in Paraguay a country that doesn’t have tons to do in terms of tourism but one that has surprised us by its beauty. Brazil here we come!
