Asuncion
Jardin Botanico de Asucion Paraguay
Time spent: 42 days; 28 Jun 2025 - 9 Aug 2025
Elevation: 175ft (53 m)
Currency: Guarani
Lodging Cost: $19.47 per night; Airbnb
It means "I Love Asuncion". Love is a little strong. I liked it fine.
Arriving in Asuncion
It is a pretty straightforward issue getting to Asuncion. I'm pretty sure the airport here was the biggest in the country, but that is like saying a midget is the biggest animal in his house when it is just him and a couple of pet parakeets that live there.
Now, there are a couple of quirks you should know. I found flying to Asuncion was surprisingly expensive and trickier than most places to get to. I'm not really saying it was hard by any means; I just found very limited flights going in. I ended up having to take a red-eye and getting in at 5:30 in the morning. This made check-in a little difficult. My Airbnb host was nice enough to not charge me extra for getting there so early, but my building had a doorman who didn't get in until 8:00 AM, so I had a bit of waiting to do.
Another quirk here is the ATMs. Most ATMs in town only let you take out 1,500,000 Guarani ($247), but the airport ATMs do 2,500,000 Guarani ($412). When I need to use an ATM in a country that doesn't have a partnership with my bank, I always withdraw the max. If you are the same way, do it before you leave the airport.
I found that was more than enough cash. Paraguay doesn't have a huge street food scene, so I did a lot of shopping and pretty much everywhere accepted cards.
Personal Side Note: When I was in the Uber to my apartment, I saw a bunch of signs saying Green Day, one of my favorite bands, was coming to town and I definitely would have gone to that show. Turns out they were playing about 10 days after I left.
Call me picky, but I didn't like this pool table
6 weeks in Paraguay
Digital nomads and expats do like Paraguay because they have some generous tax policies, but for a standard tourist looking to do some exploring for a week, Paraguay is a pretty tough sell.
It is one of only two landlocked countries in all of the Americas (oddly enough, they do have a navy), and probably the least visited by tourists in all of South America. I did find it to be a highly authentic experience, if that counts for anything.
One interesting thing is that while most South American countries have, for the most part, marginalized their indigenous populations, Paraguay is an exception. About 90% of the non-indigenous population speaks Guarani, the original language of the area.
Also, because safety is always a concern, it is worth noting that Paraguay has the best travel rating that the U.S. Travel Advisories website gives. Which is a good thing, because what the place lacked in tourist spots, it made up for in bars and pool halls. There were plenty of those around me.
Oddly enough, Paraguay seemed to love German beer. That is mostly what was sold in bars and supermarkets, but if you weren't a fan there were always a couple of other options.
Food
As I said, there aren't a ton of major tourist sights to tick off here, so my daily activities mostly revolved around exploring and eating. I stayed pretty close to Mercado 4 and ended up going there constantly. It’s weird, I hate being shoulder to shoulder at a place like Disneyland, but I love navigating a bustling local market. I'd go just to stretch my legs, people watch, and grab lunch from the local vendors. It was also one of the few places in town where I actually saw street food being served.
Outside the market, the culinary scene in Paraguay is interesting in the fact that it isn't really that interesting at all, and I mean that in the best way possible. It is what most tourists would consider pretty "safe."
Unlike in many neighboring countries where local menus can feel completely foreign, I found it much easier here to find my favorite foods from back home.
Take a simple omelet, for example. It sounds strange to highlight something so basic, but finding a proper, classic omelet is surprisingly tough around South America.
But then I found Lido Bar.
Lido Bar is a local institution in Asunción. It is set up like a classic '50s American diner, complete with a long, curved counter, but it doesn't feel like a gimmicky tourist trap at all. It is a genuine local spot that just happens to have an old-school style that works.
While they serve up mostly traditional Paraguayan dishes, they also happen to make a fantastic omelet. Just typing this out is making me realize how long it has been since I've had one that good.
One thing that is pretty common here that I love is that pretty much every type of sandwich, anything with meat and two pieces of bread, comes with a fried egg. It is so fucking simple and delicious. If I wasn't too lazy to fry an egg every time, I would put an egg on every sandwich or burger I eat.
Another thing that my friends and family from the South would like, but I didn't really care for was Sopa Paraguaya. It is one of the most popular foods here and it literally translates to "Paraguayan Soup", but it isn't soup at all. It is pretty much cornbread with a little cheese and onions baked into it. There are a few popular variations of it, but it's too dry for me.
Eggs can be put on anything, even chicken. Milanesa a Caballo, Milanesa on Horseback. Putting eggs on stuff means serving it "on horseback".
This is Chipa Guasu. It is almost like a quiche with corn in it. It was a perfect breakfast that I ordered a lot.
Chipa So'o. This was pretty much cornbread with meat in it. This was nice because it was really cold outside the day I got it and this was a nice hand warmer
Around Town
Plaza Uruguaya is a central park of sorts, but I found it a little sketchy. Just a few blocks up, though, there's another park, well, technically four mini-parks that take up the same footprint as Plaza Uruguaya, but each square has a different name. This place usually has a lot of food trucks around lunchtime.
Just northwest of here would probably be the closest thing to a tourist district that Asunción has, featuring some of the more upscale restaurants and shopping.
This area is where you will also find the Palacio de los López, the country's main government building. Take a few pictures there and then follow the road down to see the river.
Asunción has a long riverwalk, and here you will see the heart of it. There is a small beach called Playa de la Costanera. You can't swim in the water, but sometimes when the water level drops, there are boats that will take you across the river to explore some exposed sandbars.
Palacio de los Lopez. The seat of government. Where the president works, just not his actual house.
There is also City Park Costanera, a little carnival or mini amusement park at the riverwalk. You can't miss the giant Ferris wheel. It opens in the evening, though I never actually made it down there for it.
This little area is the most interesting part of the riverwalk, but it does go down quite a ways if you want to stretch your legs. One day while doing some exploring, I walked it all the way to the General Santos Roundabout, then went south from there into town.
I always try to look up tours to do, but it was pretty slim pickings here. There was a bird-watching tour I found, but it was almost $200. That was a pretty high price for the area, and considering I don't give a shit about bird watching, I didn't go.
Speaking of animals, they do have a zoo, but I'm not going to post pics or recommend it because I didn't think it was up to the standards that a zoo should be. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I thought the animals were mistreated or kept in awful conditions, nor am I a vegan zealot who thinks zoos shouldn't exist at all. I think zoos do a lot of good for education, raising awareness, and conservation; I just have high standards for animal welfare. I'd give the Paraguay zoo a B grade, but I consider the only passing grade an A+.
Instead of the zoo, hit up the "botanical gardens" next door. I put those in quotations because it isn't a true botanical garden; it's really just a big park. I heard there were wild monkeys there, but I didn't see any.
Artwork in Plaza Uruguaya
City Park Costanera Asuncion
Don't expect to be blown away by the views from the riverwalk
The beach. Playa de la Costanera. Give them a break, it is a landlocked country.
Chacarita
While Asuncion is generally considered a pretty safe city, there is one neighborhood that is fairly dangerous and should be a strict no-go zone for tourists: La Chacarita.
It also happens to be in a very unfortunate location. Running right along the edge of the city center down toward the boardwalk, it forces you to take a long detour around it to reach the water, because cutting through is definitely not an option.
If you look at Google Maps, it gives La Chacarita a much larger footprint than the area you actually need to avoid, showing it stretching all the way to Avenida Mariscal Lopez. That was the street I stayed on, and I felt pretty safe there.
A good rule of thumb for identifying the real boundary is if you are walking down a street and it starts dipping steeply downhill into a maze of... well, let's be polite and call it "informal housing," you should probably turn around.
Consider this sign red and octagonal shaped
One of the entrances to Chacarita
The view from my apartment
Asunción, Madre de Ciudades y Cuna de la Libertad de América. A 25 foot tall monument located in the Plaza de Armas.
Final Thoughts on Asuncion
I honestly can't say I'd likely ever come back but that is just because it is a really big world and I want to explore the rest of it first. But I can say I'd rather revisit here than a town like Cusco. In Cusco I saw everything I needed to see and going to a town like that is why you go.
Asuncion is a quiet, inexpensive town and would be great for a digital nomad to stop and recharge their batteries for 4 to 6 weeks. If after I finish this website and feel like I got a book in me to write, this would be a great town to work on that.
But if you are just a normal tourist taking a one week vacation, I can't really recommend it, even if you are one of those tourist who stay off the beaten path. It isn't bad at all. It just has a severe lack of things to do.