The old town on foot
6 stops · 2.5 km · 3 h · almost all free · start at 8:00 to beat the heat · 6 stops
- Casa de la Independencia
- Panteón de los Héroes
- Cathedral
- El Cabildo
- Palacio de los López
- Manzana de la Rivera
134 verified places across Asunción · Paraguayan guides and the Forbes PY ranking · no Eater coverage
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there by bus, taxi or ride apps (MUV, Bolt, Uber). Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Asunción (Paraguay) brings together 134 hand-picked places: 53 attractions, 34 restaurants, 24 cafés and 23 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
6 stops · 2.5 km · 3 h · almost all free · start at 8:00 to beat the heat · 6 stops
6 stops · 4 km · afternoon · the river is at 2.33 m and the beach is back · bring water · 6 stops
6 stops · morning · 7:00 to 13:00 · small cash · Mercado 4 is a daytime thing · 6 stops
6 stops · full day · almost all free · Museo del Barro opens at 14:00 · 6 stops
6 stops · from 18:00 · walk between stops · book at Pakuri · 6 stops
Historic Centre
Francisco Solano López's marble palace, today the seat of the Executive, facing the bay.
Tip: You cannot just walk in: this is the presidential seat. The City Hall opens its 'Secretos del Palacio' guided visits in free timed groups through asuncion.live, and they ask for ID. What is free and certain: the floodlighting, which turns the whole facade gold as soon as the sun drops.
🚇 Historic Centre · steps from Plaza de los Desaparecidos
Featured in: Asunción Tourism and Culture Secretariat
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The white dome where Carlos Antonio López, the Marshal and the unknown soldiers rest.
Tip: Free entry, Tuesday to Sunday. The moment to catch is Saturday at 10:00, when the guard changes in front of the oratory. Shoulders and knees covered: this is a working oratory.
🚇 Historic Centre · at Palma and Chile, heart of downtown
Featured in: Asunción City Hall · SENATUR
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The Nuestra Señora de la Asunción cathedral, from 1845, with its silver altarpiece and its sacred art museum.
Tip: Guided visits run Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 11:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00, outside Mass hours. Ask at the sacristy: they open the silver chamber for you, which you cannot see from the nave.
🚇 Historic Centre · Independencia Nacional and Mariscal López
Featured in: Archdiocese of Asunción
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The old Congress turned into the museum that tells Paraguay best: Indigenous, folk and modern art.
Tip: Five museums in one building and entry is free. Go up to the second floor and step onto the balcony: you get the Palacio, the bay and the river in a single frame, without paying a thing.
🚇 Historic Centre · on Avda. República, facing Plaza de la Independencia
Featured in: Centro Cultural de la República
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The 1772 colonial house where the 1811 independence was plotted, with its historic alley.
Tip: Open Monday to Friday from 7:30 to 16:30 and Saturdays until midday: one of the few museums that opens early, ideal for starting the day before the heat. Do not miss the Callejón Histórico at the back.
🚇 Historic Centre · 14 de Mayo and Presidente Franco
Featured in: Casa de la Independencia · National Museum
Show on mapHistoric Centre
Nine restored old houses facing the Palacio: museums, a library, a courtyard and a café on one block.
Tip: Ask to go up to the Casa Viola terrace: that is where the head-on shot of the Palacio de los López everyone wants comes from, and you cannot get it from the pavement. Open 8:00 to 19:00 on weekdays.
🚇 Historic Centre · Ayolas and El Paraguayo Independiente
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
What Asunción looked like before the concrete, told with models, plans and photos inside a Manzana mansion.
Tip: One of the very few museums in Asunción that opens both Saturday AND Sunday (9:00 to 18:00). Save it for the weekend, when downtown shuts down almost entirely.
🚇 Historic Centre · inside the Manzana de la Rivera
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The 1889 theatre, with English ironwork and a horseshoe stalls, reopened after a long restoration.
Tip: The City Symphony Orchestra plays here for free several times a month and seating is first come, first served. Check the city listings the same day: it fills up fast.
🚇 Historic Centre · Presidente Franco and Alberdi
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The leafy downtown square, with its second-hand booksellers and the lapachos that turn it pink in spring.
Tip: The second-hand book stalls sit on the México side and open in the morning. The square has just come out of a long refurbishment: come by day, because at night it is still thin on people.
🚇 Historic Centre · between Eligio Ayala, México and 25 de Mayo
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The square facing the Panteón, with the craft fair and tereré stalls going all day.
Tip: This is where downtown gathers at midday: you buy a termo, they fill it with ice and you sit down. If there is a demonstration downtown it is usually on this square or on Plaza de Armas, so check before you go.
🚇 Historic Centre · between Chile, Palma and 14 de Mayo
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The esplanade between the Cathedral and Congress, with an open view over the bay.
Tip: Come at golden hour: the sun drops behind the Chaco and the bay turns orange. It is the best spot downtown to see the river without walking down to the Costanera.
🚇 Historic Centre · between the Cathedral and the Palacio Legislativo
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
Paraguay's Congress, a 2003 glass building glued to the old town and the bay.
Tip: You cannot go inside without paperwork, but the riverside pavement is the best place to understand Asunción at a glance: new Congress, old Cabildo, the bay and Chacarita below.
🚇 Historic Centre · on Avda. República, next to El Cabildo
Featured in: National Congress
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The 1861 station with the Sapucai steam locomotive inside: today a museum, not a working station.
Tip: No train has left here since 2012: this is the Railway Museum (Tuesday to Sunday). Fepasa has begun restoring the four facades, so expect scaffolding; the Sapucai locomotive and the covered platform are still open to visitors.
🚇 Historic Centre · Eligio Ayala and México, facing Plaza Uruguaya
Featured in: Fepasa / MOPC · ABC Color 07/2026
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The dictatorship's former Vigilance Directorate, today a memory centre on Operation Condor.
Tip: Open Monday to Friday, mornings, and entry is free. This is a place of mourning, not a museum of horror: keep the camera away in the cells and read the testimonies on the walls.
🚇 Historic Centre · Chile near Jejuí
Featured in: Museo de las Memorias
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The most imposing unfinished basilica downtown, with a huge nave and Italian marble.
Tip: Outside Mass it is usually closed: knock at the parish office, open Monday to Saturday from 8:30 to 11:30, and they let you in. It was never finished, and you notice that the second you step inside.
🚇 Historic Centre · Haedo and 14 de Mayo
Featured in: Archdiocese of Asunción
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The 1961 icon of Paraguayan modernism, the tower in every old photo of downtown.
Tip: You do not have to stay here: go up to the top-floor bar at sunset and you get downtown, the bay and Chacarita from above, with a tereré or a drink in hand.
🚇 Historic Centre · facing Plaza de los Héroes
Featured in: Asunción architectural heritage
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The house devoted to the author of Yo el Supremo and to Paraguayan literature, with an open library.
Tip: Open Monday to Friday and it charges nothing. Ask about the reading programme: they run cycles in Guaraní and in Spanish that are announced nowhere except on their own door.
🚇 Historic Centre · on calle México, downtown
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The house of guitarist Mangoré, the most widely played Paraguayan musician in the world.
Tip: One of the few Casas Bicentenario that open Saturday and Sunday. If there is a guitar recital you get in free: the room is small and sounds incredible.
🚇 Historic Centre · Cerro Corá between Tacuary and Estados Unidos
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The house of the creator of the guarania, the musical genre that defines Paraguay.
Tip: The guarania was inscribed by UNESCO in 2024 as intangible heritage. Here they explain why it sounds so slow: Flores invented it at 21, looking for a rhythm that was Paraguayan and sad at once.
🚇 Historic Centre · on Comuneros, downtown
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A public library with a courtyard inside the Manzana de la Rivera, open on Saturdays and Sundays too.
Tip: The best refuge downtown when the heat explodes or a storm rolls in: open 7:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and at weekends too, with air conditioning and no obligation to order anything.
🚇 Historic Centre · inside the Manzana de la Rivera
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The monument recalling that the expeditions which founded half of South America set out from Asunción.
Tip: Santa Fe, Corrientes and the second Buenos Aires were all founded from Asunción. Stop here for two minutes before heading down to the Costanera: it explains the whole old town.
🚇 Historic Centre · on Plaza de la Independencia
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The memory of the first railway in South America, opened in Paraguay in 1861.
Tip: Paraguay had one of the first railways on the continent and today it does not have a single urban train. The commuter line to Ypacaraí is still only a project: there are no works and no stations in service, however some maps draw them.
🚇 Historic Centre · in Plaza Uruguaya, Eligio Ayala side
Featured in: Fepasa · PY railway history
Show on mapCostanera Norte
The Costanera Norte park, reclaimed from the river: amphitheatre, bike lane and the best sunset in the city.
Tip: Come after 17:00: before that the sun is impossible and there is no shade. On Sundays it fills with families and their termos, and the bike lane effectively turns pedestrian.
🚇 Costanera Norte · on the Costanera Norte, next to the old town
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapCostanera Norte
The urban beach on the bay, which appears and disappears depending on how far the Paraguay river drops.
Tip: Today the river sits at 2.33 m and falling, so the sand is fully exposed. Check the level before you go: above 4 m the beach does not exist. It is for walking and photos, not for swimming.
🚇 Costanera Norte · down from Parque Bicentenario
Featured in: DMH · reading of 07/11/2026
Show on mapLoma San Jerónimo
The oldest neighbourhood in Asunción, painted in colours, with stairways and kitchens looking over the bay.
Tip: Go up by day and by the main stairway, which is the one set up for visitors. The neighbourhood kitchens serve chipa guasu and mbeju at lunchtime: that is the plan here, not the photos.
🚇 Loma San Jerónimo · on the hill, west of the old town
Featured in: Asunción City Hall · Tourism
Show on mapRicardo Brugada · Chacarita · Chacarita
The historic neighbourhood at the foot of the Palacio: the Asunción that lives with the Paraguay river's floods.
Tip: It floods whenever the river goes past 5 m; in October it reached 3.01 m and today it is down to 2.33 m, so no families are evacuated. There is no such thing as a responsible 'poverty tour' here: if you want to go in, do it with a neighbourhood organisation, by day and without a camera in your hand.
🚇 Chacarita · between the old town and the bay
Featured in: Asunción City Hall (DGGRRD) · ABC 07/11/2026
Show on mapLoma San Jerónimo
The high square west of downtown, a natural lookout over the bay and Loma San Jerónimo.
Tip: A natural stop between downtown and Loma San Jerónimo: from the edge you see the whole bay and, opposite, the Chaco shore. Best early in the morning.
🚇 Loma San Jerónimo · west of the old town, on the way to the Loma
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapIsla de Francia
Paraguay's great museum of Indigenous, folk and contemporary art. Unmissable.
Tip: It opens in the afternoon, not in the morning (start around 14:00). It hides in a lane with no big sign: put the exact address into your GPS or the driver will drop you on the avenue and you will walk further than you need to.
🚇 Isla de Francia · Grabadores del Cabichuí, no sign on the avenue
Featured in: Centro de Artes Visuales / Museo del Barro
Show on mapHistoric Centre
Paraguayan and European painting and sculpture in a downtown mansion, with free entry.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Saturday from 7:00, very early for a museum: the best first stop of the day downtown, before the sun bites.
🚇 Historic Centre · Eligio Ayala and Curupayty
Featured in: National Secretariat of Culture
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The ethnographic collection of the Indigenous peoples of the Chaco and the Eastern Region.
Tip: It is small and free, and the attached library holds the most serious Guaraní collection in Asunción. It opens Monday to Friday only: do not save it for Saturday.
🚇 Historic Centre · on calle España, near Mompox
Featured in: Fundación La Piedad
Show on mapHistoric Centre
Guaraní-Jesuit religious carving and colonial silverwork in a restored mansion on Manzana Santa Clara.
Tip: Here you see the carvings of the Missions up close without travelling to Trinidad or Jesús. It charges entry and opens few hours: confirm by phone the same day.
🚇 Historic Centre · Manzana Santa Clara, south of downtown
Featured in: Museum of Sacred Art
Show on mapBotanical Garden
A whole museum devoted to the chair: design, craft and oddities, right beside the Botanical Garden.
Tip: Free and open Monday to Friday morning and afternoon, plus Saturday morning. Combine it with the Botanical Garden, one block away.
🚇 Botanical Garden · on Artigas, one block from the Botanical Garden
Featured in: MUSA
Show on mapBotanical Garden
The museum of fauna, flora and first peoples inside the Botanical Garden.
Tip: It is paid separately from the park, and the Botanical Garden charges per vehicle but not for walking in. If you arrive by taxi, get out at the gate and walk in: it works out cheaper.
🚇 Botanical Garden · inside the Jardín Botánico, north side
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapBotanical Garden
110 hectares of woodland above the river: the city's lungs, with museums and the López country house.
Tip: The park opens daily at 7:00 and walking in is free; the zoo is separate, opens few days and comes from years of controversy over the state of the animals. Go for the trails, the November mangoes and the Casa Alta, not for the cages.
🚇 Botanical Garden · north, on Avda. Primer Presidente and Artigas
Featured in: Asunción City Hall (JBZA)
Show on mapÑu Guasú · Ñu Guasú
The biggest sports park in Greater Asunción: lakes, a bike lane and a 4 km circuit.
Tip: It opens at 5:00 and locals use it at dawn, before the heat: by 6:00 it is full of people running with a termo. Bring water, because shade is scarce.
🚇 Ñu Guasú · Olympic Park area, on the way to the airport
Featured in: National Sports Secretariat
Show on mapMburikaó · Carmelitas
A neighbourhood park along the Mburicaó stream, with old trees and playgrounds.
Tip: One of the few parks in the centre-east with dense shade: at midday in November it is several degrees cooler than the pavement across the street.
🚇 Carmelitas · between Carmelitas and Mburicaó
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapCarmelitas
The square of the neighbourhood of the moment, ringed by bars, cafés and the Discalced Carmelite convent.
Tip: From 19:00 the square and the pavements around it turn into one single open-air bar. It is the most walkable part of Asunción after dark.
🚇 Carmelitas · between Avda. España and San Martín
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapCarmelitas
The Carmelite convent that gave the neighbourhood its name, a still point in the middle of the bar zone.
Tip: The contrast is the whole point: inside, enclosure and silence; across the street, the square with music. Go in before 18:00, when they close.
🚇 Carmelitas · Nuestra Señora del Carmen, Carmelitas district
Featured in: Order of Discalced Carmelites
Show on mapCarmelitas
A leafy square on Avda. España, the meeting point for the eastern neighbourhoods.
Tip: November is its best month: the pink lapachos and the jacarandas bloom together. In the morning there are farmers' markets on some weekends.
🚇 Carmelitas · on Avda. España, Las Carmelitas district
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A centre-west square with an open-air amphitheatre, much used for neighbourhood concerts.
Tip: It has its own amphitheatre: at weekends there is free music with no advance notice. If you walk past and the lights are on, go in.
🚇 Historic Centre · on Ygatymí, centre-west
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapRecoleta
An urban balcony over the stream valley, in the Recoleta district.
Tip: This is the lookout locals actually use and tourist maps ignore. Late in the afternoon it fills with people and their termos.
🚇 Recoleta · next to the Recoleta church
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapRecoleta
The historic parish church of Recoleta, beside the city's old burial ground.
Tip: The Recoleta cemetery next door is where a good part of Paraguayan history is buried. Visit by day and with respect: it is a cemetery still in use.
🚇 Recoleta · Avda. Mariscal López, Recoleta district
Featured in: Archdiocese of Asunción
Show on mapTrinidad
An 1854 church built on the orders of Carlos Antonio López, with its original frescoes.
Tip: This is the church where Carlos Antonio López was buried before the Panteón. It sits on the road to the Botanical Garden: fit it into the same trip.
🚇 Trinidad · on the way to the Botanical Garden
Featured in: Archdiocese of Asunción
Show on mapSajonia
The national stadium, in Sajonia: the pitch where the Albirroja has played since 1917.
Tip: It is still called Defensores del Chaco, with no sponsor name attached, unlike almost every club stadium in the country. On non-match days you can walk up to the facade and the Paraguayan Football Association museum.
🚇 Sajonia · Mayor Martínez and Alejo García
Featured in: APF · Conmebol
Show on mapBarrio Obrero
Cerro Porteño's Nueva Olla in Barrio Obrero: 45,000 seats and the loudest stadium in the country.
Tip: Its legal name is still Estadio General Pablo Rojas; 'ueno La Nueva Olla' is the commercial name from the bank's sponsorship. On derby days the whole neighbourhood shuts down hours in advance.
🚇 Barrio Obrero · on Avda. Bruno Guggiari
Featured in: Club Cerro Porteño · naming current 2026
Show on mapLas Mercedes
Libertad's ground, modern and compact, in the middle of a residential district in the east.
Tip: Plenty of guides get this wrong: La Huerta belongs to Club Libertad. The Antonio Aranda is in Ciudad del Este, and Olimpia's ground is the Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb, currently under construction.
🚇 Las Mercedes · on Avda. Mariscal López, Tuyucuá area
Featured in: Club Libertad · naming current 2026
Show on mapMariscal López
Where Olimpia's historic Para Uno once stood: today it is a building site for the new stadium.
Tip: It is on the map so you do not travel out here for nothing: the old Manuel Ferreira was demolished and even the historic portico came down in September 2026. The new ground is going up with the 2030 World Cup in mind. There are no visits.
🚇 Mariscal López · on Avda. Mariscal López, opposite the club
Featured in: ABC Color 05/2026 · Versus 09/2026
Show on mapLambare · Lambaré
The hill of chief Lambaré, with a 360° lookout over Asunción, the river and the Chaco.
Tip: It stands about 130 m above sea level and you go up on foot or by car. Go early or at sunset: at midday there is no shade at the top. From the summit you see the entire bay and the Costanera.
🚇 Lambaré · via Avda. Cacique Lambaré
Featured in: Lambaré City Hall
Show on mapMbaraka · Jara
A tribute to the harp, the national instrument, on one of the eastern avenues.
Tip: The Paraguayan harp has no pedals and is played with the fingernails: that is why it sounds unlike any other. To hear it live, traditional restaurants usually have a harpist on Fridays.
🚇 Jara · on Avda. Mariscal López
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapLas Mercedes
The open laboratory of the future Science Museum, with free workshops and activities.
Tip: Open 8:00 to 20:00 every day and it charges nothing. It is the best plan with kids in the city and almost no tourist leaflet mentions it yet.
🚇 Las Mercedes · General Santos 1030, Complejo Textilia
Featured in: MuCi Foundation
Show on mapBus Terminal
The coach terminal from which all of Paraguay and half the Southern Cone departs.
Tip: Buses to Areguá, San Bernardino, Encarnación and Ciudad del Este leave from here, all of them outside this map. Buy at the company counters, not from the people who approach you on the pavement.
🚇 Bus Terminal · Avda. Fernando de la Mora and República Argentina
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapLuque
The country's gateway, in Luque, half an hour from downtown.
Tip: There is no train and no rail transfer: you get there by taxi, by app or on the Línea 30 bus. Switch on your eSIM before landing, because the airport wifi is weak and the taxi queue is long.
🚇 Luque · on Avda. Silvio Pettirossi
Featured in: DINAC
Show on mapCostanera Norte
The bay of the Paraguay river, an urban ecological reserve and home to hundreds of birds.
Tip: It is an Ecological Reserve: at dawn you can spot herons, storks and, with luck, capybaras from the Costanera. The far shore is already the Chaco, a different department: do not cross thinking you are still in Asunción.
🚇 Costanera Norte · facing the old town and the Costanera
Featured in: SEAM · Bahía de Asunción Ecological Reserve
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The 1953 horseshoe counter facing the Panteón: the most photographed restaurant in Paraguay.
Tip: There are no tables: you sit at the counter and that is it. Order the fish broth (surubí) or a milanesa, with chipa guasu on the side. At 12:30 there is a queue, so go at 11:45.
🚇 Historic Centre · Palma and Chile, facing the Panteón
Featured in: Lido Bar · newworlder
Show on mapHistoric Centre
Open since 1960 and almost 24 hours a day: the downtown canteen that never closes.
Tip: It runs from 7:00 to 1:00 every day, so it solves both a very early breakfast and a very late dinner. The lomito and the sopa paraguaya are the safe orders.
🚇 Historic Centre · Estrella 399, downtown
Featured in: Bolsi · newworlder
Show on mapTrinidad
Rodolfo Angenscheidt's signature cooking, which rewrote modern Paraguayan food.
Tip: Lunch only Wednesday to Friday and dinner Monday to Saturday: book, because with that timetable it fills up. Take the tasting menu if you want to understand what Paraguayan cooking is today.
🚇 Trinidad · on Avda. Santísima Trinidad
Featured in: Forbes Paraguay ranking 12/2025
Show on mapHistoric Centre
Asunción's historic French restaurant, open since 1972 and still the place for celebrations.
Tip: The group has three houses (this one, Josephine and Maurice) and they are not the same: this is the downtown classic, white tablecloths and old-school service. A jacket is not required, but flip-flops are not welcome.
🚇 Historic Centre · Mariscal Estigarribia, downtown
Featured in: Forbes Paraguay ranking 12/2025
Show on mapPakuri · Villa Morra
Modern Paraguayan cooking over fire in a clay tatakua, inside recycled shipping containers.
Tip: The tatakua is the Guaraní clay oven: order something that comes out of it rather than off the griddle. Closed on Sundays and open only in the evening on Saturdays.
🚇 Villa Morra · on Avda. Mariscal López
Featured in: newworlder · PY food press
Show on mapMburucuyá
A contemporary grill with everything cooked over wood, in the heart of Manorá.
Tip: Open every day from 12:00 to 15:00 and from 18:00 to 00:00, rare for Asunción. Ask for a table outside: in November the evening holds up well until the storm arrives.
🚇 Mburucuyá · Prof. Emiliano Gómez Ríos
Featured in: Carmelitas dining scene 2026
Show on mapÓga · Las Mercedes
Produce-driven Paraguayan cooking in a converted house in Las Mercedes. Óga means 'home' in Guaraní.
Tip: The name says it: home cooking, done properly. Order the vori vori if they have it, the dish almost no modern restaurant dares to put on the menu.
🚇 Las Mercedes · Boquerón 594
Featured in: Las Mercedes dining scene 2026
Show on mapTáva · Historic Centre
A chef-driven canteen downtown, with a short menu and Paraguayan produce. Táva means 'town' in Guaraní.
Tip: Lunch Tuesday to Friday and dinner only on Friday and Saturday. It is the best lunch downtown if you want something that is not a lomito.
🚇 Historic Centre · México 453, downtown
Featured in: downtown dining scene 2026
Show on mapMburikaó · Recoleta
One of the longest-running fine restaurants in Asunción, with a garden and a long wine list.
Tip: The tree-shaded patio is the best open-air dining room in the city for a November evening. Ask explicitly for a table in the garden, because inside is not the same thing.
🚇 Recoleta · González Riobóo 737
Featured in: PY dining scene
Show on mapLas Mercedes
The Paraguayan chain of chipa, empanadas and traditional food, reliable at any hour.
Tip: This is the popular benchmark: chipa almidón straight from the oven, cassava empanada and cocido quemado. The cocido is made by burning sugar over embers and it is the real Paraguayan breakfast.
🚇 Las Mercedes · on Avda. Mariscal López
Featured in: Ña Eustaquia
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The downtown branch: an obligatory stop between the Panteón and the Cathedral.
Tip: Order chipa so'o (filled with meat) and a cold cocido quemado. That is what locals eat at 9:30 in the morning, not a hotel breakfast.
🚇 Historic Centre · one block from the Panteón, downtown
Featured in: Ña Eustaquia
Show on mapRecoleta
Brazilian rodizio with a parade of cuts and a buffet, an institution in the Villa Morra area.
Tip: Paraguayan beef comes from the Chaco and ranks among the best on the continent. Arrive genuinely hungry and do not fill up at the cold buffet: the picanha comes later.
🚇 Recoleta · Toribio Pacheco, near Chóferes del Chaco
Featured in: PY dining scene
Show on mapMburucuyá
A neighbourhood Paraguayan grill, with Chaco cuts and meat roasted on the stake.
Tip: Paraguayan asado comes with boiled cassava and sopa paraguaya, not with chips. Order it that way or they will serve it to you the Argentine way.
🚇 Mburucuyá · near Paseo La Galería
Featured in: PY dining scene
Show on mapPira · Recoleta
River fish: surubí, pacú and dorado from the Paraguay and the Paraná. Pira means 'fish' in Guaraní.
Tip: Grilled surubí is the dish you will not eat anywhere else. Ask what came in today: the catch changes with the river level, and the river is running low.
🚇 Recoleta · Avda. Chóferes del Chaco, Recoleta area
Featured in: PY dining scene
Show on mapLas Mercedes
A restaurant with a patio and a gazebo in a downtown mansion, a classic for long lunches.
Tip: The patio with the pergola is the reason to come. At midday in November look for the table under the mango tree: the shade drops the felt temperature by several degrees.
🚇 Las Mercedes · Avda. Perú 240
Featured in: PY dining scene
Show on mapVilla Morra
Reinterpreted Paraguayan cooking on Avda. España, with long hours and a busy bar.
Tip: Open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, including Sunday night, which in Asunción is a luxury. Order the so'o josopy if it is on as the dish of the day.
🚇 Villa Morra · on Avda. España
Featured in: Carmelitas dining scene
Show on mapVilla Morra
A Villa Morra classic with an international menu and a terrace that works all year round.
Tip: Open until midnight Tuesday to Sunday. The terrace is the November plan, but keep an eye on the sky: spring storms come in fast from the west.
🚇 Villa Morra · Avda. Mariscal López 4049
Featured in: PY dining scene
Show on mapManorá
Asunción's historic Chinese restaurant, on Aviadores del Chaco, with dim sum and lazy-susan tables.
Tip: Paraguay has a large, long-established Chinese and Taiwanese community: here you eat what they eat, not a softened version. Order dim sum at lunchtime.
🚇 Manorá · Avda. Aviadores del Chaco
Featured in: PY dining scene
Show on mapVilla Morra
A modern grill in Villa Morra, with Paraguayan cuts and plenty of outdoor tables.
Tip: Closed on Mondays and open for lunch only Wednesday to Sunday. Order the charcoal-grilled sweetbreads: it is what the next table is ordering.
🚇 Villa Morra · on Avda. República Argentina
Featured in: Villa Morra dining scene 2026
Show on mapVilla Morra
An all-day canteen in Villa Morra: breakfast, brunch, lunch and vermouth in one place.
Tip: Open from 9:00 until late every day: it is the answer to 'where do I eat at 16:30 in Asunción?', which in this city is not a trivial question.
🚇 Villa Morra · steps from Avda. República Argentina
Featured in: Villa Morra dining scene 2026
Show on mapVilla Morra
Serious Peruvian cooking in Villa Morra, with ceviches and river produce.
Tip: The local twist: they make ceviche with Paraguayan river fish as well as sea fish. Order the pacú one if it is on the board.
🚇 Villa Morra · Senador Long 325
Featured in: Villa Morra dining scene 2026
Show on mapMercado 4
Korean barbecue near Mercado 4, in the neighbourhood where the Korean community lives.
Tip: The area around Mercado 4 has been the Korean heart of Asunción since the 70s. Here you eat what you would in Seoul, banchan included, at neighbourhood prices.
🚇 Mercado 4 · one block from Mercado 4
Featured in: Korean community of Asunción
Show on mapLas Lomas
Everyday Paraguayan food: empanadas, chipa guasu, mbeju and sopa, all made to order.
Tip: The mbeju is a starch-and-cheese cake cooked in a pan, and it is eaten hot or not at all. Ask for it freshly made even if you have to wait ten minutes.
🚇 Las Lomas · on calle Lillo
Featured in: traditional Paraguayan cooking
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A market canteen in the old town, with traditional dishes at market prices.
Tip: Market canteens open early and close mid-afternoon. If you want to try bife koygua or caldo de pata, this is the place, not a restaurant in Villa Morra.
🚇 Historic Centre · Mercado N.º 1 area, downtown
Featured in: downtown home cooking
Show on mapHistoric Centre
Lebanese cooking downtown: the Arab community has been in Paraguay for over a century.
Tip: The Paraguayan lomito árabe — meat, vegetables and sauces in Arab bread — was born out of this community, not in the Middle East. Order it here and compare with the street version.
🚇 Historic Centre · downtown area, calle Chile
Featured in: Arab-Paraguayan community
Show on mapVilla Morra
Syrian cooking from Aleppo crossed with Paraguayan, in the Villa Morra area.
Tip: The Arab-Paraguayan crossover is one of the keys to the local table. Order kibbe and, alongside it, cassava: that is how the community eats at home.
🚇 Villa Morra · between Avda. España and San Martín
Featured in: Arab-Paraguayan community
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A veteran pub in a downtown mansion, with a patio and the best beer list in the old town.
Tip: This is where the people who work in culture stop. Patio at the back, well ventilated, and it opens at night: the plan after the Teatro Municipal.
🚇 Historic Centre · Cerro Corá 851, downtown
Featured in: downtown nightlife classic
Show on mapVilla Morra
A Paraguayan craft brewery with a kitchen, in the eastern bar zone.
Tip: Open until 3:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. Order one brewed with yerba mate or with Paraguayan mandarin: those are the ones you will not find abroad.
🚇 Villa Morra · near Chóferes del Chaco
Featured in: PY craft beer scene
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A vermouth counter with sharing plates in an old town house, open from late afternoon into the night.
Tip: It opens at 16:00 or 17:00 depending on the day and closes at midnight. It is part of the movement bringing nightlife back downtown, an area that for years emptied out at 19:00.
🚇 Historic Centre · Benjamín Constant 838, old town
Featured in: old town scene 2026
Show on mapRecoleta
Spanish and seafood cooking on Chóferes del Chaco, with a tapas bar.
Tip: This is a strip of new restaurants that has grown in the last two years. For two people, bar and tapas works out better than a table and main courses.
🚇 Recoleta · Avda. Chóferes del Chaco 763, Recoleta
Featured in: Recoleta dining scene 2026
Show on mapLas Lomas
Contemporary French cooking in Las Lomas, with the bar open into the small hours at weekends.
Tip: Tuesday to Sunday, evenings only. It is one of the few fine places in Asunción where you can genuinely dine late, European style.
🚇 Las Lomas · Lillo 2871
Featured in: Las Lomas dining scene 2026
Show on mapCarmelitas
A neighbourhood trattoria in Manorá, open from breakfast through to dinner.
Tip: It starts at 7:15 almost every day: an Italian breakfast in Asunción is a rarity. In the evening, fresh pasta and nothing else.
🚇 Carmelitas · Nuestra Señora del Carmen 1330
Featured in: Manorá dining scene
Show on mapMburucuyá
German and Paraguayan cooking at once, an inheritance of Central European immigration to Paraguay.
Tip: Paraguay has German and Mennonite colonies that shaped the local table: queso Paraguay, for instance, comes from there. Here that mixture is served without disguise.
🚇 Mburucuyá · near Avda. Santísima Trinidad
Featured in: German community in Paraguay
Show on mapRecoleta
Clay-oven empanadas on Avda. España, to eat standing and move on.
Tip: Order the cassava empanada, the genuinely Paraguayan one: starch dough instead of wheat flour. It does not exist in Argentina or Bolivia.
🚇 Recoleta · Avda. España 138
Featured in: Paraguayan home cooking
Show on mapChipa · Historic Centre
The benchmark chipería: chipa almidón, so'o and four-cheese, straight from the oven all day long.
Tip: Chipa is a national food by Law 5267/2014 and has its day on the second Friday of August. It is eaten hot and fresh: if it is cold, ask for another or go somewhere else.
🚇 Historic Centre · downtown, near Palma
Featured in: Law 5267/2014 · local chipería
Show on mapKosido · Jara
The real Paraguayan breakfast: yerba mate burnt with sugar over embers, topped with hot milk.
Tip: Paraguayan cocido quemado is on DINAPI's gastronomic heritage list (Res. 05/2018). Ask for it 'quemado', not 'cocido con leche', or they will bring you something else.
🚇 Jara · on Avda. Artigas
Featured in: DINAPI Res. 05/2018
Show on mapLas Mercedes
A home-cooking house and café with lifelong Paraguayan recipes, in Las Mercedes.
Tip: Order mbejú with cocido mid-morning. It is the combination locals make and that no international guide explains.
🚇 Las Mercedes · steps from Avda. Mariscal López
Featured in: traditional Paraguayan cooking
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A historic downtown bakery-confectionery, with medialunas, pastries and old-school coffee.
Tip: Paraguayan bakeries sell savoury and sweet side by side: order a cassava empanada and a pastry, which is the local combo.
🚇 Historic Centre · Juan Bautista Alberdi, downtown
Featured in: traditional bakery
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The original branch of an old-school neighbourhood bakery, in the old town.
Tip: Come before 9:00 for bread straight from the oven and the morning chipa. After midday what is left is what nobody took.
🚇 Historic Centre · Piribebuy and O'Leary 761, downtown
Featured in: traditional bakery
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A Paraguayan chain of medialunas and coffee, the quick stop downtown.
Tip: It is the Asunción version of coffee on the go: a medialuna, a café con leche and off you go. Cheap and everywhere.
🚇 Historic Centre · Mariscal Estigarribia, downtown
Featured in: local chain
Show on mapCarmelitas
The sourdough bakery that changed bread in Asunción, with specialty coffee.
Tip: Open 7:00 to 20:00 Monday to Saturday and the good bread runs out by mid-afternoon. The house sandwich is better value than the breakfast.
🚇 Carmelitas · Federación Rusa 1194
Featured in: PY bakery scene 2026
Show on mapVilla Morra
A neighbourhood bakery-café open 7:00 to 21:00 every day, with good bread and better pastries.
Tip: One of the few bakeries with long hours and Sunday included. Useful when everything else in Asunción is shut.
🚇 Villa Morra · Avda. República Argentina 809
Featured in: local bakery
Show on mapKaru · Las Lomas
A bakery and specialty coffee bar in Las Lomas. Karu means 'to eat' in Guaraní.
Tip: Open 7:30 to 22:30 Monday to Saturday and until 21:00 on Sunday. The longest hours of the new scene: good for breakfast and for a light dinner.
🚇 Las Lomas · Enciso Velloso 2870
Featured in: PY coffee scene 2026
Show on mapManorá
Specialty coffee with its own roastery, one of those that pushed the third wave in Asunción.
Tip: Open Tuesday to Sunday from 7:30 to 21:00. Ask about the Paraguayan coffee: the country is starting to grow its own again after a century.
🚇 Manorá · Agustín Pío Barrios 1333
Featured in: PY specialty coffee scene 2026
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A roastery and specialty bar in the centre-east, built around filter coffee.
Tip: Order filter, not espresso: the V60 is what they do best here. They sell roasted beans to take away, a better souvenir than a fridge magnet.
🚇 Historic Centre · Mariscal Estigarribia, centre-east
Featured in: PY specialty coffee scene 2026
Show on mapLas Lomas
A bean-to-bar chocolate shop using Paraguayan cacao, with a coffee bar alongside.
Tip: Paraguayan cacao is a small, very good product that barely leaves the country. Buy bars here: it is the hardest thing to find abroad.
🚇 Las Lomas · Félix Cabrera 1143
Featured in: PY bean-to-bar scene
Show on mapMburucuyá
Coffee and brunch with a patio in Mburucuyá, sharing its premises with a bookshop.
Tip: Open every day and it shares the space with the Literato bookshop: you can stay for hours without anyone rushing you. Shaded patio for the heat.
🚇 Mburucuyá · Papa Juan XXIII 1713
Featured in: PY coffee scene
Show on mapVilla Morra
Specialty coffee with plugs and wifi, designed for working, in the Villa Morra area.
Tip: Open 8:00 to 21:00 Monday to Saturday. It is the best place in Asunción to work a full day on a laptop without anyone giving you a look.
🚇 Villa Morra · near Del Maestro
Featured in: PY coffee scene 2026
Show on mapVilla Morra
Specialty coffee with a good brunch, open early on Saturdays and Sundays too.
Tip: It opens at 8:30 at weekends, when almost nothing else in Asunción does. This is the city's Sunday breakfast.
🚇 Villa Morra · right on the Villa Morra strip
Featured in: PY coffee scene 2026
Show on mapMburucuyá
A matcha and coffee bar in Mburucuyá, the newest bet on the Asunción scene.
Tip: Open 7:30 to 20:00 Tuesday to Friday and from 9:00 at the weekend. If you came for the tereré, this is the generational counterpoint.
🚇 Mburucuyá · Cáceres Zorrilla 923
Featured in: PY coffee scene 2026
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A courtyard café in an old town mansion, open at weekends too.
Tip: Open Saturday and Sunday until 22:00: one of the few things that works downtown at the weekend. The wisteria courtyard is the reason to come.
🚇 Historic Centre · O'Leary, old town
Featured in: old town scene
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The Teatro Municipal café, with tables outside looking onto calle Presidente Franco.
Tip: It opens around performance times. Have a drink here before the Thursday symphony and you walk straight in without the queue outside.
🚇 Historic Centre · next to the Teatro Municipal, downtown
Featured in: Municipal Theatre
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A historic Asunción ice cream parlour: the city's ice cream for decades.
Tip: Order mamón, guava or mburucuyá (passion fruit): these are the fruits from here and you will not find them in a European parlour.
🚇 Historic Centre · downtown area
Featured in: traditional PY ice cream
Show on mapMburucuyá
An artisan ice cream parlour open until 1:00 at weekends.
Tip: Open until 24:00 on weekdays and until 1:00 on Friday and Saturday. In November, with 30 °C at 22:00, that counts as a public service.
🚇 Mburucuyá · steps from Shopping del Sol
Featured in: PY artisan ice cream
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A bulk-goods store and café downtown, with yerbas, herbs and loose Paraguayan products.
Tip: Here you buy loose yerba and herbs for tereré without going to Mercado 4. Ask for menta'i and cedrón paraguay to start: they are the gentlest.
🚇 Historic Centre · Juan de Salazar 372, centre-east
Featured in: yerba and herb trade
Show on mapFernando de la Mora
A morning café and canteen in Fernando de la Mora, open from 6:30.
Tip: Open at 6:30 Monday to Saturday and closes at 15:00. This is the real Paraguayan breakfast: cocido, chipa and empanada, not toast.
🚇 Fernando de la Mora · on Capitán Rivas
Featured in: local café
Show on mapHistoric Centre
An all-day café and bar downtown, open from 8:30 until midnight.
Tip: It starts as a café at 8:30 and ends as a bar at midnight. Useful when you do not want to move between afternoon and evening downtown.
🚇 Historic Centre · downtown area, Estados Unidos
Featured in: downtown scene
Show on mapLas Mercedes
A neighbourhood café in Las Mercedes, open 7:00 to 22:00 every day.
Tip: Open seven days a week, Sunday included until 22:00. In a city that closes on Sundays, that makes it essential.
🚇 Las Mercedes · Ayala Velázquez 795
Featured in: neighbourhood café
Show on mapMercado 4
Asunción's mother market: food, herbs, clothes, electronics and the whole city across twenty blocks.
Tip: Go from 7:00 to 12:00, when it really works, and by day. Bring small cash, keep your phone away and your backpack in front: this is a living market, not a tourist fair, and carelessness costs. The City Hall runs free guided walks that start from the Paseo de los Yuyos.
🚇 Mercado 4 · between Pettirossi, Eusebio Ayala and Perú
Featured in: Asunción City Hall · Eju Mercado
Show on mapMercado 4
The heart of Mercado 4: fruit, vegetables, butchers and the yuyos (herb) stalls for tereré.
Tip: The Paseo de los Yuyos runs along República Francesa: the yuyeras crush the herbs in the mortar in front of you. Ask for 'pohã ro'ysã' (cooling herbs) and say what it is for: they will build the blend for you.
🚇 Mercado 4 · on Avda. Pettirossi and República Francesa
Featured in: UNESCO heritage 2020 (tereré and pohã ñana)
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The old town market: small, covered and far more manageable than Mercado 4.
Tip: If Mercado 4 feels like too much, this is the rehearsal: same products, a tenth of the size and five blocks from the Panteón.
🚇 Historic Centre · Fulgencio Yegros, old town
Featured in: Asunción City Hall
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The craft gallery of the old town: ñandutí, ao po'i, leather, silver and Indigenous ceramics.
Tip: There is no official seal certifying ñandutí or ao po'i: they are 'Patrimonio Artesanal Nacional' (IPA, Res. 50/2006), but there is no geographical indication. So ask who wove it and where, and look at the back: handmade work has irregular knots, machine work does not.
🚇 Historic Centre · calle Chile at 400, old town
Featured in: IPA Res. 50/2006 · Law 1.328/98
Show on mapÑande Yvoty · Historic Centre
Ceramics and art by Indigenous peoples of the Chaco and the Eastern Region, sold with attribution.
Tip: Here they tell you which people and which artisan made each piece. That question — who made this? — is the only real guarantee that exists, because there is no official seal.
🚇 Historic Centre · calle Chile 400, old town
Featured in: Paraguayan Indigenous crafts
Show on mapAo po'i · Recoleta
Contemporary ao po'i: the embroidered Paraguayan shirt turned into an everyday garment.
Tip: Ao po'i is woven in Yataity, 170 km away, and arrives here finished. Look at the embroidery from the inside: if the threads on the reverse are tidy and symmetrical, it was made by machine.
🚇 Recoleta · 23 de Octubre 437
Featured in: IPA Res. 50/2006
Show on mapVilla Morra
A permanent fair of Paraguayan crafts and products on San Martín.
Tip: Open 9:00 to 20:00 Monday to Saturday. More comfortable than downtown and with marked prices: good if you would rather not haggle.
🚇 Villa Morra · Avda. San Martín, near Avda. España
Featured in: Feria Asunción
Show on mapMburucuyá
Asunción's classic mall, on Aviadores del Chaco, with brands and a food court.
Tip: Paraguay has low import taxes, which is why people from Argentina and Brazil come here to buy electronics. It is also the obvious refuge when the heat outside gives no quarter.
🚇 Mburucuyá · Avda. Aviadores del Chaco
Featured in: Shopping del Sol
Show on mapMburucuyá
The newest and priciest complex: international brands, cinemas and towers on Santa Teresa.
Tip: The cinemas here are the best in the country and tickets cost considerably less than in Buenos Aires or São Paulo. A perfect plan for a stormy afternoon.
🚇 Mburucuyá · Avda. Santa Teresa and Aviadores del Chaco
Featured in: Paseo La Galería
Show on mapVilla Morra
A neighbourhood mall in Villa Morra, the most walkable one from the hotels in the area.
Tip: It is the easiest one to reach on foot if you are staying nearby. It has a big supermarket: a good place to buy yerba, a termo and a real guampa, not a souvenir one.
🚇 Villa Morra · Avda. Mariscal López 3794
Featured in: Villa Morra Shopping
Show on mapVilla Morra
An established mall in the east, with two blocks and plenty of local labels.
Tip: There is more Paraguayan branding and less international chain here than in the others: if you are after local fashion design, start with this one.
🚇 Villa Morra · on Quesada
Featured in: Shopping Mariscal López
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The downtown mall, with a shopping arcade, a cinema and everyday local shops.
Tip: It is the only mall in the old town and it has seen better days, but it has air conditioning, clean toilets and cash machines: downtown, that is worth a lot.
🚇 Historic Centre · Manduvirá between Chile and Nuestra Señora de la Asunción
Featured in: Mall Excelsior
Show on mapHistoric Centre
The historic department store on calle Palma, Asunción's commercial pedestrian street.
Tip: Calle Palma has been the commercial spine for a century and is pedestrianised in sections at weekends. On 21 November there is a special Palmear edition, with the street taken over from 11:00 to 20:00.
🚇 Historic Centre · calle Palma, downtown
Featured in: Asunción City Hall · Palmear
Show on mapManorá
Paraguay's benchmark bookshop, with the best selection of Paraguayan authors.
Tip: Look for the Guaraní section and the Paraguayan history shelves: the best souvenir there is. Roa Bastos, Josefina Plá and Rafael Barrett to start.
🚇 Manorá · Avda. San Martín, near Avda. España
Featured in: El Lector
Show on mapMburucuyá
A bookshop with a café in Mburucuyá, one of the loveliest in the city.
Tip: Open 9:00 to 21:00. It shares the premises with Café Urbano: you buy the book and read it right there, with the patio next door.
🚇 Mburucuyá · Papa Juan XXIII 1713
Featured in: Literato
Show on mapRecoleta
Paraguayan leather: boots, belts, bags and leather-wrapped mates, made in the country.
Tip: Leather is the other great Paraguayan craft alongside ñandutí. Ask them to show you the stitching from the inside: machine work is perfect, handwork is not.
🚇 Recoleta · Avda. Chóferes del Chaco, Recoleta area
Featured in: PY leather craft
Show on mapVilla Morra
An instrument shop where you can find Paraguayan harps and luthier-built guitars.
Tip: Ask about the Paraguayan harp even if you are not buying: they will show it to you and explain why it has no pedals. Open Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 20:00.
🚇 Villa Morra · Avda. España 1436
Featured in: Music Hall
Show on mapVilla Aurelia
A producers' fair with agroecological vegetables, honey and Paraguayan preserves.
Tip: A small producers' market: this is where you buy mamón in syrup, ka'i ladrillo and kosereva without the industrial supermarket version.
🚇 Villa Aurelia · on Doctor Félix Paiva
Featured in: agroecological producers network
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A downtown wine shop with spirits too, including Paraguayan caña and carrulim.
Tip: Ask for carrulim: caña with rue and lemon, drunk on 1 August to 'kill the bad month'. It is on DINAPI's gastronomic heritage list.
🚇 Historic Centre · 25 de Mayo area, downtown
Featured in: DINAPI Res. 05/2018
Show on mapLos Laureles
Everything for a Paraguayan asado: grills, tatakua, knives and accessories.
Tip: This is where you buy serious guampas and bombillas, not the souvenir kind. Open Monday to Saturday from 9:00 to 19:00.
🚇 Los Laureles · on Doctor Facundo Machaín
Featured in: local shop
Show on mapVilla Morra
An open-air shopping promenade on San Martín, with design stores and places to eat.
Tip: This is the format that works best in November: shops with shade and tables outside, without shutting yourself inside a mall.
🚇 Villa Morra · Avda. San Martín, near Avda. España
Featured in: Paseo Los Árboles
Show on mapMburucuyá
A shopping promenade in Mburucuyá with small stores, a café and an ice cream parlour.
Tip: Small and walkable, with the best ice cream shops and bakeries in the area all around it. A good mid-afternoon plan.
🚇 Mburucuyá · on Correa Myzkowsky
Featured in: Paseo Miraflores
Show on mapHistoric Centre
A downtown artisan jeweller, working with Paraguayan filigree.
Tip: Silver filigree is made in Luque, which falls outside this map; here you buy it in Asunción. Have it weighed and ask for the hallmark: there is no designation of origin backing it.
🚇 Historic Centre · Luis Alberto de Herrera, downtown
Featured in: Paraguayan silverwork
Show on map