Best Day Trips from Asunción, Paraguay (2026 Guide)

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Photo: Caacupé. Signals / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Asunción’s secret weapon is what’s around it. Within an hour or so you can be buying lace in the town that invented it, eating strawberries by a lake, standing in a baroque church built by Franciscan missions or sipping caipirinhas in Paraguay’s summer party town. Here are the day trips worth your time, ranked by how hard we would fight to fit them in.

The quick answer: if you have one free day, do the lake loop: Areguá for ceramics, Itauguá for ñandutí, San Bernardino for lunch by Lake Ypacaraí and Caacupé for the basilica. A driver or guided tour makes it easy. For the Jesuit missions or Iguazú Falls, plan at least one night away.

Easy half-day and day trips

1. Areguá (about 31 km)

Colonial streets, pottery workshops, a hilltop church and the Strawberry Expo in winter. Our favorite. Full guide: Areguá day trip.

2. Itauguá (about 30 km)

The capital of ñandutí lace. Shop directly from makers. Full guide: ñandutí and Itauguá.

3. San Bernardino and Lake Ypacaraí (about 48 km)

The summer town on the lake, with long lunches and sunset views (no swimming, sadly). Full guide: San Bernardino.

4. Caacupé

Home of the Basilica of Our Lady of Caacupé, Paraguay’s most important pilgrimage site. On 8 December the town fills with pilgrims, many of whom walk from Asunción. Visit any other day for a calm look at the huge basilica.

5. Luque

Silver filigree jewelry and instrument makers, right by the airport. Perfect on your way in or out. Full guide: Luque filigree.

6. Yaguarón

South of Asunción, this town is famous for its 18th-century Franciscan church of San Buenaventura, with a richly painted and carved interior. A must for architecture lovers.

7. Eusebio Ayala

The chipa capital, with roadside stands selling Paraguay’s cheese bread. See our chipa guide.

8. Ybycuí National Park

Forest, streams and waterfalls, plus the ruins of a 19th-century iron foundry. Further away, so leave early.

The Circuito de Oro

The “Golden Circuit” is Paraguay’s classic road loop through the towns east and south of Asunción, including several of the stops above. Tour operators sell it as a full-day trip. It is a lot of driving for one day, so we prefer to split it in two: the lake towns one day, Yaguarón and the south another.

Longer trips worth an overnight

Jesuit Missions of Trinidad and Jesús: UNESCO World Heritage ruins near Encarnación, around 370 km away. Plan two days. See our Jesuit missions guide.
Iguazú Falls: via Ciudad del Este. Plan two to three days. See Asunción to Iguazú.

How to get around

Driver or tour: the easiest and most efficient option for combining towns.
Ride-hailing apps: fine for one town at a time, but check return availability.
Rental car: doable, but traffic leaving Asunción is heavy, and avoid driving at night outside the city.
Buses: cheap and frequent, but slow and not always comfortable.

Road-trip essentials

Travel-size skincare and SPF for long, hot days on the road, curated on ShopMy.

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FAQ

What is the best day trip from Asunción?

Areguá, ideally combined with Itauguá and San Bernardino.

Can I visit the Jesuit missions as a day trip from Asunción?

Technically, but it means around 10 hours of driving. Stay at least one night in Encarnación.

Keep reading

Tours and experiences in Asunción

See more Asunción experiences on GetYourGuide ↗ · Compare tours on Viator ↗

Some links on this page are affiliate links: if you book through them, Jet Set LatAM may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Researched in October 2026.

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The Best Day Trips from Asunción (and a Few Worth an Overnight)