 | Flytrippers cofounder |
In early 2025, I went to Paraguay 3 separate times in 2 months. I first went with Caroline for 11 nights, and then I went back twice for shorter trips on my own from Buenos Aires. Each time, I visited the capital and largest city, Asunción. It is a booming city; I hadn’t seen that many cranes on the horizon probably since Dubai.
The steak is excellent and cheap, and we liked the city enough that I already know I’ll enjoy coming back. I’m sharing why I went 3 times (it’s a very unique situation) and what I actually did in the city.
I’ve been sharing many trip overviews, and I wanted to add one from the Americas. Flytrippers aims to help you travel for less through our 3 types of content, namely flight deals, travel rewards, and tips/inspiration/news.
Here’s the overview of my trips to Asunción, Paraguay.
Reason for my trips to Asunción, Paraguay
I’m sharing why I did these trips, to get straight to the point.
Here are the 2 main reasons:
- Visiting a new country
- Get my Paraguayan residency
Visiting a new country
Paraguay is very under the radar, so I was excited to visit. I like South America quite a lot, especially Argentina, and I figured its northern neighbor should be nice.
This was a new country for me (#91 on the UN 193 list), and also for Caroline (which is why she came along on the first visit).
I wrote about my goal of visiting every country earlier this year for more context.
Get my Paraguayan residency
This one is a lot more niche, but as a digital nomad with no fixed home, it is not that easy to have an official residency somewhere. I lost my Canadian residency when I started traveling full time and was out of the country more than half the year, back in 2018.
Paraguay is the country with the shortest physical presence required to keep residency in the world: 1 day per 365 days (they started to enforce that in January 2026). Their taxation regime can be very good as well.
I’m not going to walk through the whole residency process here, but let me know if that is something that could interest you in the comments below, and I could do a full article about that.
I now have my temporary residency and my cédula (official ID card). I should have only needed 1 extra visit after that first trip, but the paperwork was late because of the Canada Post strike in December 2024, so I had to go back a second time. I will also go back to Asunción in early 2027 for the yearly day required.
Itinerary of my trips to Asunción, Paraguay
I’m sharing the general itinerary of my trips, to give you the outline of the destinations I visited (maybe you saw them if you follow me in my Instagram stories).
Here’s my itinerary on a map.
On our 1st trip, we flew Québec City–Montréal–São Paulo on Air Canada and São Paulo–Asunción on GOL, then flew Asunción–Buenos Aires on Aerolíneas Argentinas.
On my 2nd trip, I flew Buenos Aires–Asunción–Buenos Aires on JetSmart.
On my 3rd trip, I flew Montevideo–Santiago–Asunción on LATAM (which I booked for just 12,500 Alaska Airlines Atmos points and 79.71 USD instead of incredibly high last-minute cash prices) and Asunción–Buenos Aires on Aerolíneas Argentinas again.
These trips lasted 15 nights across 3 visits, between January 14 to March 29, 2025. Canadians can visit Paraguay visa-free for 90 days.
I only visited 1 destination during those trips:
- Asunción, Paraguay 🇵🇾
- 11 nights (January 14 to 25)
- 2 nights (February 3 to 5)
- 2 nights (March 27 to 29)
Asunción, Paraguay 🇵🇾
Paraguay’s capital is a lot smaller than Buenos Aires, with 2.5 million inhabitants (a bit less than Vancouver), but it’s booming, with skyscrapers going up everywhere!
I did not leave Asunción on these trips. Most of my exploration was done on the first trip; the longest one, with Caroline.
On each of my 3 trips, I stayed at a great Marriott Bonvoy hotel I highly recommend.
Don’t miss the record-high welcome bonus for free hotel nights ending September 22!
I wrote a full review of the Aloft by Marriott Asuncion hotel.
On my 1st trip, we also spent 8 nights in an Airbnb, First Living. It was spacious, with a big balcony and a small rooftop pool, and I would stay there again. It was 39.6 USD per night (20 USD per person).
It’s in a great walkable neighborhood right by La Cuadrita, a nice walking street.
In the downtown area, we walked around the Palacio de los López and the Asunción sign.
We also saw Plaza Uruguaya, the Monument to the Constitution of 1870, and the National Pantheon of the Heroes.
We visited an interesting South American cemetery, Recoleta (although less famous than the Buenos Aires Recoleta).
Paraguay isn’t as famous as Argentina for its great steak, but Asunción is an amazing place for that too.
We ate at Patria Parrilla on La Cuadrita twice. A 600g tomahawk was about 12 USD per person in January 2025. The full meal with potatoes and a good bottle of wine was 420000 PYG. That is now cheaper than Argentina without the blue dollar (the black market currency rate).
We had breakfast once at El Café de Acá (Los Laureles) and it was great.
We also had great empanadas at La Vienesa in Shopping Mariscal, and we liked Kaffe’i Coffee Roasters and Anga Café Arte Bar for coffee during our downtown exploration.
We went to 2 digital nomad and expat meetups and met some cool people. There was a lot going on in that scene. Not as much as Buenos Aires, but it seems to be growing fast here.
I met some French people who were starting a tour business, and they showed me pictures of really nice landscapes to visit outside of Asunción that I will try to go to next time.
In February, once the documents were finally all done, I completed the process for my temporary residency (everything could be done in 1 day then). In March, once the residency was all processed, I got my cédula (official ID card).
Learning how to travel for less
Join over 150,000 savvy Canadian travelers who already receive Flytrippers’ free newsletter so we can help you travel for less (and inspire you, too)!
Sign up for our free newsletter
Sign up for our newsletter
Summary
In early 2025, I took 3 separate trips to Asunción. I explored the city with Caroline on the first trip, and then came back twice to get my official Paraguayan residency. I will definitely be back for the great affordable steak and for the yearly day I need to spend in the country.
What would you like to know about my trip to Asunción, Paraguay? Tell us in the comments below.
See the flight deals we spot: Cheap flights
Discover free travel with rewards: Travel rewards
Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration
Learn pro tricks: Travel tips
Featured image: Asunción, Paraguay (photo credit: Kevin Gagnon/Flytrippers)
