How to Get Around Paraguay

Long-distance buses are the transport system and they are good. Comfortable overnight services connect Asunción with Encarnación, Ciudad del Este and Concepción, and cost remarkably little. There is no useful passenger rail.

Roads in the east are paved and in reasonable condition. The Chaco is a different proposition: the Ruta Transchaco is paved as far as the Mennonite colonies and largely unpaved beyond, and after rain it becomes impassable to anything without proper clearance. Do not attempt the deep Chaco without a 4x4, spare fuel, water and someone who knows the road.

Renting a car is worth it for the Jesuit mission circuit and the craft towns, where buses are slow and infrequent.

In Asunción, ride-hailing apps work and are cheap. City buses are frequent, crowded and cash-only, and the routes are not obvious to a newcomer.

Ciudad del Este sits on the tri-border with Brazil and Argentina, twenty minutes from the Iguazú Falls on the Brazilian side. The crossing is busy; get your exit and entry stamps rather than assuming a day trip does not need them.