Things to Do in Asunción, Many of Them Free

Many of the best things to do in Asunción, Paraguay, cost nothing. Every historic-center museum on this page is free to enter, and so are the city's Saturday walking tour, the Jardín Botánico gardens and a sunset walk on the Costanera. For a small fee you can add a short boat ride on the bay or a weekday visit to the Museo del Barro. The city agrees: "most of our museums have free access," said Alberto Vera, head of tourism products at the city's Dirección General de Cultura y Turismo, in July 2026 (translated from Spanish). Below you will find each place with its open days, its cost and a map link, plus a section on what stays open on a Sunday. For more places around town, see our Explore page.

Quick picks: the best things to do in Asunción at a glance

Short on time? Start here. Exact hours and prices are in the box above.

Free museums in the historic center

Seven museums and cultural centers in and around the old center are free to enter. Two of them open on weekdays only (the Museo Etnográfico Andrés Barbero and the Museo de las Memorias), so save those for Monday to Friday. For a day-by-day table covering every museum, see opening days for every museum.

Manzana de la Rivera and Museo Memoria de la Ciudad

Manzana de la Rivera, at Ayolas 129, is home to the Museo Memoria de la Ciudad, the city's history museum, in the Casa Viola. It opens every day, Sunday included, which makes it an easy museum to fit into a weekend. Entry is free. Map

Casa de la Independencia

The Museo Casa de la Independencia, on the corner of 14 de Mayo and Presidente Franco, is a 1772 colonial house where Paraguay's patriots secretly planned independence from Spain. Its rooms hold colonial furniture, documents, weapons and portraits of the independence leaders, including Fulgencio Yegros's sword. It opens Monday to Saturday and is closed on Sunday. Entry is free. On Saturdays the official page lists evening hours, but special days differ, so check before a late Saturday visit. Map

El Cabildo

The Centro Cultural de la República El Cabildo, on the Plaza de Armas, is Asunción's old Cabildo, now the Congress's cultural center. It opens every day, Sundays included, and entry and guides are free. Map

Panteón Nacional de los Héroes

The Panteón Nacional de los Héroes is on Plaza de los Héroes and is free. The official tourism site says it opens early every day and closes early on Sundays; a few listings say it is closed on Mondays, so check before a Monday visit. There is a guided service on Monday to Saturday mornings, a changing of the guard on Saturday mornings and a short flag-lowering ceremony every afternoon (times in the box above). Map

Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes

The national fine arts museum, at Eligio Ayala 1345, has a permanent collection of European and Paraguayan works that traces Paraguayan art from the 19th century to today, plus temporary shows. Entry is free. It lists opening days from Tuesday to Saturday. Sunday and Monday are not listed, so treat them as closed and check before visiting. Map

Museo Etnográfico Andrés Barbero

Weekdays only. Paraguay's ethnographic and archaeological museum is at España 217. It opens Monday to Friday and is closed on weekends. Entry is free. The museum lists city bus lines 8, 12, 23, 24, 30 and 56 for getting there. Map

Museo de las Memorias

Weekdays, by appointment. The Museo de las Memorias: Dictadura y Derechos Humanos (dictatorship and human rights) is at Chile 1066. Visits are on weekdays with a prior appointment, which you can request by email at ma.stella.caceres@gmail.com. Entry is free. Its phone numbers are in our museums guide. Map

Free art on Fridays and Saturdays: Museo del Barro

The Museo del Barro (Centro de Artes Visuales) is free on Fridays and Saturdays. From Tuesday to Thursday there is an entry fee, and the museum is closed on Sundays and Mondays. On the first Saturday of each month it offers a free guided visit.

The museum is at Grabadores del Cabichuí 2716, on the Ycuá Satí / Villa Morra side of town, a 5 to 10 minute walk from Ycuá Satí. We also feature it in An afternoon with art. Map

Free and low-cost guided walks (Asunción city tours)

Several guided walks cost nothing or very little. Most run on set days or as one-off editions, so check the next date first. The walks listed in English are the Viajero Tours walk and three walks on GuruWalk. We found no source saying the Asu Jeguata, Chacarita or Recoleta tours run in English.

Asu Jeguata

Asu Jeguata is the city's free walking tour of the historic center. It is open to the public on Saturdays; on weekdays it mostly hosts schools and groups. Recent editions left from Manzana de la Rivera, at the corner of Ayolas and Benjamín Constant, and the 1 May 2026 edition needed no prior registration. The city announces tour dates on its social media and in the news section of asuncion.gov.py, so check there before you go. Map of the usual start

Secretos del Palacio

Secretos del Palacio is a free guided visit of the Palacio de López. There is no fixed weekly slot: the city dates each edition separately, and in 2026 editions took place in March, April and September. Registration is required for every edition, through its event page on asuncion.live or by phone at (0983) 981-212. Registration closes when the edition is full or 48 hours before, and children under 13 must come with an adult. The meeting point is Plaza de los Desaparecidos. Along the route, QR stands carry content in Spanish, English, sign language and audio description; the language of the guiding itself is not stated. Map

Free walking tours in English

Viajero Tours runs a free walking tour with English departures from Monday to Saturday mornings. It takes about three and a half hours. Confirm the meeting point when you book. On GuruWalk, three walks are listed in English and Spanish:

• Asunción Historic Center Free Walking Tour, which meets on Paraguayo Independiente.
• Historical center of Asunción and the walk through downtown, which meets in front of the Panteón.
• Stories of Asunción: from the train of yesteryear to Bar San Roque, which meets at the main entrance of the Museo Ferroviario, in the Estación Central.

Another GuruWalk walk, Asunción with art and history, is in Spanish only. Booking costs nothing, but guides expect a cash tip at the end, so bring cash. The suggested amount is in the box above.

Loma San Jerónimo

Loma San Jerónimo is a barrio you can walk through at any time, at no cost. Guided visits are typically on weekends. The city lists a San Jerónimo circuit among its free tours but publishes no fixed times, so check before visiting. Map

Chacarita tours

In the Chacarita (barrio Ricardo Brugada), the city runs free tours with residents of the barrio on scheduled dates only. Recent editions, called Chacarita: Arte e Historia, were listed on asuncion.live, and registration is most likely through each edition's event page there. No next date is listed yet, so check before visiting. Map

Cementerio de la Recoleta

The Recoleta cemetery has two kinds of guided visit. Tour Necrópolis is free and runs three times a year: during Semana Santa, during the July holidays, and in late October or early November. The Mandu'arã tours run on some Saturday afternoons and charge a small fee, so they are not free. No next date is announced for either, so check before visiting. Map

Parks and green space

Check the weather before an outdoor afternoon.

Jardín Botánico y Zoológico

The Jardín Botánico y Zoológico de Asunción is free to enter on foot, and the garden opens every day. The zoo inside charges a small fee and is closed on Mondays. Casa López is closed indefinitely. You may see monkeys in the grounds: please do not feed them. Map

Parque Ñu Guasu and Guasu Metropolitano

Parque Ñu Guasu is a free public park, open from early morning into the late evening. Next to it, on Avenida Madame Lynch in Asunción, is Guasu Metropolitano, a 125-hectare park and nature reserve. Both parks are run by the public works ministry (MOPC) and close on some holidays and in bad weather. From the Ycuá Satí / Villa Morra side, Ñu Guasu is about 8 to 15 minutes by ride app. Map

Cerro Lambaré

Cerro Lambaré is free, and it has no official opening hours, so go in daylight. Since mid-September 2026, cars have been barred for work linked to the World Skate Games (2 to 18 October 2026), but you can still walk in. A ride app can drop you at the foot of the hill while cars are restricted. No date has been announced for car access after the Games, so check before visiting. Map

By the river: the Costanera at sunset

The Costanera de Asunción is a riverfront walk. It is free and always open, and late afternoon is when people gather to watch the sunset. Watch your step: in March 2026 ABC reported poor paving and open conduits in parts of the Costanera, and cable theft has left some stretches dark (reported in April 2026). Stay in lit, busy stretches. The bay is not for swimming: the environment ministry (MADES) says the Bahía de Asunción is not fit for bathing. Map

For a low-cost add-on, take a boat ride on the bay. Jaha de Tour en Lancha runs a loop of about 15 minutes every day. Boats leave from below the Mirador Turista Róga on the Costanera Norte, next to the Los López floating bar. There are no night trips (a Prefectura rule), so go before dark. Longer trips are priced by distance. Map of the departure point

For more on the riverfront, see our guide to the Costanera de Asunción.

Worth paying a little for

A few extras cost a small amount and are easy to add to a free day. No affiliate links here, only the published prices.

Mercado 4 and the Paseo de los Yuyos are free to enter. The city publishes no official market hours; one listing has it open every day, with shorter hours at weekends. From the Ycuá Satí / Villa Morra side, it is about 10 to 20 minutes by ride app. Map

Just outside the city: Museo CONMEBOL in Luque

The Museo CONMEBOL, the South American Football Museum, is in Luque, about 10 to 20 minutes by ride app from the Ycuá Satí / Villa Morra side of town. Entry is free. It opens from Tuesday to Sunday, including both weekend days, and is closed on Mondays. You can book a guided visit on the museum's website. Map

For a longer trip out of the city, see our guide to a day in Areguá.

What is open on a Sunday?

These places list Sunday opening:

• Manzana de la Rivera and the Museo Memoria de la Ciudad, open on Sundays too.
• El Cabildo, open every day, Sundays included.
• Panteón Nacional de los Héroes, open in the morning only.
• Museo CONMEBOL in Luque.
• Jardín Botánico: the garden opens every day, and the zoo is open on Sundays.
• The Costanera, always open, and the bay boat, which runs every day.
• Mercado 4, with short Sunday morning hours according to one listing.

These are listed as closed on Sundays: the Museo Etnográfico Andrés Barbero, the Casa de la Independencia, the Museo de las Memorias and the Museo del Barro. The Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes lists no Sunday hours, so treat it as closed and check before visiting.

Our museum opening-days table shows every museum day by day.

Once a year: Noche de los Museos and San Juan

Noche de los Museos is one evening each November when museums and heritage venues across the country open for free. The 2026 edition is on Saturday 7 November. The venue list and program have not been published yet; the 2025 edition had about 100 venues. Watch the official site and our Find a performance listings closer to the date.

San Juan festivals take place in June. The city's free Sanjuanazo is held in the Plaza de Armas (the 2026 edition was on Saturday 27 June), and many neighborhoods and towns hold their own editions through June and July. The traditional games use fire: walking on embers, the toro candil and fireballs. Watch them from a distance. Map of Plaza de Armas

A free afternoon in the old center (sample route)

On a weekday, three or four free stops fit into one afternoon:

1. Manzana de la Rivera and the Museo Memoria de la Ciudad.
2. Casa de la Independencia. It closes in the late afternoon on weekdays, so visit it before the Panteón.
3. El Cabildo, on the Plaza de Armas, if you have time for one more.
4. Panteón Nacional de los Héroes, arriving before the afternoon flag-lowering ceremony.

Times change, so check the box at the top of this page on the day you go. If you have a weekday morning instead, add the Museo Etnográfico Andrés Barbero, which is closed on weekends.

Getting around

Most places on this page are in the old center, about 9 to 10 km from the Ycuá Satí / Villa Morra side of town, or roughly 15 to 30 minutes by ride app. From that side, the Museo del Barro is a 5 to 10 minute walk, the Recoleta cemetery and Parque Ñu Guasu are about 8 to 15 minutes by ride app, the Jardín Botánico, Mercado 4 and the Museo CONMEBOL about 10 to 20 minutes, and Cerro Lambaré about 20 to 35 minutes. These are estimates, and traffic changes them. For buses, see how bus cards work. The Museo Etnográfico Andrés Barbero lists bus lines 8, 12, 23, 24, 30 and 56. For rides, see booking a ride. For parks, the Costanera or Cerro Lambaré, check the weather first.

FAQ

What are the top things to do in Asunción?

The free historic-center museums, the Museo del Barro on a free Friday or Saturday, the Jardín Botánico, and a Costanera sunset with a short bay boat ride. The quick picks table has open days for each.

What can I do in Asunción for free?

The seven historic-center museums, the Museo CONMEBOL, the Saturday Asu Jeguata walk, the Jardín Botánico garden, the parks, Cerro Lambaré and the Costanera. The Museo del Barro is free on Fridays and Saturdays.

What is there to do in Asunción today?

See Find a performance for dated events. For places you can visit any week, check the open days in the quick picks table.

What is open in Asunción on a Sunday?

Manzana de la Rivera and the Museo Memoria de la Ciudad, El Cabildo, the Panteón (mornings only), the Museo CONMEBOL in Luque, the Jardín Botánico, the Costanera and the bay boat. Several museums close on Sundays; see What is open on a Sunday? for the full list.

Are there free walking tours in Asunción in English?

Yes. Viajero Tours runs a walk with English departures from Monday to Saturday, and three walks on GuruWalk are listed in English and Spanish. Booking is free, but guides expect a cash tip. We found no source saying the city's Asu Jeguata walk runs in English.

Want company? See what is on this week in Find a performance or join a plan on Meetups.