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Ciudad del Este
City in Alto Paraná, Paraguay

Ciudad del Este

Ciudad del Este is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River.

Plan a trip to Ciudad del Este→From Encarnación

It is located 327 km (203 mi) east of Asunción, the capital, and is adjacent to the border with Brazil, to which it is connected by the Friendship Bridge on the Paraná River. It is the largest city within the Triple Frontier region, which borders Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil and Puerto Iguazú, Argentina. The Itaipú Dam, one of the largest hydroelectric power plants in the world, is near Ciudad del Este, as is Iguazu Falls.

Get in

Getting to Ciudad del Este

Crossing the borders can be a bit tricky. Sometimes, buses do not stop at the border. In this case, you need to go there first and get the entry stamp before taking the bus out. If you get in, you just get off at the border and walk the rest. Otherwise, you can always walk back to the border and do the immigration work. Nowadays, many nationalities do not need a visa and just receive a 90 days free to stay stamp.

  1. 01
    Terminal de Omnibus
  2. 02
    Guaraní International Airport
See

Worth seeing

  1. 01
    Itaipú
  2. 02
    Scale model
  3. 03
    Itaipu Museum Guarani Land
  4. 04
    Salto del Monday
  5. 05
    Three Borders Landmark
Do

Things to do

  1. 01
    Refugio Biológico Tati Yupi
Eat

Where to eat

Due to the premium placed on street-front property, Ciudad del Este's eateries and dining establishments are commonly found inside multi-leveled shopping malls and are relatively scarce on the main street of San Blas. As a consequence of considerable immigrant populations, Ciudad del Este has a diverse variety of ethnic food options that one can take advantage of.

  1. 01
    Govinda Restaurante Veg

    Abay.

  2. 02
    Gouranga Restaurant

    Av.

  3. 03
    Mister Burguer

    Av.

  4. 04
    Burger Star Ucraniano

    Av.

  5. 05
    Churrasqueria Recanto Tropical

    Av.

How locals move

Getting around Ciudad del Este the local way

  • Get inA couple of km south of Ciudad del Este, where Rio Paraná and Rio Iguaçu join, is a ferry crossing to Puerto Iguazú in Argentina without crossing Brazilian territory.
  • Get inThe ferry runs hourly during daylight hours for AR$5.
  • Get inGeneral Bernardino Caballero), take a bus labeled Tres Fronteras (destination, not the company name) and ask to be dropped at la balsa (the ferry).
  • Get inBoth countries have immigration facilities on their respective side of the river, so the ferry can be used not only for day tours but also for official border crossings.
  • Go nextThere is a ferry (balsa) to Argentina from Presidente Franco, just outside Ciudad del Este.
  • Go nextThe ferry costs GS.10,000 per person if you're on foot.

From Wikivoyage: Ciudad del Este, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Ezarate (CC BY-SA 4.0), Wikimedia Commons.