What's on in Asunción, Paraguay through the year

Quiet — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Summer heat (1 Dec – 28 Feb (usually))

Quiet — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, one of its worst months for weather

Nothing new starts in February.

Still on: Summer heat (1 Dec – 28 Feb (usually))

Busy — Semana Santa, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Semana Santa

  30 Mar – 5 AprEaster & Holy WeekClosures

  Thursday and Friday are the deadest days of the Paraguayan year: shops shut, the capital empties towards the interior, and Wednesday is spent making chipa in clay ovens with whoever is around. Source ↗

Busy — Semana Santa

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Semana Santa (30 Mar – 5 Apr)

Busy — Independence days

• Holiday

  Independence days

  14–15 MayNational holidayClosuresCrowded

  Two back-to-back public holidays for the 1811 independence, with parades downtown, flags on every balcony and chipa and sopa paraguaya everywhere. Government offices, banks and many shops close. Source ↗

Busy — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

• Festival

  San Juan Ára

  15–30 Jun · usuallyReligious feast

  Paraguay's favourite winter fiesta: fire games, walking on hot coals at midnight on the 23rd, the toro candil and plates of mbeju and pastel mandi'o. Plazas downtown and neighbourhood parishes host their own nights through the second half of June. Source ↗

Busy — Expo Paraguay, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Expo Paraguay

  11–26 JulMajor festivalCrowded

  The country's farm and industry fair takes the showground at Mariano Roque Alonso, half an hour north, for a fortnight each July: livestock rings by day, stadium-sized concerts at night, buses running late. Source ↗

• Nature

  Lapacho trees in flower

  15 Jul – 15 Sep · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  In late winter the city's lapachos flower pink and yellow before the leaves return, colouring avenues, plazas and the Costanera. The pink ones come first, the yellow later. Source ↗

Busy — Founding of Asunción

• Festival

  Founding of Asunción

  5–15 AugReligious feastClosuresCrowded

  The city's founding day is also the feast of its patron, Our Lady of the Assumption: a river procession on the Paraguay, a land procession to the cathedral and a municipal programme of concerts and fairs. 15 August is a fixed holiday. Source ↗

Still on: Lapacho trees in flower (15 Jul – 15 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in September.

Still on: Lapacho trees in flower (15 Jul – 15 Sep (usually))

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in October.

Shoulder season — an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Busy — Caacupé pilgrimage, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Hazard

  Summer heat

  1 Dec – 28 Feb · usuallyExtreme heat

  The met service runs heat warnings through most of the southern summer and the low-lying centre holds it after dark. Offices and markets shift their hours; the river brings no relief at all. Source ↗

• Holiday

  Caacupé pilgrimage

  4–8 DecNational holidayCrowdedClosures

  Route 2 out of the city fills with walkers for days before 8 December, most setting off at night to reach the basilica fifty kilometres away by dawn. Asunción itself is shut and unusually quiet on the day. Source ↗