Encarnación

Encarnación needs 2 days: touring the Costanera along the Paraná river, with its sandy beaches and artificial swimming areas, on one, and visiting the Trinidad Jesuit Ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site 30 km away, on the other. January-February coincides with its carnival, Paraguay's most important. It's inexpensive. It's known as the «Pearl of the South,» and its Costanera, built after the Yacyretá dam's flooding forced the reconstruction of much of the city, is today one of Paraguay's most modern, while the nearby Trinidad Ruins preserve one of South America's best-preserved Jesuit missions.