Central plaza
Red stone.
Josep M. Gracia — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Josep M. Gracia — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Josep M. Gracia — CC BY-SA 4.0
The ruins of the region's largest and finest Jesuit mission, founded by Jesuit fathers in 1706 to gather the Guaraní people into an ordered town, listed by UNESCO with the Jesús mission as World Heritage in 1993. The town was laid out around a broad central plaza ringed by a massive red sandstone building, long rows of Guaraní houses with stone arcades, a school and workshops for crafts and music. The missions were famed for their Guaraní musicians and craftsmen, until the Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish empire in 1767 and the towns were abandoned. Today visitors walk among red walls, arches, columns and stone carvings on wide green lawns, and learn the story of this unique experiment in the visitor centre. Some nights a light-and-sound show tells the tale. The site is large and exposed to the sun, so go in the morning or late afternoon. Paraguayan summers are very hot and humid from November to March, so carry water and a hat; winter is milder for sightseeing.
Red stone.
Stone arcades.
At night.
Trinidad town, about 30 km north-east of Encarnación
Yes, one ticket covers Itapúa's three missions and is valid 72 hours.