Asunción

Asunción needs 2 days: touring the historic center, with the Palacio de los López (seat of government) and the National Pantheon of Heroes, on one, and the Costanera waterfront along the Paraguay river, with its bay and craft markets, on the other. April-June and September-November avoid the extreme humid heat of the Paraguayan summer. It's among South America's cheapest capitals. Founded in 1537, it's one of the continent's oldest cities and was for centuries the administrative center from which the expeditions that founded Buenos Aires and other Río de la Plata cities departed, earning it the nickname «Mother of Cities».