There is a wide choice of restaurants in Asunción, most with table service.

Things to know: There are no strict licensing hours and alcohol is widely available.

National specialities:
• Chipas (maize bread flavoured with egg and cheese).
• Sopa paraguaya (soup of mashed corn, cheese, milk and onions).
• Soo-yosopy (a soup of cornmeal and ground beef).
• Palmitos (palm hearts).
• Surubí (a fish found in the Paraná).

National drinks:
• Mosto (sugar cane juice).
• Caña (alcoholic version of mosto, distilled from sugar cane and honey).
• Yerba maté (tea-like drink brewed from dried leaves and stemlets for the Yerba maté tree, can be taken hot or cold).

Legal drinking age: 18.

Tipping: 10 to 15% is normally included in hotel, restaurant and bar bills.

In Asunción, there are numerous bars, casinos and discos. The parrilladas (open-air restaurants) offer by far the best atmosphere, especially in Asunción. There is a casino at the border towns of Ciudad del Este and Encarnación. The most popular traditional music types in Paraguay are polcas and guaranías, which have slow and romantic rhythms and which are used as serenades.

There are some modern shopping centres in the capital. A popular shopping street is the Calle Palma. Special purchases include ñandutí lace, made by the women of Itagua, and aopoí sports shirts, made in a variety of colours and designs. Other items include leather goods, wood handicrafts, silver yerba maté cups and native jewellery.

Shopping hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1200 and 1500-1900 and Sat 0730-1300.