Formosa, founded by Luis Jorge Fontana in 1879, is situated on the banks of the Rio Paraguay and serves as a port for the province of Formosa. It takes its name from the old Spanish word fermosa, which has since become hermosa (beautiful).

The town has a couple of museums including the Museo Historico Regional Juan Pablo Duffard housed in the former residence of General Ignacio Fotheringham, an English-born governor of the Formosa territory. In July the town stages the Fiesta de la Virgin de la Catedral and in November it hosts the Fiesta Nacional del Rio with folk concerts and street parades.

Some 160 km north of the city is the Parque Nacional Rio Pilcomayo which borders Paraguay. The park was created to protect an extensive area of wet chaco and its wetland ecosystem. Or some 300 km northeast of Formosa is the Banado La Estrella, an ornithologist’s paradise. And less than 80 km to the west is the old Franciscan mission of San Francisco de Laishi in the tiny village of the same name.