Getting Around San Salvador
San Salvador is a sprawling highland capital where the main sights are spread across distinct districts, so most visitors mix taxis, ride-hailing, and buses rather than relying on walking alone. The city's street layout works against pedestrians: San Salvador is not laid out on a square grid but instead has long straight avenues crossed by irregular streets, and the distances between attractions are often too great to cover comfortably on foot.
Rail, Metro and Trams
San Salvador has no rail, metro, or tram network for visitors to use. Getting around the city is done by road, whether by bus, taxi, or private car.
Buses and Public Transport
Buses are one of the main ways of getting around San Salvador, and the city is served by four major bus terminals organized by compass direction, each shared by multiple domestic bus companies and cooperatives:
- Terminal Plaza Amanecer (east) — serves destinations such as Cabañas, Morazán, San Miguel, San Vicente, Usulután, La Unión, Ilopango, and Suchitoto.
- Terminal Occidente (west) — serves destinations such as Ahuachapán and Chalchuapa, La Libertad, La Perla, Santa Ana, San Juan Opico and Joya de Cerén, Sonsonate, Teotepeque, and routes toward the Guatemalan border crossings.
- Terminal Oriente (north) — serves destinations such as Chalatenango, the Honduras border at El Poy, and Colonia Escalón.
- Terminal de Autobuses del Sur (south) — serves the Pacific coast and southern destinations, including the airport at San Luis Talpa, Costa del Sol, Usulután, and Zacatecoluca.
For travel beyond El Salvador, international first- or deluxe-class (pullman) buses connect San Salvador with other Central American cities. These services typically offer reserved seating, movies, on-board restrooms, and air conditioning, with more deluxe classes adding extra legroom and attendant service for drinks and snacks. Most of these companies have their own terminal or an office or desk within a hotel in Colonia San Benito and/or El Centro.
Taxis and Ride-Hailing
Taxis are a practical way to get around the city. Negotiating the fare before you get in is common practice and expected, so agree on a price up front. Carry small denominations of money and have exact change ready: if you don't, drivers may try to treat the change as a tip instead.
Walkability
Walking is generally an unpopular option for covering the city as a whole, both because of the distances between sights and because of the street layout. That said, some areas are genuinely walkable — for example, the stretch from Zona Rosa to Las Terrazas (the Sheraton hotel), which are close together and within sight of one another.
Getting from the Airport into the City
Most visitors traveling by plane arrive at San Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez International Airport (SAL), also known as Aeropuerto Internacional de El Salvador, located near San Luis Talpa south of the capital. Options for reaching the city include:
- Airport taxis and transfers — Taxi Acacya offers limited colectivo (shared) services to several major hotels in San Salvador, and at other times a private taxi to a destination of your choice. Taxis Acopacific – Aeropuerto also provides airport transfers into town.
- Public bus #138 — runs between Comalapa and San Salvador's Terminal Sur bus station, just south of the city. To reach the stop, cross the parking lot in front of the airport terminal to the building on the other side (Airport Monseñor Romero Mall), go through its breezeway or open corridor, and find the stop on the far side. The bus makes multiple stops along Highway 5 and gets crowded, so it is not recommended for travelers hauling large checked luggage.
- Driving yourself — if you drive from Comalapa, exercise extreme caution. Many residents walk along and cross this highway, and there are frequent accidents involving speeding vehicles and pedestrians.
Note that a US$32 departure tax applies when leaving the country. Depending on your airline, all or part of it may already be included in your ticket price, so the amount you pay at the airport can range from nothing up to the full amount.