By bus
Salvador's long-distance bus station is in the middle of the new city, 14km from downtown. Salvador is accessible via scheduled buses from all around the country and from Paraguay. Inside the bus stations there are taxis local taxis and executive taxis and local buses which can all take you to many places in Salvador and the metropolitan area. Executive buses in the Iguatemi Station can be accessed from the Iguatemi Mall by way of a busy walkway. Bus travel in and out of Salvador can take a lot more time than expected. Count on an average speed of 50-60 km/h when planning your itinerary.
By plane
The Salvador's Deputado Luis Eduardo Magalhães International Airport IATA: SSA, ICAO: SBSV is one of Brazil's main airports. All of the biggest Brazilian airlines have flights to the Bahian capital city. The city also receives flights from the main hubs of Europe, South America and the United States.
Scheduled Airlines:
TAM All Brazil, Paris, Miami and Buenos Aires.
Gol All Brazil and Montevideo.
Ocean Air All Brazil.
TRIP Vitória da Conquista, Vitória, Natal, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Fernando de Noronha and Campinas.
Azul Linhas Aéreas Campinas and Porto Alegre.
Web Jet Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, São Paulo, Maceió, Belo Horizonte, BrasÃlia and Recife.
Passaredo Vitória da Conquista, Barreiras, BrasÃlia and Ribeirão Preto.
Abaeté Bom Jesus da Lapa, Guanambi and Barreiras.
TAP Lisbon.
American Airlines Miami.
Condor Frankfurt.
Livingston Milan.
Iberia by IberworldMadrid.
The airport is 28km from the city center via the Paralela expressway or 32km via the seaside. Two kinds of taxis are available in the airport, the executive taxis Coometas and Comtas, and the normal taxis. Executive taxis are pre-paid, they have a table of prices rather than a meters. The other taxi option would be the normal taxis which are metered. A third option would be the executive air-conditioned minibuses which depart every 20 minutes to the Praça da Sé, in downtown near Pelourinho via the seaside, stopping at famous beaches like Ondina, Pituba, Amaralina and Itapuã, and Barra as well as stopping by Shopping Barra--an American-style shopping mall located not too far from the Farol da Barra The fare for these buses is R$4. Another option is the urban buses that go to many parts of the city, for the tourist the options are Lapa, Campo Grande and São Joaquim buses, the best thing is ask the driver before taking an urban bus, the fare is R$2,50 2 reals and 50 centavos. Linha Verde executive buses go to Praia do Forte and depart often from the airport.
By ship
Salvador is a common stop on international cruise routes and was once visited by the Queen Elizabeth 2 during her sailing career. Note that the docks area can be dangerous. This area is linked to the Pelourinho historic centre by the Elevador Lacerda, and to the city by urban buses and executive buses to Iguatemi.