EssentialFirst trip

Getting Around

How buses, BRT, metro, ride-hailing, taxis and airport connections work in Salvador, with current fares, integration rules and useful metro stations.

Editorial team

Metrô Bahia at Tamburugy station, one of the city's main public-transport corridors. · Salvador Insider

Salvador is spread along the Atlantic coast and the Baía de Todos-os-Santos. Walking is excellent inside individual neighbourhoods, but moving between neighbourhoods often means bus, BRT, metro, taxi or a ride-hailing app.

Public transport fares

Service	Current fare
Urban bus / BRT / STEC	R$ 5.90
Metro only	R$ 4.10
Metro + urban bus / BRT / STEC	R$ 5.90 integrated fare

With a compatible rechargeable transport card, bus-to-metro, metro-to-bus and bus-metro-bus journeys can be integrated within a two-hour window under the system rules. In practice, the integrated urban fare is R$ 5.90 rather than R$ 5.90 plus a separate R$ 4.10 metro fare.

Which card should a visitor use?

The SalvadorCARD Bilhete Avulso can be bought by anyone without registration and works with the city's fare-integration system, including the metro. Metrô Bahia also offers its rechargeable Cartão Integração. If you want the integrated fare, use the same compatible card across the journey.

Salvador Metro maps

Official Metrô Bahia map showing Line 1 from Lapa to Águas Claras and Line 2 from Acesso Norte to Aeroporto. — Official line map. Open it to inspect the full network. · Metrô Bahia / Motiva

Official tourist map of Salvador's metro with attractions and useful destinations near stations. — The official tourist version adds attractions and destinations around the network. · Metrô Bahia / Motiva

Useful metro stations for visitors

Station	Why it is useful
Aeroporto · Line 2	Airport connection via the free shuttle between the terminal and the metro station.
Campo da Pólvora · Line 1	Useful for the Historic Center area; the official station guide places Pelourinho about 800 m away.
Tamburugy · Line 2	Direct metro access to Shopping Paralela.
Pernambués · Line 2	About 300 m from Salvador Shopping.
Acesso Norte · Lines 1 & 2	Transfer between the two metro lines and about 200 m from Shopping Bela Vista.
Lapa · Line 1	Central Salvador, major bus connections, and convenient for Shopping Piedade and Shopping Center Lapa.

From the airport

Metrô Bahia operates a free shuttle between Salvador Airport and Aeroporto station; the official journey time is about seven minutes. Ride-hailing apps and accredited taxis are also straightforward choices when you have luggage or want door-to-door transport.

Ride-hailing, taxis and rental cars

Ride-hailing: Uber, 99 and Moto

Uber and 99 are two of the ride-hailing apps most widely used in Brazil, and both are common in Salvador. For most visitors, they are among the easiest ways to move between neighbourhoods, especially at night or when public transport would require several connections.

For short trips, motorcycle rides are also available through Uber Moto and 99Moto, depending on availability. They can be quick and inexpensive, particularly when traffic is heavy.

Taxis

Salvador's regular taxis are easy to recognise: the cars are white, with two horizontal stripes along the sides, blue and red, colours also associated with the flag of Bahia.

Electric taxis keep the traditional blue-and-red identification and add a green checkered section to the side markings. If sustainability matters to you, the green detail is the easiest visual clue.

A conventional Salvador taxi and an electric e-taxi showing the city's blue, red and green identification markings near Farol da Barra. — Standard taxis use the blue-and-red side stripes; electric taxis add the green checkered detail. · Salvador Insider

At Salvador Airport, accredited taxi cooperatives operate from the arrivals area. COMTAS and COOMETAS are two useful options if you prefer a staffed taxi service rather than arranging a ride through an app after landing.

Rental cars

Localiza, Unidas, Movida and Foco are among the major rental-car companies you are likely to encounter in Salvador. Their airport-area facilities are not inside the passenger terminal: the rental-car locations are concentrated around Travessa Santos Dumont, which also gives access to Aeroporto station on Metro Line 2.

A rental car is rarely necessary if your trip is focused on Salvador's main visitor neighbourhoods. It becomes much more useful for longer trips outside the city.

Boats, ferry and the bay

The Baía de Todos-os-Santos is also part of Salvador's transport network. For visitors, the important distinction is between the Ferry-Boat at São Joaquim and the passenger services at the Terminal Turístico Náutico da Bahia in Comércio. They serve different routes and different travel needs.

Service	Departure point	Main use
Ferry-Boat	Terminal São Joaquim	Passengers and vehicles to Bom Despacho, on Itaparica Island
Passenger boats / catamarans	Terminal Turístico Náutico da Bahia, Comércio	Mar Grande, Morro de São Paulo and tourist trips around the bay

Ferry-Boat: São Joaquim ↔ Bom Despacho

The Ferry-Boat connects Terminal São Joaquim in Salvador with Terminal Bom Despacho on Itaparica Island. It carries pedestrians and vehicles and is the practical option when you are taking a car across the bay. The operator currently publishes regular departures every hour, with extra sailings when needed. Its current operating window is 5:00 am to 11:30 pm Monday to Saturday and 6:00 am to 11:30 pm on Sundays and public holidays.

Terminal Náutico: Mar Grande, Morro de São Paulo and bay trips

The Terminal Turístico Náutico da Bahia is on Avenida França in Comércio, close to Salvador's lower-city waterfront. It handles passenger boats to Mar Grande in Vera Cruz, catamarans to Morro de São Paulo and schooner trips around the islands of the Baía de Todos-os-Santos. For travellers without a car, this is usually the more relevant terminal for passenger routes and bay excursions.

For Salvador → Mar Grande, Socicam currently publishes departures every 30 minutes from 6:30 am to 8:00 pm. Extra departures may be added when demand requires them. Morro de São Paulo and tourist-boat operations have their own operators and conditions, so use the terminal's current service page rather than relying on an old timetable saved elsewhere.

Taxis, motorcycles and rental details

Moto services require a helmet; for hygiene, a disposable hairnet or thin helmet liner is a sensible precaution. Salvador taxis are white with blue and red side bands; electric taxis add a green checker section. Accredited airport cooperatives include COMTAS and COOMETAS. Rental agencies around Travessa Santos Dumont are near Aeroporto station, and the airport area is practical for North Coast trips.

The SalvadorCARD Bilhete Avulso works for integrated fares. Current public-transport fares are R$ 5.90 for urban bus/BRT/STEC, R$ 4.10 for metro only and R$ 5.90 for the integrated fare.