Getting to Asmara and Around by Foot, Taxi and Bus

Sitting at the top of the Eritrean highland plateau, Asmara is the aviation and road hub of the country. Once you arrive from the nearby airport, getting around the capital is effortless: traffic is light, pavements are wide and shaded by palms and ficus trees, and distances across the UNESCO core rarely exceed thirty minutes on foot.

From Asmara International Airport (ASM) to the city centre

Asmara International Airport (ASM) lies just 5 kilometres south-east of Harnet Avenue. After clearing visa control and exchanging currency into Eritrean nakfa at the airport Himbol desk, you have three easy ways into town:

• Hotel courtesy pick-up: major hotels in central Asmara and the Palace Hill quarter arrange complimentary or fixed-rate airport collection when you send your flight details in advance.
• Yellow airport taxis: licensed yellow taxis wait outside the terminal for the ten-to-fifteen-minute ride up Godana Sematat (Martyrs Avenue) into the centre. Always agree on the fare in nakfa before setting off.
• Blue municipal Bus Number 1: during daytime hours, the city bus runs right past the airport gate along Sematat Avenue straight into central Harnet Avenue for a few nakfa in small notes.

Walking, yellow taxis and bicycles in Asmara

Because Italian urban planners laid out Asmara in wide geometric boulevards radiating from narrow medieval village lanes, walking is by far the best way to see the city. Almost every landmark in our modernist architecture route sits along a flat two-kilometre axis between Fiat Tagliero in the south-west and Medeber Market in the north-east. Cycling is a national passion in Eritrea; on weekend mornings you will often see pelotons of racing cyclists training along the plateau roads. For cross-town hops to the Tank Graveyard or after dark, hail a yellow taxi (which operates either as a private hire or as a shared fixed-route cab picking up passengers heading in the same direction).

Regional buses and descending the Massawa mountain road

Before boarding any bus or hiring a car to leave Asmara's municipal checkpoints, ensure you carry your stamped Ministry of Tourism Travel Permit. From the northern bus terminals near Medeber, regional buses and private 4x4 hires wind down the 115-kilometre mountain highway through Nefasit and Ghinda, dropping 2,325 metres through cloud forest and desert switchbacks to the Red Sea port of Massawa.