Transport in / to Asmara
Virtually everything in the city can be reached by walking. Indeed walking is the best way to see Asmara.
Public transport is well organized in Asmara. Buses and mini buses have specific stops where they can be boarded. The fare is one Nakfa (1.50 Nakfa for the mini buses). The fare for a shared cab is 5 - 10 Nakfa per seat within the city of Asmara. (negotiate the price in advance!).
Long distance buses are operating between Asmara and various other cities in the country.
Asmara International Airport visited by:
- Eritrean Airlines (Frankfurt, Rome, Milano, Dubai, Djibouti and Jeddah)
- Lufthansa (via Frankfurt),
- United Airlines (on a code share basis with Lufthansa)
- Air Egypt (via Cairo),
- Yemenia (via Sanaa),
- Saudia (via Jeddah) and
- Nasair operates regional and domestic passenger routes to Assab, Massawa, Khartoum and Nairobi.
Eritrean Airlines P.O. Box 222 Asmara Eritrea
Reservations +291 - 1 - 124111 Tickets 125500 and 125501
Fax +291 - 1 - 125465 E-mail: ersales@eol.com.er
Eritrean Airlines (travel agency) +291 - 1 - 202448
One of the five bus terminals in Asmara.
This is the depot for the
buses to Keren and Agordat, near the the Kidane Meheret Church.
Bus station of the Gemal Public Transport (mini buses) run by ex soldiers.
Eritrean taxis are the ultimate testimony to Eritrean technical
skills. Many of the older taxis are of indeterminate age and
probably have few, if any, original parts left in them.
Old Fiat Cinquecentos and other cars from the sixties are a common
sight. (Asmara, Airport Road near the Sembel Residential Complex).
Take your video camera with you and hire this cab to have
private site-seeing. Make sure you speek Italian or Tigrinya to
explain where you want to go. (Asmara Harnet Avenue).
I love my horse (he wrote on the back of the buggy). These kind of
horse-drawn gharis are used for small transports to the market.
They usualy do not carry any passengers. If you do try to rent them
as a taxi, you may be called zulul (female:zululti (nuts)).
The Asmara railway station.
The Massawa - Asmara track is now
finished. More information about the Eritrean Railway and Ropeway...
Fiat truck (1934). Trucks like these are used for the transport of wa-
ter to the districts and villages not connected to public waterworks.
Modern trucks and small scale transport go hand in hand in Asmara.
Modern trucks and small scale transport go hand in hand in Asmara.