Public transport and other ways to get around in Salamanca

There are many things Salamanca is famous four, but the public transport does not belong to them. Salamanca is a city of drivers and pedestrians, but if the given situation doesn’t let you to be any of those, getting around can easily turn into a time-consuming process. Especially when you are from the outskirts. Which, of course, is my case.

The truth is that Salamanca is not a big city and the majority of the places of interest is easily manageable on foot. You can find almost anything you need in the old part of the city: shops, supermarkets, banks, schools, campuses, bars, party places ect.

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Still, there is quite a good network of city buses within Salamanca and throughout the outskirts. Spain is typical of metropolitan areas, which means that there are many villages and neighbourhoods in the surroundings of the bigger cities that mostly serve as industrial and housing areas, but most of their inhabitants come to Salamanca for school, work and leisure purposes. The public transport fortunately connects these territories with Salamanca, but the problem is with the frequency, which depends on the route and the day of the week. Normally, the buses run from 7 am to 11-12 pm, in the city quite frequently, in every 10-20 minutes.

Regarding the neighbourhoods, there are some which can be reached in every 30 minutes, but there are others where the bus runs less frequently and if you miss it, you have to wait an hour. The latter pertains to my area, which causes me a lot of trouble. Coming from a capital city, I am used to having a good and cheap public transport which allows me to go to any place at any time. But here, there is much greater dependency on the buses and the family of my boyfriend, which is something that I couldn’t like less. Now you can imagine how complicated the situation gets, when I need to go to another neighbourhood. The best part is that I don’t mind travelling for a longer time, I don’t mind it all. What I really miss is the freedom and the spontaneity to move around in the city. But I guess, this is another thing I just have to get used to.

Continuing with the bus service, if you want to get around at night, night buses are also at disposal. They run from 11:30 pm to 3 pm from Monday to Thursday, and an hour longer on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, which are the typical days when Spaniards go out and party. If you see a bus with the sign “N”, than you know it’s a night bus.

Now a little bit about the prices…

In the city, a single ticket costs 1. 05€, while in the outskirts 1. 40€ that can be purchased on the bus from the driver. However, there you can also buy a card called Abono Transporte that allows you to travel cheaper. Each time you make a journey, your credit on the card decreases. Within Salamanca, I don’t know the exact price, but with regard to the neighbourhoods, the 1. 40€ changes to 1. 05€. If I remember well, the card costs 2€, and the minimum top up is 5€. The third option is to buy a pass that is around 41€ per month and lets you travel as much as you want. Similarly, you have to pay for the card, which is 2€.

So if you are a tourist in Salamanca, I think the best option is probably to walk, or if you need to use the public transport, to buy the single ticket. The same if you live in Salamanca. However, if your residence is in one of the neighbourhoods, I suggest you to buy the card or the monthly pass depending on the how often you have business in the city.

Another way to get around in Salamanca is to use the taxi service, which at the beginning was quite a surprise for me. In Budapest, I think I haven’t called a taxi in years, but here it is sometimes the only option you have after a long party night. Taxis offer local, provincial and inter-provincial services as well 24 hours a day. There are many typical places in Salamanca to flag down the taxis, and you always have to make sure to get into the first car in the row. Tariffs can be found inside of the taxis. In my case, from Salamanca to my neighbourhood, which is about 10 minutes, the price varies between 6 and 8€ depending for example on the day and period of time.

The bus passes can be purchased from the offices of the Salamanca de Transportes or you can visit the bus station in order to get detailed information on lines and prices. It is located on Avenida Filiberto Villalobos.

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Finally, there is also a sightseeing train available during the summer that departs from the Plaza Anaya square.

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