Getting around San Marino without a car

San Marino makes more sense once you picture it as a mountain with the capital on top and the rest of the country on its slopes. At the top, in the Città, you walk. Between top and bottom there’s a cable car. And down below, between the towns, there’s a bus network that was rebuilt in March 2026 and was free until 30 September that year. Here’s how I’d use each piece.

The Città is a walking town, and a steep one

Cars without a permit can’t enter the old town, so the normal routine is to leave the car or bus lower down and climb. From car parks P1 to P3 you walk up through Piazza della Libertà, and from P9 there are two panoramic lifts or a staircase, Via delle Scalette, with more than 300 steps. That last detail comes from a private website rather than the authorities, but it fits the shape of the hill. If you have reduced mobility, what is actually in place is gathered in San Marino wheelchair access and reduced mobility.

Once you’re up, everything that matters is within strolling distance. UNESCO notes that the town, sitting on top of Mount Titano, escaped the urban changes of the industrial age, and you feel it in streets with room for little but pedestrians. The walk linking the towers is just over a kilometre, and I cover it in full in San Marino’s three towers. Wear proper shoes, because there isn’t a flat stretch anywhere.

The cable car, a shortcut with a view

The cable car runs from Piazzale Cava Antica in Borgo Maggiore to Contrada del Pianello, a short stroll from the basilica. It leaves every quarter of an hour and costs €4 one way, €7 return or €10 for a day ticket. From October to the end of December it runs between 07:45 and 19:00.

Two warnings. Technical tests stop it between 21 and 23 October 2026, and there’s no shortcut on those three days. And the late-night timetable only applies from 1 July to 6 September. Everything else, including the cabins’ history and the reduced fares, has its own page, the cable car from Borgo Maggiore. At the bottom you’ll find Borgo Maggiore, which to my mind deserves more than a glance.

San Marino’s new buses, and why they’re free

Since 2 March 2026 the state company AASS has cut its fixed lines back to peak hours and launched SMUVI, an on-demand service. And from 2 March to 30 September 2026 every bus was free, fixed lines and SMUVI alike. On 29 September it still hadn’t published the fare from October, so I’d check its website before riding.

What happens next I can’t tell you. The AASS website has an integrated bus and cable car fare ready, but it’s hidden in the page code and not shown to the public, so I’m not treating it as real. I’d check the site on the day or ask the driver.

How does SMUVI work?

You book with the SMUVI app or by calling 0549 883700, and the bus collects you from one of the ordinary stops. When booking you can flag a wheelchair or a pushchair. On weekdays it runs from 06:30 to 20:00, on Fridays, Saturdays and the eve of public holidays until 01:00, and on Sundays and holidays from 08:00 to 20:00. I think it’s a sensible idea for a small, scattered country, though a visitor who doesn’t know the stop names will need to put in a little effort.

The fixed line most likely to help you is the 47, which runs outside school hours and in the holidays. It goes down from the Città via the Murata, Borgo Maggiore, Domagnano, the hospital, Serravalle and Dogana, and the AASS extends it to the San Marino Outlet. Most fixed lines start from P9, and line 3 from P2.

The Rimini shuttle works inside too

The Bonelli bus from Rimini stops at Dogana, Serravalle, Domagnano, Borgo Maggiore and the Murata, charging €2 or €4.50 between Sammarinese stops. With only eight runs a day I wouldn’t build a plan around it, but it’s useful for dropping down to the outlet on your ticket up. Times and stops are in the Rimini to San Marino bus.

Taxis and cars, what I can’t promise

I found no source on taxis inside San Marino, no ranks, no firm, no fares, and I’d rather say so than make it up. The taxi service on record is Rimini’s. By car the problem isn’t driving but parking, since you can’t enter the Città. If your hotel is inside, it usually issues a temporary permit to unload luggage, according to a private website. The options and their limits are in parking in San Marino.