To leave Asmara to go anywhere else in the country you need a traveler's permit which can be obtained from the Ministry of Immigration and Nationality opposite the Cathedral Compound on Harnet Av. downtown.
If you intend to leave by Air, see the "Getting In" section. There are two domestic flight routes as of date and they go to the port cities of Massawa half an hour's flight and only 110 km northeast and Assab at the southwest tip of the country by the borders of Djibouti and Ethiopia an hour and half's flight and nearly 1000 km away.
There are roads heading in 4 directions from Asmara. At Asmara's city limits on each of these roads, there are also military-police roadblocks called "blocco" locally where you will be checked for your ID and traveller's permit. Always carry these or certified copies of these with you. The blocco for the road towards the coast is placed past the village of Durfo and is called "blocco Batsi" Batsi is another name for Massawa. The blocco for the road heading west towards the country's second largest town Keren and the western lowlands bordering Sudan is called "blocco Keren" and the blocco for the two roads heading south is called "blocco Godaeif" Asmara's southernmost suburb which later divides at a fork with one road towards the southwestern highlands and the Mereb river border crossing now closed to Ethiopia and the other road towards the southeastern highlands and the "Zalambessa" border crossing to Ethiopia closed. Besides the bloccos, there are also mobile and random checkpoints on the roads and both inside and outside the limits of nearly all towns and communities in Eritrea. So you will be asked more than once for your papers.
Buses are the main means of transport in Eritrea other than camelback or your own car. Buses run to all main towns and villages from Asmara, some several times a day, others only once a day or a couple of times a week, requiring you to sleepover for one or more nights there or even on the way, before returning. Buses don't run after dusk because of road safety Eritrea is a very mountainous country. Fog and mist can severely delay traffic as well.
Renting a car or chartering a taxi is possible in Eritrea, but both cost about the same and are extremely expensive, as is the price of fuel. There is one narrow-gauge train line, from Asmara to Massawa, but it is driven by a slow steam-engine which only runs for chartered tours.
