Santa Cruz's Viru Viru International Airport, 17 km north of the city, is Bolivia's busiest. There are direct flights from Madrid, Miami, Buenos Aires, Lima, São Paulo, Panama City, and most major cities in South America, plus domestic connections to La Paz, Cochabamba, Sucre, and the Beni jungle towns. A taxi to the centre takes about 25 minutes; pre-paid airport taxis are the safest option.
The old El Trompillo Airport, just south of the second anillo, is now used only for charter flights and the Cessnas that fly into the Pantanal and the Beni.
Long-distance buses leave from the Bimodal Terminal east of the centre — overnight services run to Cochabamba and La Paz (10–18 hours) and east to the Brazilian border at Puerto Quijarro for the train to Corumbá and the Pantanal. The road west from Santa Cruz is partly unpaved and slow.