Fast Travel & Transportation

Fast Travel & Transportation

Navigating the vast and beautiful lands of Skyrim can be an adventure in itself, but sometimes you need to get from point A to point B quickly. This section details all the methods of fast travel and transportation available to the Dragonborn, from instant map jumps to hiring carriages and riding your own steed.

Fast Travel via Map

The most common and convenient method of fast travel is directly through your world map. Once a location has been discovered, it becomes a fast travel point. To use this:

1. Open your map by pressing the designated map button (e.g., 'M' on PC, 'Select' on PlayStation, 'Back' on Xbox).
2. Zoom out until you see the desired region or specific location.
3. Hover your cursor over a previously discovered icon (cities, towns, caves, ruins, standing stones, etc.).
4. Confirm your selection.

Important Considerations:

• You cannot fast travel if enemies are nearby or if you are over-encumbered.
• Fast travel consumes in-game time, which can affect quest timers or vendor inventories.
• Certain quests or conditions may temporarily disable fast travel.

Carriage Services

For early-game players or those who prefer a more immersive fast travel experience, carriage services are an excellent option. Carriages can take you to any of the nine major hold capitals, even if you haven't discovered them yet.

Locations of Carriage Drivers:

• Whiterun: Outside the main gate, near the stables.
• Solitude: Just outside the city walls, by the stables.
• Windhelm: Near the main gate, at the stables.
• Riften: Outside the main gate, by the stables.
• Markarth: Outside the main gate, at the stables.
• Falkreath: Outside the main gate, by the stables.
• Morthal: Near the entrance to the town, by the stables.
• Dawnstar: Just outside the town, by the stables.
• Winterhold: Near the entrance to the College of Winterhold, by the stables.

Cost: A carriage ride typically costs between 20-50 gold, depending on the distance to your destination.

Strategy: Use carriage services to quickly unlock new major cities as fast travel points, then explore the surrounding areas on foot to discover more locations.

Riding a Horse

Horses provide a significant speed boost over walking or running and can navigate rough terrain more easily. They are also useful for carrying extra loot, as their inventory capacity is separate from yours (though you cannot directly access it; items are automatically stored when you mount an over-encumbered horse).

Acquiring a Horse:

• Purchase: The most straightforward way is to buy a horse from any stable master for 1000 gold. Stables are found outside all major cities.
• Stolen Horses: You can "borrow" a horse, but this counts as a crime and may incur a bounty. Stolen horses will eventually return to their original stable.
• Quest Rewards: Some quests grant you a unique horse. For example, completing the Dark Brotherhood questline rewards you with Shadowmere, an exceptionally durable horse.
• Arvak: In the Dawnguard DLC, you can summon the spectral horse Arvak after completing the side quest Soul Cairn Horse within the Soul Cairn. This is an excellent option as it requires no stable and can be summoned anywhere.

Horse Management:

• Your horse will follow you unless you fast travel without it, in which case it will return to the stable where it was last stabled or purchased.
• Horses can be killed in combat, so be mindful of their health during encounters.

Other Unique Transportation Methods

• Dragon Riding (Dragonborn DLC): After completing the main questline of the Dragonborn DLC, you gain the ability to tame and ride dragons. This offers a unique aerial perspective and a form of fast travel to discovered locations, though it's less direct than map fast travel.
• Ferrymen (Dragonborn DLC): In Solstheim, you can pay ferrymen to travel between various coastal locations like Raven Rock, Tel Mithryn, and the Skaal Village.