Patch 4.0.3a and the 
introduced new travel challenges for players. The portal hubs in Dalaran and Shattrath are gone, and players are now required to discover the new high-level instances before they are allowed to queue for them in the dungeon finder.
Players will find a firm grasp of the geography of the world and ways to move from one place to another to be a significant advantage.
This guide presents the fundamentals of post-Cataclysm travel between the three continents of Azeroth (Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and Northrend) and provides details regarding the many methods of travel available. Also included is information about travel between these continents and Outland.
How travel has changed
Although the old portal hubs are gone, taxis, mass transit, and other portals allow players to move freely and reasonably quickly throughout the world. Shorter cycle times for ships and zeppelins and a large increase in the number of flight paths have made travel over land and sea much easier and faster than before, even for low level characters.
Things get even better as you level up. Characters who have reached level 60 can now fly freely around almost all of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms.
Characters level 80 and above can make use of new portal hubs in the capital cities. Located in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, these hubs provide rapid access to the new level 81-85 zones. You must complete quests for access to these portals, and the portals to Tol Barad require level 85. See Portals below for more information.
Setting your hearthstone
While setting your hearthstone to a city near where you are questing provides convenient access to trainers and auction houses, from about level 20 or 30 through level 60 you may find it advantageous to set your hearthstone to an inn in your capital city.
The Alliance and Horde capitals, Stormwind and Orgrimmar, now have class, profession, riding[1], and flight trainers, as well as cooking and fishing daily quests that all characters level 10 and up can complete. Mass transit and taxis provide ready access for all levels from these cities to most parts of the Old World.
When you are questing in 
Outland or 
Northrend, you will likely want to set your hearthstone in Shattrath or Dalaran, respectively. Since there are now class and profession trainers and auction houses in both cities, you will have little need to travel back to the Old World until you are done questing in these continents. After that these cities will become largely irrelevant.
Characters level 80 and above can make use of the new portal hubs in the capital cities to access the new level 81-85 zones.
- ^ The riding trainers in the capitals do not require the character to be exalted with the city's faction, although the racial mount vendors do.
Flight enhancements
Flight paths
Patch 4.0.3a added many new flight paths to both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, especially in the lower level zones.
Flight paths in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms are now shown on the in-game map. After you have discovered an area, any flight paths in that area will show up on your map as a winged foot: blue for Alliance, red for Horde, and green for neutral.
You'll need to talk to the flight masters and pick up the flight paths, but once you do they will make travel for low level characters much easier than it was prior to patch 4.0.3a.
Flying solo
Characters level 60 or above can purchase a 
[Flight Master's License] from a flying trainer near the flight masters in Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Hellfire Peninsula, Borean Tundra, or Dalaran. This license allows the character to fly almost anywhere in the Old World.
[1]
All characters level 68 or above[2] can now purchase 
[Cold Weather Flying] from a flying trainer. This permits flying in all of Northrend.
- ^ Solo flight is still not possible in the zones connected to the Old World, including the Exodar, Azuremyst Isle, Bloodmyst Isle, Silvermoon, Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, and associated islands.
- ^ Prior to Cataclysm, minimum level for [Cold Weather Flying] was 77, or level 68 with a
[Tome of Cold Weather Flight].
Mass transit: ships, zeppelins, and more
Getting between continents will generally require taking a ship or zeppelin. Ships and zeppelins (and a tram) can also be used to travel between certain major cities on the same continent, and in some cases between the north end of a continent and the southern end. These methods of transport are known as "mass transit."
In two cases, portals are also available for travel between two cities. Although these are not strictly mass transit, they will be included here because they complete the city-to-city travel picture.
Ports
Ships and zeppelins connect the continents of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and Northrend. Below are tables of the ports where they dock, and the ports to which they are connected via mass transit. (See the next section for tables of mass transit routes.)
You can sort these tables by clicking on a column heading.
| Continent/Region | City | Faction | Type | Connections | Via |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalimdor North | Darnassus | Alliance | Major city | Stormwind, Exodar | ship, portal |
| Kalimdor North | Exodar | Alliance | Major city | Darnassus | ship, portal |
| Kalimdor Central | Ratchet | Neutral | Port | Booty Bay | ship |
| Kalimdor Central | Theramore | Alliance | Port | Menethil | ship |
| Eastern Kingdoms Central | Menethil | Alliance | Port | Theramore, Valgarde | ship |
| Eastern Kingdoms Central | Ironforge | Alliance | Major city | Stormwind | tram |
| Eastern Kingdoms South | Stormwind | Alliance | Capital | Darnassus, Ironforge, Valiance Keep | ship, tram |
| Eastern Kingdoms South | Booty Bay | Neutral | Port | Ratchet | ship |
| Northrend West | Valiance Keep | Alliance | Port | Stormwind | ship |
| Northrend East | Valgarde | Alliance | Port | Menethil | ship |
| Continent/Region | City | Faction | Type | Connections | Via |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kalimdor Central | Orgrimmar | Horde | Capital | Thunder Bluff, Undercity, Grom'Gol, Warsong Hold | zeppelin |
| Kalimdor Central | Thunder Bluff | Horde | Major city | Orgrimmar | zeppelin |
| Kalimdor Central | Ratchet | Neutral | Port | Booty Bay | ship |
| Eastern Kingdoms North | Silvermoon | Horde | Major city | Undercity | portal |
| Eastern Kingdoms North | Undercity | Horde | Major city | Orgrimmar, Silvermoon, Grom'Gol, Vengeance Landing | zeppelin, portal |
| Eastern Kingdoms South | Grom'Gol | Horde | Major city | Orgrimmar, Undercity | zeppelin |
| Eastern Kingdoms South | Booty Bay | Neutral | Port | Ratchet | ship |
| Northrend West | Warsong Hold | Horde | Zeppelin port | Orgrimmar | zeppelin |
| Northrend East | Vengeance Landing | Horde | Zeppelin port | Undercity | zeppelin |
Note that the intracontinental neutral Northrend ports of Unu'pe, Moa'ki Harbor, and Kamagua have been omitted from these tables. See Boats for more information on the routes between these ports.
Routes
If you already know where the ports are located on each continent, the following tables may provide a more convenient reference.
The mass transit routes below are all bidirectional.
Alliance Ports & Routes
| Between | And | Type | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stormwind | Darnassus | ship | |
| Stormwind | Ironforge | tram | |
| Stormwind | Borean Tundra | ship | |
| Menethil | Theramore | ship | |
| Menethil | Howling Fjord | ship | |
| Darnassus | The Exodar | ship or portal | |
| Ratchet | Booty Bay | ship | Neutral |
The ships between Darnassus and Stormwind, and Darnassus and the Exodar dock at Rut'theran Village, at the base of the enormous tree known as Teldrassil. You can get between Darnassus and Rut'theran Village via portals located next to their respective flight masters.
Note that once you pick up the flight path in the Exodar, you can now take the taxi between there and Rut'theran or Darnassus. You can also fly from the Exodar or Darnassus to locations in Kalimdor where you have flight paths.
There is also a portal in the Temple of the Moon in Darnassus which goes to the Exodar. This portal is on the first floor, next to the portal to the Blasted Lands, and has no level requirement.
Horde Ports & Routes
| Between | And | Type | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orgrimmar | Undercity | zeppelin | |
| Orgrimmar | Thunder Bluff | zeppelin | |
| Orgrimmar | Grom'Gol, STV | zeppelin | |
| Orgrimmar | Borean Tundra | zeppelin | |
| Undercity | Silvermoon City | portal | Orb of Translocation |
| Undercity | Grom'Gol, STV | zeppelin | |
| Undercity | Howling Fjord | zeppelin | |
| Ratchet | Booty Bay | ship | Neutral |
Note that the zeppelin routes between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff and between the Undercity and Grom'Gol Base Camp in Northern Stranglethorn are to points on the same continent, rather than intercontinental as with other zeppelin (and ship) voyages. The zeppelin between the Undercity and Grom'Gol makes travel between the northern and southern parts of Eastern Kingdoms easy even if you have not yet picked up the key Horde flight path at New Kargath in the Badlands.
Shorter waits at the dock
The time it takes to travel using mass transit has been significantly reduced. Before Patch 4.0.3a, players often had to wait four or five minutes for a ship or zeppelin to arrive at their point of departure. Now the time between departures is typically closer to two minutes.
Also, characters with the ability to fly in the departure zone can land on a ship or zeppelin which has already departed, provided it has not gained too much speed. This allows you to catch a voyage you might otherwise have missed. Characters with flight ability in the arrival zone can fly off the ship or zeppelin before it has reached the dock, saving a little more time.
This newly reduced departure cycle time is key to efficient travel in the post-Cataclysm world. Although the ports look far away on the map, in practical terms they are actually only two or three minutes apart - much less time than it takes to fly across a continent.
Thus, the actual travel time between, for example, Stormwind and Darnassus, is less than a minute longer than the travel time between Stormwind and Ironforge. The same is true for travel between Orgrimmar and Undercity.
Mass transit vs mage portals
To put travel times into perspective, remember that the loading screen part of a mass transit trip takes the same amount of time as that of a hearthstone - or a portal. The only time penalty for taking a ship or zeppelin is the wait time at the dock, and that is now almost always less than two minutes.
Keep this in mind the next time you are tempted to advertise in the trade chat for a mage to sell you a portal to another city. By the time you find a mage and he or she gets to you, takes your gold, and pops you a portal, you could have already been aboard mass transit and on your way.
Also, many ships and zeppelins land near a flight master, whereas a mage portal will often deposit you somewhere deep in the bowels of your destination city.
For most city to city trips, when you consider the total time of the trip, typically mass transit will get you to your destination as fast as or faster than a mage portal.
And mass transit is free.
Exceptions
The main exception is Dalaran, because the taxi flight between Dalaran and the ports in Borean Tundra is almost five minutes. Master flying (310%) knocks this down to just over four minutes, but if you can find a mage quickly a portal might be a little faster. On the other hand, if you have one of the (very expensive) Rings_of_the_Kirin_Tor, you can teleport yourself from a port in Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord and forget about mages.
But unless you are questing in Northrend, why do you need to go to Dalaran at all? The capital cities, Stormwind and Orgrimmar, are now the travel hubs, and have trainers and daily quests as well. And while you are questing in Northrend, the class trainers and auctioneers who arrived in Dalaran with 4.0.3a pretty much eliminate the need to go to any other cities.
Another exception is Stormwind to Theramore; Alliance players wanting to get from their travel hub to central Kalimdor will need to fly (or take the tram) to Menethil to catch a ship to Theramore, or fly to Booty Bay and take a ship to Ratchet. The necessary flights are close to four minutes, so a mage portal to Theramore may save a little time.
Also, travel from the capitals to the cities of Exodar and Silvermoon involve runs between ports and portals, and some trips, such as Silvermoon to Thunder Bluff or Exodar to Ironforge, require multiple voyages if your hearthstone is not set to your capital city. In cases like these, a mage might save you a few minutes.
Portals
Several portals allow rapid travel between continents, or to distant areas of the same continent. Some of these portals can be used by either faction.
In some cases, portals can be used as stages in a trip designed for rapid travel from one part of the Old World to another. For example, a level 58+ character in Silvermoon can quickly reach Orgrimmar by taking the portal to the Blasted Lands, running through the Dark Portal, and then taking the small portal beside the Dark Portal to Orgrimmar.
Portals in Northrend are also included here. For portals between Outland and the Old World, see the Outland section below.
Also, see Teleport for a list of non-mage teleportation spells that require a certain class, profession, and/or item to use.
Some portals listed below can be used by characters of any level, while others require a minimum level or completion of certain quests before they can be used.
The Alliance portal hub, The Eastern Earthshrine, is located on a small island in a lake northwest of Stormwind Keep.
The Horde portal hub, The Western Earthshrine, is on a cliff north of the Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar.
Rockets and boats
Horde characters may now use the Bilgewater Cartel Rocketway to travel quickly around Azshara.
Characters who complete the quest Quest:Circle the Wagons... er, Boats (Alliance) or the quest line beginning with Quest:To_the_Summit (Horde) get the 
[River Boat] for travel in the flood waters of Thousand Needles.
Turtle boats ply the waters between the neutral Northrend ports of Unu'pe, Moa'ki Harbor, and Kamagua. See Boats for more information.
To Outland and back
Outland is floating in outer space. Because it is physically unconnected to Azeroth, unlike Northrend and the continents in the Old World, Outland has no ports.
Despite this, each faction can quickly travel to and from Outland via portals located in their major cities and in Outland. Portals in the major cities take the character to the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands, which provides access to the Hellfire Peninsula zone of Outland. Portals in Hellfire Peninsula return the character to their faction's capital city.
Although the portals in the cities to the Blasted Lands can only be used by characters level 58 and above, there is no level restriction on the use of the Dark Portal. It is possible to ride lower level toons (usually level 20 or higher) through Duskwood, Swamp of Sorrows, Deadwind Pass and the Blasted Lands to the Dark Portal in order to enter Outland.
Once you get to the Blasted Lands go through the Dark Portal. Horde characters turn right (north) and jump off the steps. You'll find a flight master who will fly you to Shattrath City even if you've never been there before.
Alliance characters turn left (south) and jump off the steps to find your flight master and fly to Shattrath.
To return to the Old World from Shattrath, see the flight master outside the Terrace of Light and take the taxi back to the Dark Portal. Each faction has a small portal beside the steps. The Alliance portal goes to Stormwind; the Horde's to Orgrimmar.
| Zone/City | Location | Return? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stormwind | Mage Quarter | Yes | |
| Ironforge | The Mystic Ward | No | |
| Darnassus | Temple of the Moon | No | Lower level |
| Exodar | Vault of Lights | No |
| Zone/City | Location | Return? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orgrimmar | Cleft of Shadow | Yes | |
| Thunder Bluff | Spirit Rise | No | Lower level |
| Undercity | Magic Quarter | No | |
| Silvermoon | Sunfury Spire | No | In room on right as you enter the spire |
Note that the portals from the major cities which provide access to Hellfire Peninsula take the player to the Blasted Lands in the vicinity of the Dark Portal. The player must then run to the Dark Portal and go through it to enter the Hellfire Peninsula zone of Outland.
The portals in the major cities to the Blasted Lands can only be used by level 58 characters and above. The return portals, from the Dark Portal to the capitol cities, as well as the Dark Portal itself from the Outland side, can be used by any level.
See also
- Living without portal hubs explains how to get out of Dalaran and Shattrath if you had your hearthstone there prior to
and used the now missing portals to move around the world. - Travel guide provides more information about traveling around the world.
- Patch 4.0.3a (world changes) lists new, changed, and removed flight paths.
- How to find Cataclysm instance entrances has maps and videos which will help you find the new dungeon and raid entrances.
- Maps has an interactive world map, maps of all zones, maps of flight paths for both factions, and assorted other useful maps.
- Dalaran - See the Getting to Dalaran and Leaving Dalaran sections.
- Teleport - See the section on non-mage teleportation skills. Also, read the mage section if you are considering rolling a mage yourself.