How to fast travel in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Sometimes you just miss a prompt or the game forgets to clue you in on a useful mechanic that might not be key to the actual gameplay. Such is the fate of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s fast travel mechanic that many players seem to be having trouble with. 

Much like with Pokémon Legends: Arceus and, Sword and Shield before it, players won’t need to rely on a Pokémon that knows Fly in order to soar around Paldea. Instead, Scarlet and Violet implement a new type of Flying Taxi with the local Squawkabilly that let players jump from place to place using their map. 

This is unlocked very early during your journey and is a boon for players who want to explore the Pokémon franchise’s first true open-world region. But if you missed the prompt or haven’t played either of the previous titles, you might not know how to access the fast travel mechanic at all. 

For those who aren’t looking to run—or ride a Legendary Pokémon—absolutely everywhere, here is how you can ensure you have unlocked fast traveling and how to use the feature in Scarlet and Violet. 

How to unlock and use fast travel in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

At the start of your journey through Paldea you will be given a tour of a local academy as a sort of tutorial before the games truly open up to you. This will take quite some time to complete, but as soon as you reach the first Pokémon Center after the intro, you should have access to fast travel. 

Using the Y Button to navigate to your map is the first thing you need to do after reaching this point because from there you should see small blue feather icons dotted around the places you have just been visiting. These are the fast travel markers, which you can select by hovering over them and clicking the A button until you confirm your selection and are whisked away. 

You will need to unlock each fast travel maker before you can actively use them, but you can do that just by exploring Paldea on foot or while riding Koraidon/Miraidon.