San Andreas was the biggest GTA map of its era: a whole state with three cities, desert, forest and farmland between them. Here is how the map is laid out, what each region is for, and how it unlocks.
San Andreas's side missions are not filler: Paramedic, Firefighter, Vigilante and Taxi runs hand out permanent upgrades like extra health, armor and fireproofing. Here is every odd job and exactly what it gives you.
Every gun in San Andreas levels up as you use it, and hitting Hitman level unlocks dual-wielding on four weapons plus run-and-gun aiming. Here is how the system works and how to grind it.
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When it launched in 2004, San Andreas was by far the biggest Grand Theft Auto world ever built: not a single city but an entire state, with three distinct cities and a huge stretch of countryside connecting them. Here is how the map is organized and how you unlock it.
Los Santos (south) is the starting city, a parody of early-1990s Los Angeles. This is Grove Street, the gang turf, and the whole opening act, all sun-bleached suburbs, freeways and South Central tension.
San Fierro (west) is the San Francisco analogue: steep hills, fog, the Doherty garage that becomes CJ's base, and the game's street-racing and tuner culture. It is the middle act of the story.
Las Venturas (east) is the Las Vegas stand-in: casinos, the Strip, neon, and the Caligula's Palace heist arc. This is the late game, where the money gets big.
What made San Andreas feel enormous was the rural space between the cities. The countryside spans several regions, including Red County, Flint County, Whetstone and Bone County, plus the badlands of Tierra Robada. Out here you get farmland, forests, the desert, the restricted Area 69 military base, the Verdant Meadows airstrip, and Mount Chiliad, the tallest peak in the game and a fan-favorite for BMX and stunt descents.
San Andreas gates the map by story progress. You begin locked into Los Santos, and the rest of the state is blocked off (cross a bridge early and you get an instant wanted level). As the story advances, San Fierro and the countryside open first, then Las Venturas last. This staged unlock is deliberate: it paces the three-act structure so each city arrives with its own set of missions, businesses and mechanics.
Because the state is so large, traversal upgrades matter. The Verdant Meadows airstrip and pilot school turn aircraft into your fast-travel system, and there is an in-game train and taxi network too. Early on, though, expect long drives, which is exactly why spreading your safehouse save points across all three cities pays off.
Two decades later, the San Andreas map remains a benchmark for variety in a single open world. Few games since have packed three full cities, a desert, a forest and a mountain into one seamless state. For context on how it stacks up against the modern era, the upcoming GTA 6 map of Leonida is estimated by fan analysis at roughly 2.5 to 3 times the size of GTA V's map, but San Andreas's three-city structure is still the template those later worlds build on.
