Located at the junction of the Crowsnest Highway and Highway 6, Salmo is about a 30 minute drive from the communities of Castlegar, Nelson, and Trail and 45 minutes from Creston. Salmo is the westernmost of the Salmo-Creston highway constructed in the late 1950s (now Highway 3), it was developed as a shortcut to avoid the long route north to Nelson and crossing Kootenay Lake by ferry between Balfour and Kootenay Bay.