GTA San Andreas All Missions List: Complete Story Guide from Los Santos to Las Venturas

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is one of the greatest video games ever made. Released by Rockstar Games in October 2004, it tells the story of Carl “CJ” Johnson, a man pulled back into the streets by tragedy, betrayal, and loyalty. The story unfolds across more than 100 missions, taking CJ from the broken streets of Los Santos all the way to the neon lights of Las Venturas.

This guide covers every story mission in GTA San Andreas, in order, with descriptions, tips, and a full FAQ section. Whether you are playing on PS2, PC, Android, iOS, or the Definitive Edition, this is the only missions guide you need.

Quick Overview: GTA San Andreas Mission Count by Region

Region	Missions	Required	Optional
Los Santos	29	29	0
Countryside (Badlands)	14	10	4
San Fierro	26	18	8
Desert (Bone County)	9	9	0
Las Venturas	19	13	6
Return to Los Santos	8	8	0
Total	100	86	14

The game has 100 main story missions. 86 are required to finish the story. The other 14 are optional but needed for 100% completion. If you count the Introduction video and the 4 Catalina robbery cutscenes, the total becomes 105.

Part 1: Los Santos Missions (29 Missions)

Los Santos is where it all begins. CJ returns home after five years to attend his mother Beverly Johnson’s funeral, only to find Grove Street in ruins and his old friends scattered or corrupted. Officer Frank Tenpenny of the CRASH unit immediately forces CJ to work for him under threat of framing him for murder.

Key Characters in Los Santos

Character	Role	Gang / Faction
Carl “CJ” Johnson	Protagonist	Grove Street Families
Sweet Johnson	CJ’s brother, GSF leader	Grove Street Families
Big Smoke	Childhood friend, secret traitor	Grove Street Families
Ryder	Petty criminal, gang member	Grove Street Families
Frank Tenpenny	Corrupt CRASH officer	LSPD / C.R.A.S.H
OG Loc	Failed rapper, gang associate	Grove Street Families
Cesar Vialpando	Kendl’s boyfriend, lowrider racer	Varrios Los Aztecas

Los Santos Mission List

Big Smoke CJ arrives in Los Santos and is stopped at the airport by Tenpenny and Pulaski. He makes his way to Grove Street, reunites with Sweet, Smoke, and Ryder, and visits his mother’s grave. This mission sets up every relationship in the game.

Sweet and Kendl Ballas attack the crew at the cemetery. CJ and the gang escape on BMX bikes through rival territory. Teaches basic cycling and introduces enemy gangs.

Ryder CJ joins Ryder for a haircut that turns into a stolen pizza run. A light mission that shows Ryder’s chaotic personality before the story gets serious.

Tagging Up Turf Sweet sends CJ to spray over Ballas gang tags around the neighborhood. Opens the spray paint collectible system and rewards spray cans at the Johnson house.

Cleaning the Hood CJ and Ryder confront drug dealers on Grove Street. Short combat mission introducing hand-to-hand fighting and basic weapons.

Drive-Thru The crew gets ambushed while grabbing fast food. CJ gives chase to Ballas in a drive-by shooting sequence. One of the more relaxed early missions, famous for its dialogue.

Nines and AKs Big Smoke introduces CJ to a gun dealer. The meeting turns into a firefight. Unlocks Ammu-Nation and teaches proper shooting controls.

Drive-By The full Grove Street crew carries out drive-by attacks on Ballas sets across Los Santos. First mission where everyone works together as a unit.

Sweet’s Girl Sweet’s girlfriend is pinned inside a house by Seville Boulevard Families. CJ has to fight inside, rescue her, and escort Sweet out alive.

Cesar Vialpando Kendl asks CJ to meet her boyfriend Cesar at a lowrider car bouncing contest in Willowfield. Winning unlocks Loco Low Co. and begins a lasting friendship with Cesar despite Sweet’s objections.

OG Loc CJ picks up OG Loc (Jeffrey Martin) from prison and chases his rival Freddy through the Vagos neighborhood. OG Loc is one of the game’s funniest characters, a man with gangster dreams and zero talent.

Running Dog OG Loc sends CJ to chase down and eliminate a Vagos member on foot. Quick early mission with a foot pursuit and a single takedown.

Wrong Side of the Tracks CJ drives a motorbike alongside a freight train while Big Smoke shoots at Vagos riding on top. Staying close enough for Smoke to hit them is genuinely tricky and makes this one of the most talked-about missions in the game.

Just Business Smoke’s deal with Russian gangsters falls apart violently. CJ provides armed cover while Smoke rides a motorbike down the freeway in a high-speed shootout. Cinematic and fast-paced.

Home Invasion Ryder sends CJ to rob a military colonel’s house before 6am. This is the game’s first real stealth mission. Making too much noise ends the mission.

Catalyst Ryder and CJ intercept a train carrying ammunition boxes and steal them before a rival gang arrives.

Robbing Uncle Sam CJ and Ryder infiltrate a National Guard base and use a forklift to steal weapons from a heavily guarded warehouse.

Life’s a Beach CJ goes undercover at a Vagos beach party, dances well enough to impress the target, and steals their sound system van.

Madd Dogg’s Rhymes OG Loc sends CJ to break into rapper Madd Dogg’s mansion and steal his rhyme book. This theft will haunt CJ and Madd Dogg both later in the story.

Management Issues OG Loc wants Madd Dogg’s manager eliminated. CJ chases down the manager’s car and takes him out.

House Party CJ prepares a party at Grove Street and has to fight off an attacking group of Front Yard Ballas before the celebration can begin. Ends with a memorable crew moment.

High Stakes, Low Rider Cesar challenges CJ to a competitive lowrider race in East Los Santos. Winning unlocks the full lowrider racing side activity.

Burning Desire Tenpenny orders CJ to firebomb a Vagos house. CJ discovers a woman named Denise Robinson trapped inside and saves her instead. Denise becomes a potential girlfriend.

Gray Imports Tenpenny sends CJ to stop a gun deal at the Los Santos docks. The weapons were destined for the Ballas to use against Grove Street.

Doberman CJ fights a gang war to take territory from the Seville Boulevard Families, unlocking the gang war system across Los Santos.

Los Sepulcros Sweet plans a hit on the Front Yard Ballas leader during a funeral at a Vinewood cemetery. CJ recruits crew members and leads the attack.

Reuniting the Families Sweet arranges a unity meeting between GSF sets at a motel. Police surround the building. CJ and Sweet fight through multiple SWAT teams to escape.

The Green Sabre Cesar calls CJ to meet and shows him something that changes everything. Ryder and Big Smoke are at a Ballas meeting with Tenpenny. The drive-by that killed Beverly Johnson was arranged by CJ’s own friends. CJ races to save Sweet but arrives too late. Sweet is arrested. Tenpenny dumps CJ in the countryside. This is the emotional centerpiece of the entire game.

Part 2: Countryside Missions (14 Missions)

CJ is thrown into rural Whetstone with nothing. He meets Catalina, a violent and unpredictable criminal who becomes his partner in crime and briefly his girlfriend. He also meets Wu Zi Mu, a blind Triad leader known as Woozie, during an illegal street race. These missions set up the San Fierro chapter and introduce characters who will matter for the rest of the game.

Countryside Mission List

Badlands Tenpenny forces CJ to assassinate a former CRASH officer turned government witness hiding in the mountains. CJ photographs the body as proof of completion.

First Date CJ meets Catalina at a bar. She is loud, impulsive, and immediately offers him four robbery targets. This mission is an introduction rather than an active job.

Tanker Commander Catalina and CJ hijack a fuel tanker on the highway. CJ has to ram the truck driver out of the cab while driving. Fast and surprisingly fun.

Local Liquor Store A straightforward store robbery with Catalina. Shoot the clerks, grab the cash, escape the police.

Body Harvest CJ steals a massive combine harvester from a farm guarded by armed hillbillies. The harvester must stay undamaged during the escape.

Against All Odds CJ and Catalina rob a betting shop in Montgomery. Relatively simple but introduces heist-style thinking in a small format.

Small Town Bank The biggest Catalina job. CJ and Catalina rob the Palomino Creek bank and fight through wave after wave of police during the escape. The best of the countryside robberies.

King in Exile Cesar meets CJ privately and they talk about getting Sweet free. Neither has the power yet. A story cutscene that builds CJ and Cesar’s growing friendship.

Wu Zi Mu CJ enters an illegal street race and wins. His opponent is Woozie, who manages to race competitively despite being completely blind. This is where one of the game’s best characters officially enters the story.

Farewell, My Love Catalina races CJ to formally end their relationship. She leaves with Claude, the mute protagonist from GTA III. A funny and slightly bittersweet goodbye that ties the two games together.

Are You Going to San Fierro? The Truth, a paranoid hippie contact, asks CJ to burn down his marijuana crop before government agents arrive. The fire gets massively out of control and the whole thing spirals. Completing this mission opens San Fierro.

Part 3: San Fierro Missions (26 Missions)

CJ arrives in San Fierro with the keys to a wreck of a garage in the Doherty neighborhood. Over 26 missions he turns it into a real business, befriends a group of eccentric mechanics, and dismantles the Loco Syndicate, the drug network feeding Big Smoke’s empire back in Los Santos. Eight of these missions are optional.

Key Characters in San Fierro

Character	Role	Connection to CJ
The Truth	Hippie contact, conspiracy theorist	Ally and guide
Wu Zi Mu (Woozie)	Triad boss, Four Dragons Casino	Business partner
Jizzy B	Syndicate front man, pimp	Target
T-Bone Mendez	Syndicate enforcer	Target
Mike Toreno	Government agent, apparent villain	Complex enemy/employer
Zero	RC vehicle shop owner	Optional asset missions

San Fierro Mission List

Wear Flowers in Your Hair CJ recruits people to fix the Doherty Garage: a mechanic named Dwight, a painter named Jethro, and Cesar helps out. The garage begins operating as a real business.

555 We Tip Tenpenny orders CJ to frame a district attorney for drug possession. CJ has to plant cocaine in the DA’s car at a valet parking lot without being caught.

Deconstruction Workers are harassing Kendl on a building site. CJ uses a bulldozer to destroy their portable cabin and buries the foreman in wet concrete. Aggressive and darkly funny.

Photo Opportunity Cesar and CJ watch a meeting at the docks from a rooftop. CJ photographs Ryder, Syndicate members, and Ballas suppliers together. Confirms the betrayal is bigger than one person.

Jizzy CJ goes undercover as Jizzy B’s personal driver, running errands and running protection while slowly getting inside the Syndicate’s operation.

T-Bone Mendez A Syndicate drug shipment is ambushed by bikers. CJ and Jizzy race to recover every package before it disappears.

Mike Toreno The mysterious third Syndicate figure appears in person. CJ helps track a police surveillance helicopter following Toreno, not yet knowing what Toreno really is.

Outrider CJ rides escort on a Syndicate drug convoy, using a rocket launcher from a motorbike to destroy attacking enemy vehicles.

Snail Trail Tenpenny wants a journalist and a police informant killed before they can publish what they know about him. CJ has to tail both targets without being spotted, then eliminate them at their meeting point.

Ice Cold Killa CJ infiltrates the Pleasure Domes club and assassinates Jizzy B. Multiple guards and a tight space make this one of the harder combat missions in San Fierro.

Pier 69 CJ and Cesar ambush the Syndicate at Pier 69 during a drug handoff. T-Bone Mendez is killed. Ryder escapes by boat. CJ chases him across San Fierro Bay and kills him. A brutal and emotionally heavy mission given that Ryder was once a friend.

Toreno’s Last Flight Mike Toreno flees in a helicopter. CJ has to chase and destroy it before it leaves the area. He succeeds, but Toreno is not actually dead.

Yay Ka-Boom-Boom CJ drives a bomb-rigged van into the Loco Syndicate’s crack factory under the docks and destroys the whole operation. Completing this mission unlocks Las Venturas and the desert region.

Zero RC Missions (Optional) Zero runs a model vehicle shop and has a feud with a man called Berkley. Air Raid has CJ defending Zero’s transmitters from RC planes. Supply Lines is widely considered the hardest mission in the entire game: CJ must destroy five delivery vans using an RC plane with very limited fuel and no room for error. The Third Level is a tank defense mission. All three are optional but count toward 100% completion.

Wang Cars Missions (Optional) Five steal-and-deliver missions to bring specific car models to a dealership. Optional but opens the Wang Cars showroom as an income-generating asset.

Part 4: Desert Missions (9 Missions)

The Bone County desert is strange, isolated, and full of government secrets. Mike Toreno reappears very much alive and reveals he is not a drug dealer but a covert government agent who used the Loco Syndicate as a funding source for black operations. He blackmails CJ: do missions for me, and Sweet will be protected in prison and eventually released. Meanwhile, The Truth pulls CJ into a conspiracy involving Area 69, the game’s version of Area 51.

Desert Mission List

Monster CJ drives a monster truck across a timed off-road course in the desert. An introductory mission that familiarizes players with the new region.

Interdiction Toreno has a drug shipment coming in by helicopter and needs it protected from enemies on the ground. CJ uses a rocket launcher to defend the helicopter as it lands.

Verdant Meadows CJ purchases an abandoned airstrip in Bone County called Verdant Meadows. It becomes his base of operations for the rest of the desert chapter.

Learning to Fly A series of aviation training challenges at the airstrip covering basic landing, helicopters, stunt flying, and fixed-wing aircraft. Technically optional but unlocks the pilot license needed for later missions.

Toreno’s Brown Thunder CJ uses a military helicopter to hunt and destroy a convoy of vehicles belonging to enemy gang contacts in the desert.

Stowaway CJ chases a military transport plane down the Verdant Meadows runway on a motorbike, grabs the ladder, climbs aboard, fights through armed mercenaries in the fuselage, and parachutes out before the plane explodes. One of the most spectacular missions in the game.

Black Project CJ sneaks into Area 69 at night, navigates through underground bunkers while avoiding guards, and steals a classified government aircraft called the Jetpack. The most demanding stealth mission in the game.

Green Goo CJ flies the stolen military jet alongside a moving train and uses it to intercept a government canister being transported inside. The Truth is extremely pleased by whatever is in the canister.

Part 5: Las Venturas Missions (19 Missions)

Las Venturas is the most ambitious chapter. Woozie is opening the Four Dragons Casino and wants CJ as a partner, but the Italian Mafia families who control the city are making business impossible. CJ’s job is to break Mafia power in Las Venturas and pull off a massive heist at their flagship property, Caligula’s Palace. Six missions in this section are optional.

Key Characters in Las Venturas

Character	Role	Faction
Wu Zi Mu (Woozie)	Casino partner, Triad boss	Mountain Cloud Boys
Salvatore Leone	Mafia Don	Leone Family
Johnny Sindacco	Sindacco Family member	Sindacco Family
Millie Perkins	Casino croupier, keycard holder	Caligula’s Casino
Madd Dogg	Recovering rapper	Independent
Kent Paul	British music manager	Independent
Maccer	Rock band drummer	Independent

Las Venturas Mission List

Fender Ketchup Woozie’s crew has caught a Sindacco spy. CJ drives him around at terrifying speed until fear breaks him and he reveals Sindacco operation details. One of the more inventively funny missions in the game.

Explosive Situation CJ breaks into a quarry controlled by the Sindaccos and steals dynamite while fighting through security guards. The explosives will be needed for the heist.

You’ve Had Your Chips CJ destroys the Sindacco Family’s counterfeit casino chip manufacturing machines, cutting off a major illegal income stream.

Don Peyote The Truth calls from outside the Four Dragons. He had been traveling with a British rock band whose members got separated after taking drugs in the desert. CJ drives out to find Kent Paul and drummer Maccer lying in the middle of nowhere and brings them to Rosie, the casino’s entertainment promoter.

Architectural Espionage CJ follows a Caligula’s Casino croupier through Las Venturas to her home to obtain blueprints of the casino floor. A tailing mission that requires staying close without being spotted.

Key to Her Heart The casino vault requires a special keycard carried by croupier Millie Perkins. CJ must romance her over multiple dates until she trusts him enough to hand it over. Players can also kill Millie immediately, but this permanently removes her as a girlfriend. This mission introduces the Gimp Suit, which is exactly as strange as it sounds.

Dam and Blast CJ plants explosives on the Sherman Dam to cut electrical power to Las Venturas. The blackout will be used as a diversion during the heist.

Cop Wheels CJ steals four police motorcycles from locations across Las Venturas. Every theft triggers a two-star wanted level immediately, making this a high-pressure run across the full city map.

Up, Up and Away CJ uses a magnet attached to a helicopter to steal an armored military vehicle from the K.A.C.C. fuel depot. The stolen truck will serve as the heist’s primary transport.

Intensive Care Johnny Sindacco is in hospital after CJ’s intimidation session earlier. The Leone Family sends hitmen to silence him before he can talk. CJ has to extract Sindacco and deliver him safely.

The Meat Business Salvatore Leone invites CJ to discuss a partnership deal at a meat processing plant. The meeting is a trap. CJ fights through waves of Leone Family soldiers to escape.

Madd Dogg CJ spots Madd Dogg drunk on a Las Venturas hotel rooftop, about to jump. He races to get a truck with a mattress below and catches Dogg as he falls from different parts of the building’s edge. CJ feels directly responsible for destroying Madd Dogg’s career and life by stealing his rhyme book for OG Loc. This is one of the most emotionally honest missions in the game.

Freefall A Mafia hitman is flying into Las Venturas on a passenger jet. CJ has to skydive from a plane, match speed with the jet mid-air, board it, fight through passengers and crew, and kill the target.

Saint Mark’s Bistro (Optional) Salvatore Leone asks CJ to fly to Liberty City and eliminate a group of Forelli Family mobsters who have arrived to kill Leone. A brief visit to Liberty City rendered in the San Andreas engine, included as a nod to GTA III fans.

Breaking the Bank at Caligula’s The heist. CJ coordinates with Woozie’s Triad crew using every asset built up over the Las Venturas chapter. The stolen armored truck is the getaway vehicle. The dam explosion cuts power at the critical moment. The keycard opens the vault. The police motorcycles allow the crew to split up and escape through the chaos. Everything clicks together in one of the most satisfying payoff missions in open-world gaming. Completing this makes CJ a co-owner of the Four Dragons Casino.

Part 6: Return to Los Santos (8 Missions)

Toreno fulfills his promise. Sweet is released from prison. He does not want CJ’s casino money or San Fierro garage. He wants to go home and rebuild what was destroyed. The city is already burning because Tenpenny, acquitted of all charges, has walked free and Los Santos has erupted into rioting. There are two things left: Big Smoke and Tenpenny.

Return to Los Santos Mission List

A Home in the Hills CJ, Sweet, Cesar, Madd Dogg, and a group of Triads reclaim Madd Dogg’s mansion in Mulholland from drug lord Big Poppa, who bought it while Dogg was at his lowest. CJ parachutes from a plane onto the rooftop and fights through the building floor by floor.

Vertical Bird Toreno’s final job for CJ. Steal a military Harrier jump jet from a naval destroyer and use it to destroy three enemy surveillance ships before they can transmit intelligence. A pure aviation combat mission.

Home Coming Sweet walks out of prison. CJ drives him back to Grove Street in person. Sweet sees what the neighborhood has become under Ballas occupation and immediately begins planning to take it back. A quiet, powerful scene.

Beat Down on B Dup Sweet and CJ begin tearing apart Big Smoke’s drug distribution network. They start with a crackhouse run by B Dup, a former Grove Street member who became an addict and dealer under Smoke’s operation.

Grove 4 Life Sweet leads the crew through a series of gang wars to retake Grove Street territory from the Ballas piece by piece. The final territory mission in the game, and it feels earned.

Riot Tenpenny walks free and Los Santos explodes. CJ and Sweet navigate the burning, chaotic streets as buildings go up in smoke around them.

Los Desperados CJ helps Cesar and the Varrios Los Aztecas retake their territory from the Vagos during the riots. One final mission of alliance and loyalty before the endgame.

End of the Line The finale. CJ storms Big Smoke’s six-floor crack palace in East Los Santos, fighting through floor after floor of dealers, armed guards, and hired killers. At the top he finds Smoke alone, grown enormously wealthy and fat on the empire he built from betraying his friends. After killing Smoke, Tenpenny escapes in a fire truck. CJ and Sweet chase him through burning streets in the middle of the full city riot until Tenpenny loses control and crashes off an overpass directly above Grove Street. He dies at CJ’s feet, not by a bullet but by his own recklessness. The neighborhood celebrates. The game ends.

Mission Rewards and Map Unlocks

Mission	Reward / Unlock
The Green Sabre	Opens Countryside and Badlands
Are You Going to San Fierro?	Opens San Fierro
Yay Ka-Boom-Boom	Opens Desert and Las Venturas
Breaking the Bank at Caligula’s	Four Dragons Casino income
Home Coming	Return to Los Santos chapter begins
End of the Line	Game complete, $250,000 reward
Wang Cars chain (optional)	Wang Cars showroom as asset
Doherty Garage missions	Garage earns passive income

Key Characters and Their Story Roles

Character	Role	Fate
Carl “CJ” Johnson	Protagonist, GSF member	Triumphs, reclaims Grove Street
Sweet Johnson	CJ’s brother, GSF leader	Freed from prison, rebuilds GSF
Big Smoke	CJ’s friend, secret traitor	Killed by CJ in crack palace
Ryder	GSF member, Syndicate ally	Killed by CJ at Pier 69
Frank Tenpenny	Corrupt CRASH officer	Dies in car crash after chase
Eddie Pulaski	Tenpenny’s partner	Killed by CJ in countryside
Cesar Vialpando	Kendl’s boyfriend, CJ’s ally	Survives, retakes territory
Wu Zi Mu (Woozie)	Triad boss, casino partner	Survives, co-owns casino
Catalina	CJ’s girlfriend, criminal	Leaves for GTA III timeline
The Truth	Hippie contact, conspiracy theorist	Survives with alien tech
Madd Dogg	Rapper ruined by CJ	Recovers, returns to music
Mike Toreno	Government agent	Survives, keeps his word

Hardest Missions in GTA San Andreas

Mission	Region	Why It Is Hard
Supply Lines	San Fierro	RC plane fuel runs out fast, five targets to hit
Wrong Side of the Tracks	Los Santos	Smoke’s shooting AI is unreliable
End of the Line	Los Santos	Long mission, multiple combat stages
Stowaway	Desert	Timing the plane boarding is strict
Black Project	Desert	Stealth required across a large facility
Freefall	Las Venturas	Mid-air boarding with tight time window

Tips to Complete Every Mission

Save the game at a nearby safe house before starting any mission. The game does not autosave at the mission start, so dying on the way back to retry wastes real time.

Always enter missions with full health and body armor. Many failures happen because of low health going in, not because the mission itself is too difficult.

For Wrong Side of the Tracks, stay directly underneath the train carriage Smoke is shooting at. The closer CJ’s bike is to the train, the more reliable Smoke’s targeting becomes.

For Supply Lines, take off immediately and attack the nearest van first. Always save the most distant target for last. Every second of flight burns fuel you cannot recover.

For Stowaway, run the motorbike at absolute maximum speed the moment the mission starts. Reaching the plane’s ladder before it lifts off the runway requires full throttle from the beginning.

For End of the Line, bring an M4 or AK-47 with full ammo for the building interior, body armor for each floor, and a rocket launcher saved specifically for the Tenpenny pursuit sequence at the end.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why GTA San Andreas Missions Still Hold Up in 2026

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold over 27 million copies on PlayStation 2 alone. It was ported to PC in 2005, mobile devices in 2013, and remastered as the Definitive Edition in 2021. Players keep returning because the missions were built around a story that genuinely mattered.

Every mission in the game does something. It advances the story, shifts CJ’s world, introduces a character, unlocks a region, or pays off something established earlier. There are no filler missions. Even the simplest early tasks in Los Santos are building blocks for betrayals and revelations that land harder because of how carefully the groundwork was laid.

CJ’s journey from a grieving son arriving in a broken neighborhood to a man who has built businesses across three cities and taken on a corrupt police officer and a drug empire is one of the most complete character arcs in gaming. The missions are the method by which that arc unfolds, one job at a time, until Grove Street is home again.