In the central nervous system (CNS), there are innate obstacles to the modification of neurons: their relative low abundance versus glia and oligodendrocytes, the inaccessibility of certain target populations, and the volume one can inject safely. Our aim in this study was to characterize the in vivo efficacy of a novel viral vector derived from a canine adenovirus (CAV‐2). Here we show that CAV‐2 preferentially transduced i) rat olfactory sensory neurons; ii) rodent CNS neurons in vitro and in vivo; and, more clinically relevant, iii) neurons in organotypic slices of human cortical brain. CAV‐2 also showed a high disposition for retrograde axonal transport in vivo. We examined the molecular basis of neuronal targeting by CAV‐2 and suggest that due to CAR (coxsackie adenovirus receptor) expression on neuronal cells—and not oligodendrocytes, glia, myofibers, and nasal epithelial cells—CAV‐2 vectors transduced neurons preferentially in these diverse tissues.