The overnight Camrail train from Yaoundé is the classic way in — roughly 14 hours, with first-class sleeper cabins worth the upgrade. Trains run several times a week in each direction; check the latest schedule locally, as cancellations are not unusual.
Ngaoundéré Airport (NGE), about 8 kilometres west of town, has roughly daily flights to and from Yaoundé and Douala on Camair-Co. Shared taxis run to the centre for a few hundred CFA. By road, Ngaoundéré is the natural pivot between the south and the far north — buses run daily to Maroua, Garoua and Yaoundé, and the road north has improved markedly in the past decade.