Jiuquan South station handles high-speed trains on the Lanzhou–Xinjiang corridor. Trains run frequently to Lanzhou (about six hours), Zhangye (about 2.5 hours), and Jiayuguan (about 30 minutes west). The Jiayuguan Jiuquan Airport is shared between both cities and serves Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, and several other Chinese cities; it is about 45 kilometres west of central Jiuquan.
For Dunhuang, bus services take about five hours and are the only practical option as there is no direct rail link. Buses also run to Zhangye in about two hours. Within Jiuquan the old city sights are compact enough to cover on foot or by taxi from the central accommodation area.