Qingyang has a railway station with connections to Lanzhou (about five hours) and east toward Xi'an via Pingliang. The line is not high-speed, so journey times are longer than on the main Lanzhou–Xi'an corridor. An airport serves the city with flights to Lanzhou and Xi'an.
Buses connect Qingyang to Lanzhou, Pingliang, and destinations in Shaanxi. The intercity routes are reasonably frequent. Within the prefecture, buses and minibuses cover the county towns, though service to rural areas can be infrequent.
The city is the easternmost in Gansu and sits close to the Shaanxi border, making it a natural stopping point if you are travelling between Xi'an and Lanzhou by the southern route through the Loess Plateau rather than the faster high-speed line.