Shymkent International Airport is 12 km north of the centre and the easiest way in. Frequent daily flights connect to Almaty (90 minutes) and Astana (2 hours), plus regular international flights to Istanbul, Dubai, Moscow and the larger Russian regional cities. A taxi from the airport to the centre is around 2,000 tenge.
By rail, Shymkent is on the main southern line: overnight trains run from Almaty (about 12 hours), Astana (about 24 hours), and Tashkent across the border in Uzbekistan (about 5 hours, with a slow customs process at Saryagash). The railway station is on the northwest edge of the centre, a 15-minute taxi ride from Ordabasy Square.
The Uzbek border at Saryagash/Yallama is open to most nationalities by car or rail and is the most practical overland route between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan; expect a wait of an hour or more.