Rottweil sits on the Stuttgart–Zürich rail line, with regional trains and faster IRE services connecting it to Stuttgart in around an hour and a quarter and to Singen and Zürich to the south. The station is a short walk from the old town.
By car, the A81 motorway between Stuttgart and the Bodensee passes a few kilometres east of the centre. Stuttgart Airport is the closest big airport, about ninety kilometres north; Zürich is around an hour and a half away and often has the cheaper international flights.
Rottweil is also a possible base for the eastern fringe of the Black Forest. Local buses serve the surrounding villages, but a car is much more useful if you want to see the wider region.