Osnabrück sits on the main Amsterdam–Hannover–Berlin rail corridor, which makes it easy to reach from most major cities without a connection. Direct trains run to Amsterdam, Hannover, Dortmund, and Hamburg several times a day; the journey from Amsterdam takes around two and a half hours. Within Germany, ICE and IC services stop at Osnabrück Hauptbahnhof regularly, and the station is a short walk from the old town.
There is no major airport serving Osnabrück directly. Münster/Osnabrück Airport (FMO) is about 30 kilometres to the south and handles a modest number of regional and European flights. Hannover Airport, with much broader connections, is about an hour away by train. By car, Osnabrück is well placed at the junction of the A1 (Bremen–Dortmund) and A30 autobahns, making it straightforward to reach from most of northern Germany and the Netherlands.