Schwerin is an easy two-hour train ride from Hamburg on direct IC services — straightforward enough to make it a day trip, though the city deserves an overnight stay. Trains from Berlin take around two and a half hours, usually with a change at Hamburg or Ludwigslust. Rostock is about an hour away. The Schwerin Hauptbahnhof sits at the western edge of the city centre, a short walk from the Pfaffenteich and the old town.
By car, the A14 motorway connects Schwerin to Magdeburg and the south; the B104 and B321 link it to Rostock and Wismar along the coast. There is no significant airport — Rostock-Laage is the nearest regional one, about 90 kilometres away, but most visitors simply take the train.