Altena is on the Volme Valley Railway (S-Bahn line S3), with direct connections to Hagen (about 35 minutes) and onward to the Ruhr cities. From Hagen there are fast connections to Dortmund, Essen, and Düsseldorf. By car, Altena is about 30km southeast of Hagen via the A45 motorway.
The Altena station is in the valley; the castle is up on the cliff above and requires either the steep footpath or the Burgaufzug elevator system to reach.