Heerenveen sits on the main Zwolle–Leeuwarden railway line. Direct trains run twice an hour from Leeuwarden (about 25 minutes), and intercity services from Utrecht and Amsterdam (around 1h 50m) change at Zwolle. The station is in the south of town, a 15-minute walk from the historic centre.
By road, the town is on the A32 between Meppel and Leeuwarden, with the A7 motorway (Amsterdam–Groningen) passing just to the north. Cycling in from any of the surrounding Frisian villages is straightforward on the dense regional bike network.