A car is effectively essential for visiting the sites around Cookstown. Beaghmore Stone Circles, Wellbrook Beetling Mill, Ardboe High Cross, and Tullyhogue Fort are all in open countryside with no useful public transport connections. Cookstown itself is compact and walkable — the long main street, Killymoon Castle, and the town centre shops are all manageable on foot — but the wider countryside requires your own vehicle.
The roads around Cookstown are generally quiet and in reasonable condition. Distances to the main sites are short: Tullyhogue Fort is about 5 kilometres south, Ardboe 10 kilometres east, Wellbrook 6 kilometres west, and Beaghmore about 15 kilometres northwest. A full day's driving circuit linking all four sites and the Lough Neagh shoreline covers perhaps 80 kilometres in total.
Cycling is possible on the quieter back roads, particularly south towards Tullyhogue and east towards Lough Neagh. The Sperrin routes to the northwest are hillier. There are no dedicated cycle hire facilities in the town.