Cookstown is about 50 kilometres west of Belfast by road, a journey of around an hour. There is no direct train service — Cookstown's railway was closed in 1956 — but Ulsterbus runs regular services from Belfast's Europa Buscentre. The journey takes around 90 minutes and buses run several times daily.
From Derry/Londonderry, Cookstown is about 60 kilometres to the southeast, around an hour by car. From Dublin, the town is about 200 kilometres north, around two and a half hours by car via the M1.
Cookstown is the main service town for a large rural area and has good supermarkets, petrol stations, and car parks. It functions as a practical base for exploring the surrounding countryside rather than a destination in itself.