Grand Forks sits on Highway 3, the southern east-west route across British Columbia. It is about 5 hours' drive east of Vancouver, 2 hours west of Castlegar, and 1.5 hours from the Osoyoos end of the Okanagan.
The town is also a US border crossing — the Carson port of entry, on the south side of the Kettle River, leads into the Colville National Forest of Washington State. The crossing is small and rarely busy. There is no commercial rail or scheduled bus service into town; the nearest airports are at Castlegar and Penticton, each about a two-hour drive.