Shuangliu airport is 16km southwest of town, a thirty-minute ride on the airport bus to the China Southwest Airlines office on Renmin Nan Lu (approximately twice an hour; ¥8); alternatively, a taxi costs around ¥30. Four kilometres north of the city centre, the main train station is dwarfed by a square and roundabout out front, packed with jostling crowds of passengers, beggars and hawkers. The city bus terminus is just west off this square, from where bus #16 runs the length of Renmin Lu; #61 terminates at Xinnanmen bus station; and #25 can get you to Yihuan Lu near Ximen bus station. Five kilometres south of town, Chengdu's South train station generally handles freight, but if you wind up here catch bus #16 to the centre.

Otherwise, you'll arrive at one of Chengdu's many long-distance bus stations , most of them scattered around the city perimeter. The three largest are the North bus station , 500m west of the train station, which mostly deals in mid-range traffic from the north and northeast (buses into town as from the main train station); Ximen bus station , 3km northwest of the centre, with long-distance arrivals from the north and west (bus #25 to the main train station, or #62 southeast across town, from Yihuan Lu); and Xinnanmen bus station , by the Jin River about 1.5km southeast of the centre, where you'll probably wind up coming from Chongqing, Leshan or Emei Shan (bus #61 to the main train station).