Nanjing Lukou Airport lies literally in the middle of rice paddies 42km to the southeast of the city. It is connected to the city by frequent CAAC buses (¥25), which run two services, one terminating at the Xinghan Building on Hanzhong Lu near Xinjiekou and the other at the main CAAC office on Ruijin Lu, in the southeast of town.

From the main train station , bus #1 travels south through the city, via Gulou, Xinjiekou and Fuzi Miao. There is also a faint chance of your train terminating at the small West train station outside the city walls and near the Yangzi River; from here bus #16 goes to Gulou and Xinjiekou.

Buses are notoriously inconsistent in where they choose to drop you. The largest and most frequently used long-distance bus station is in the north, at Zhongyang Men . However, some services arrive at the much more central Hanfu Jie bus station (on a small road north of Zhongshan Dong Lu) or at the remote East station to the east of the main train station, mainly used by buses to and from Yangzhou and Yixing. As a general rule, buses coming from and departing to points north and east of Nanjing use the Zhongyang Men station, while buses heading south to Zhejiang Province arrive into and leave from Hanfu Jie.

The other possibility is to arrive by boat on the Yangzi River at one of the docks on Jiangbian Lu. The Yangzi River boats connect Nanjing with Shanghai (13hr to the east), and with Wuhan and distant Chongqing to the west. From Jiangbian Lu, bus #10 goes all the way to Zhongyang Men and the train station; otherwise ride just one stop (or walk) to the West train station and catch bus #16 into town.

Although taxis are a very cheap and easy way to get around Nanjing, you may want to use the city buses as well. These make reasonably convenient connections, but are absurdly crowded at rush hours, even by Chinese standards. A good map showing bus routes is pretty much indispensable, and an English-language version can be bought at most large hotels and some tourist sights.