By plane
Lambert Field in St. Louis airport code: STL is the closest major airport, with flights to and from most destinations in the U.S. and a few international destinations. From there BART Airport Shuttle, +1 800-284-2278, provides door-to-door service to Carbondale, and other destinations in Southern and Central Illinois for around $50. Call for a quote.
Flights to and from St. Louis arrive/depart at Williamson County Airport (http://www.wilcoairport.c...) airport code: MWA four flights daily, each way, which is also served by BART.
By train
Carbondale is served daily by Amtrak's (http://www.amtrak.com) The Saluki, Ilini, and City of New Orleans trains to and from Chicago with intermediate stops e.g. at Champaign-Urbana, and New Orleans stops in Memphis and others.
The Saluki train departs Chicago at 9:15 a.m. and greets Carbondale at 2:45 p.m. on the reverse it leaves Carbondale at 7:30 a.m. and arrives to Chicago at 1:00 p.m.. Illini train usually departs in the afternoon around 4 p.m. and arrives at 9:30 same on reverse, but the New Orleans southbound to Memphis and New Orleans leaves Chicago at 8:00 p.m. doesn't arrive until 1:20 a.m, and the northbound to Chicago doesn't arrive until 3:10 a.m. arrives Chicago 9:00 a.m.
By car
Carbondale sits at the crossroads of Illinois highway 13, and U.S. route 51. Most visitors who drive in will arrive via IL 13 from Marion, where it intersects with Interstate Highway 57. Another much more scenic option for those driving from St. Louis, Missouri is to take IL 3 South to IL 149 East, which intersects with IL 13 in Murphysboro look for an exit just on the Illinois side of the Poplar Street bridge. Highlights include the picturesque Mississippi river town of Chester, Illinois and the many bluffs which offer fantastic views of the river.
By bus
Greyhound (http://www.greyhound.com) has a station across the street from the train station. Amtrak (http://www.amtrak.com) also runs a regular express bus to St. Louis Mo. which leaves from the train station itself at ugh 4:00AM.