Jining is located at the junction of Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan and Anhui provinces and borders on the Yangtze River Delta region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It is an important hub connecting North China and East China, and the central plain and coastal areas. Waterways, land, rail and air transport in Jining form a four-dimensional traffic network. Highways and railways pass through the city and are interwoven into the network.

The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal runs north and south through the city, allowing 1,000-ton ships and 10,000-tonnage fleets to reach Hangzhou, Zhejiang province directly. The inland river port with an annual throughput of 60 million tons, accounting for more than 80 percent of Shandong province's shipments, is building the largest inland waterway shipping center in the north.

Jining Qufu Airport is accessible to important cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Jining is the node city of the Belt and Road Initiative, and the China-Europe railway express runs directly to Hamburg, Germany. The opening of the Jinghu (Beijing-Shanghai) High-speed Railway and the construction of the Lunan (Rizhao-Lankao) High-speed Railway are opening up a new era of city connections between Jining and other metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai.