Most visitors fly. Sultan Ismail Petra Airport at Kota Bharu has frequent short hops from Kuala Lumpur and other hubs, and it puts you minutes from the city. If your time is tight, that is the answer.
If your time is not, there is something better. The East Coast railway, often called the jungle railway, runs through the forested interior of the peninsula and up toward the Kelantan border at Tumpat. It is slow, local, and gorgeous: rubber and oil palm giving way to deep green, small-town stations, and a pace that belongs to another era. Travellers ride it as much for the journey as the destination.
Either way, plan around the rhythm of the state. Kelantan keeps a Friday and Saturday weekend, and the big holiday clusters fill trains, roads and beaches, so check our Holidays calendar first, then the rest of the Plan your trip guides before you book.