The city is small enough to explore on foot. But the buses are cheap, regular, and easy to figure out within the city. There are also minibuses that travel outside of the city to neighboring rural towns. Xuzhou is a major rail hub - very easy to get to by train. It is three hours from Nanjing on an express train. Most importantly, it's the half-way point between Beijing and Shanghai on the Shanghai-Beijing train route. On average, it's 8 hrs to China's political capital and 8 hrs to China's fashion and enterprise capital. However, the train speeds can vary from 5.5 hrs to 13 hrs for the same distance depending on the type of train.

Xuzhou is located in the southeast of the North China Plain. Xuzhou has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), with cool, dry winters, warm springs, long, hot and humid summers, and crisp autumns. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from 0.4 °C (32.7 °F) in January to 27.1 °C (80.8 °F) in July; the annual mean is 14.48 °C (58.1 °F). Snow may occur during winter, though rarely heavily. Precipitation is light in winter, and a majority of the annual total of 832 millimetres (32.8 in) occurs from June thru August.

Long history blesses Xuzhou with deep cultures, especially the Han Dynasty (260BC-220) culture. The first Han emperor, Gaozu, was born in Peixian County of Xuzhou, which then went on to become the second cultural and political center of the nation during the Han Dynasty. The cultural relics are scattered in the beautiful scenic spots, making the city extremely attractions.