Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport: For downtown, rideshare or taxi is the sensible default: the airport is roughly a 10–15-minute drive from central Kalamazoo, commonly around $15–25 before surge pricing. Metro Transit does connect the Transit Center with Airport Rd & Portage for about $2 and roughly 25 minutes, but service is only a couple of times daily—use it only if its timetable happens to fit your flight, not as a plan to rely on after a late arrival.
Kalamazoo Transportation Center (Amtrak): This is the right arrival point: it is downtown, beside the local bus hub and within an easy 5–10-minute walk of the Kalamazoo Mall, hotels, restaurants, and the museums. Amtrak’s Wolverine links Chicago, Niles, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor and Detroit/Pontiac several times daily; the daily Blue Water also links Chicago with East Lansing, Flint and Port Huron. Take a short rideshare only if your lodging is outside downtown.