Cell migration is a process that plays an important role throughout the entire lifespan. It starts early on during embryogenesis and contributes to shaping our body. Migrating cells are involved in maintaining the integrity of our body for instance by defending it against invading pathogens. On the other side, migration of tumor cells may have lethal consequences when tumors invade surrounding tissue and spread metastatically. Research of the past decade provided a strong body of evidence that ion channels are an integral part of the cellular migration machinery that not only complement and regulate other components of the cellular motor, but that they are also part of the cellular compass during directed migration in a chemotactic gradient. Thus, ion and water flow is required for optimal migration, and the inhibition or genetic ablation of channels leads to a marked impairment of (directed) migration. These observations also imply that ion channels have to be targeted properly to the cell membrane in order to fulfil their physiological functions in cell migration. We will present work from our group on TRPC1 and K_Ca3.1 channels showing their role in directional migration and their endocytic recycling during migration, respectively.