Distance from Cape Town to Lagos
The great-circle distance between Cape Town, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria is 4,761 km (2,958 mi · 2,571 nmi) — the shortest possible route over the Earth's surface, the path aircraft approximately follow.
The numbers
- Great-circle distance
- 4,761 km · 2,958 mi · 2,571 nmi
- Initial bearing Cape Town → Lagos
- 338° (NNW)
- Initial bearing Lagos → Cape Town
- 162° (SSE)
- Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
- ≈ 6 h 16 min
- Time zones
- Cape Town UTC+02:00 · Lagos UTC+01:00 (-1 h)
- Sunrise gap today
- 8 min — the sun rises earlier in Cape Town
Flight time is a cruise-speed approximation (no routing/wind); driving distance depends on roads and is typically 20–40% longer than great-circle.
The two cities
- Cape Town
- -33.9258, 18.4232
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 05:34 UTC / 16:12 UTC
- Lagos
- 6.4541, 3.3947
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 05:42 UTC / 18:04 UTC
Open in the distance calculator Find the halfway point
Distances here are straight-line (great-circle). Road routes typically run 1.2–1.4× longer — here's why, with the visual.