Distance from Cape Town to London
The great-circle distance between Cape Town, South Africa and London, United Kingdom is 9,671 km (6,009 mi · 5,222 nmi) — the shortest possible route over the Earth's surface, the path aircraft approximately follow.
The numbers
- Great-circle distance
- 9,671 km · 6,009 mi · 5,222 nmi
- Initial bearing Cape Town → London
- 349° (NNW)
- Initial bearing London → Cape Town
- 165° (SSE)
- Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
- ≈ 12 h 02 min
- Time zones
- Cape Town UTC+02:00 · London UTC+01:00 (-1 h)
- Sunrise gap today
- 58 min — the sun rises later 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
- London
- 51.5085, -0.1257
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 04:35 UTC / 19:39 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.