Distance from Cape Town to Los Angeles

Flying the shortest possible route, Los Angeles lies 16,051 km (9,973 miles, 8,667 nautical miles) from Cape Town — the great-circle distance between their coordinates.

The numbers
Great-circle distance
16,051 km · 9,973 mi · 8,667 nmi
Initial bearing Cape Town → Los Angeles
283° (WNW)
Initial bearing Los Angeles → Cape Town
102° (ESE)
Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
≈ 19 h 32 min
Time zones
Cape Town UTC+02:00 · Los Angeles UTC-08:00 (-10 h)
Sunrise gap today
639 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
03:41 UTC / 17:21 UTC
Los Angeles
34.0522, -118.2437
Sunrise / sunset today
14:20 UTC / 00:55 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.