Distance from Cape Town to Nairobi

Cape Town (South Africa) and Nairobi (Kenya) are 4,103 km apart — that's 2,550 miles or 2,216 nautical miles, measured along the great circle (the shortest path over the Earth's surface).

The numbers
Great-circle distance
4,103 km · 2,550 mi · 2,216 nmi
Initial bearing Cape Town → Nairobi
32° (NNE)
Initial bearing Nairobi → Cape Town
206° (SSW)
Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
≈ 5 h 29 min
Time zones
Cape Town UTC+02:00 · Nairobi UTC+03:00 (+1 h)
Sunrise gap today
73 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
04:36 UTC / 16:44 UTC
Nairobi
-1.2833, 36.8167
Sunrise / sunset today
03:23 UTC / 15:29 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.