Distance from Cape Town to New York City
Cape Town (South Africa) and New York City (United States) are 12,565 km apart — that's 7,807 miles or 6,784 nautical miles, measured along the great circle (the shortest path over the Earth's surface).
The numbers
- Great-circle distance
- 12,565 km · 7,807 mi · 6,784 nmi
- Initial bearing Cape Town → New York City
- 305° (NW)
- Initial bearing New York City → Cape Town
- 116° (ESE)
- Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
- ≈ 15 h 26 min
- Time zones
- Cape Town UTC+02:00 · New York City UTC-04:00 (-6 h)
- Sunrise gap today
- 370 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
- 04:36 UTC / 16:44 UTC
- New York City
- 40.7143, -74.0060
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 10:45 UTC / 22:53 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.