Distance from Cape Town to Sydney
The great-circle distance between Cape Town, South Africa and Sydney, Australia is 11,012 km (6,842 mi · 5,946 nmi) — the shortest possible route over the Earth's surface, the path aircraft approximately follow.
The numbers
- Great-circle distance
- 11,012 km · 6,842 mi · 5,946 nmi
- Initial bearing Cape Town → Sydney
- 142° (SE)
- Initial bearing Sydney → Cape Town
- 218° (SW)
- Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
- ≈ 13 h 37 min
- Time zones
- Cape Town UTC+02:00 · Sydney UTC+10:00 (+8 h)
- Sunrise gap today
- 531 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
- Sydney
- -33.8678, 151.2073
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 20:43 UTC / 07:21 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.