JetSetAuthority

Route · Europe to Asia and Africa

LHR London ⇄ CPT Cape Town

London Heathrow Airport (United Kingdom) and Cape Town International Airport (South Africa): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance9,682 km6,016 mi5,228 nautical miles
LHR → CPT11 h 55 minestimated block time
CPT → LHR12 h 10 minestimated block time
Clock change+2 hCape Town vs London, today
Great-circle route from London (LHR) to Cape Town (CPT)LHRLondonCPTCape Town
The shortest path over the Earth’s surface (great circle), drawn on a Natural Earth projection. Real flight paths bend around weather, winds and closed airspace.

Flight time each way

LHR → CPT

11 h 55 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 164° (SSE).

Leave London Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Cape Town Sat 7 Nov, 23:55 local.

CPT → LHR

12 h 10 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 348° (NNW).

Leave Cape Town Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive London Sat 7 Nov, 20:10 local.

The two directions differ by 15 minutes in our estimate: this route runs mostly north–south, so the prevailing westerly winds make little difference. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance9,682 km · 6,016 mi · 5,228 nmi
Initial heading164° (SSE) from LHR; 348° (NNW) from CPT
Farthest from the equator51.5°N
Crossesthe equator
Share of the longest possible trip48% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

LHREurope/London — UTC+0 now; UTC+0 standard time, UTC+1 during daylight saving time
CPTAfrica/Johannesburg — UTC+2 now; UTC+2 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceCape Town is 2 hours ahead of London today; +2 h in January and +1 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying LHR → CPT. Your body clock has to move 2 hours earlier, like an eastward trip. A shift this small rarely causes much jet lag; most people feel normal within a day or so. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

LHR London Heathrow AirportLondon, United Kingdom · longest runway 12,799 ft3,901 m CPT Cape Town International AirportCape Town, South Africa · longest runway 10,502 ft3,201 m

More routes from LHR and CPT

LHRMAN London – Manchester 243 km151 mi · 1 h 20 min LHROSL London – Oslo 1,206 km749 mi · 2 h 20 min LHRTLV London – Tel Aviv 3,589 km2,230 mi · 4 h 50 min LHRANU London – St. John's 6,553 km4,072 mi · 9 h 05 min LHRPEK London – Beijing 8,154 km5,067 mi · 9 h 50 min LHRSYD London – Sydney 17,021 km10,576 mi · 19 h 30 min JNBCPT Johannesburg – Cape Town 1,272 km790 mi · 2 h 35 min CPTDUR Cape Town – Durban 1,277 km794 mi · 2 h 25 min

Routes of a similar length

CDGHND Paris – Tokyo 9,708 km6,032 mi · 11 h 40 min LAXICN Los Angeles – Seoul 9,625 km5,981 mi · 13 h LAXMUC Los Angeles – Munich 9,616 km5,975 mi · 11 h 25 min CDGHKG Paris – Hong Kong 9,590 km5,959 mi · 11 h 10 min

Need a different pair? The flight-time calculator works for any two of 3,245 airports. Not covered: which airlines fly this route, schedules, fares and live status — that data is proprietary and we don’t guess it.

Photos on airport pages are credited there. Estimates are rounded to 5 minutes; typical error about 13 minutes (validation).