San Francisco to Beijing (SFO–PEK): distance and flight time

Flight time each way

SFO → PEK

12 h 40 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 319° (NW).

Leave San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Beijing Sun 8 Nov, 14:40 local +1 day.

PEK → SFO

11 h 05 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 43° (NE).

Leave Beijing Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 05:05 local.

PEK-bound flights are the slower direction by about 90 minutes in our estimate: the route runs mostly east–west through latitudes where the prevailing westerly winds at cruise height are strong, so heading east rides a tailwind and heading west fights a headwind. How we estimate it.

Distance

Great-circle distance	9,494 km · 5,899 mi · 5,126 nmi
Initial heading	319° (NW) from SFO; 43° (NE) from PEK
Farthest from the equator	58.6°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crosses	the 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip	47% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

SFO	America/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
PEK	Asia/Shanghai — UTC+8 now; UTC+8 all year (no daylight saving time)
Difference	Beijing is 15 hours ahead of San Francisco today; +16 h in January and +15 h in July because daylight saving time starts and ends on different dates (or not at all).

Jet lag, flying SFO → PEK. The clock change is 15 hours, but to your body that is a shift of 9 hours the other way. Your body clock has to move 9 hours later, like a westward trip. A common rule of thumb is that the body clock adjusts by roughly one time zone a day, so expect up to about 9 days to fully adjust. Shifting later (as here) is usually the easier direction; evening daylight at the destination helps. Flying the other way, the shift is reversed.

General information, not medical advice.

The two airports

SFO San Francisco International AirportSan Francisco, United States · longest runway 11,870 ft3,618 m

PEK Beijing Capital International AirportBeijing, China · longest runway 12,467 ft3,800 m

More routes from SFO and PEK

LAXSFO Los Angeles – San Francisco 543 km338 mi · 1 h 45 min SFOORD San Francisco – Chicago 2,964 km1,842 mi · 4 h 05 min JFKSFO New York – San Francisco 4,152 km2,580 mi · 6 h 20 min SFOLHR San Francisco – London 8,616 km5,354 mi · 10 h 20 min SFOPVG San Francisco – Shanghai 9,877 km6,138 mi · 13 h 20 min SFOSIN San Francisco – Singapore 13,582 km8,439 mi · 17 h 45 min PEKSHA Beijing – Shanghai 1,076 km668 mi · 2 h 15 min PEKCTU Beijing – Chengdu 1,558 km968 mi · 3 h PEKSZX Beijing – Shenzhen 1,957 km1,216 mi · 3 h 20 min FRAPEK Frankfurt – Beijing 7,789 km4,840 mi · 9 h 20 min CDGPEK Paris – Beijing 8,190 km5,089 mi · 9 h 50 min JFKPEK New York – Beijing 10,979 km6,822 mi · 13 h 40 min

Routes of a similar length

LIMMAD Lima – Madrid 9,526 km5,919 mi · 11 h 25 min GRULHR São Paulo – London 9,460 km5,878 mi · 11 h 30 min CDGBKK Paris – Bangkok 9,448 km5,871 mi · 11 h CDGMRU Paris – Mauritius 9,447 km5,870 mi · 11 h 25 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).

SFO San Francisco ⇄ PEK Beijing