JetSetAuthority

Route · Trans-Pacific

SFO San Francisco ⇄ TPE Taipei

San Francisco International Airport (United States) and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (Taiwan): great-circle distance, estimated scheduled flight time each way, time difference and jet lag.

Distance10,391 km6,457 mi5,611 nautical miles
SFO → TPE14 hestimated block time
TPE → SFO11 h 55 minestimated block time
Clock change+15 hTaipei vs San Francisco, today
Great-circle route from San Francisco (SFO) to Taipei (TPE)SFOSan FranciscoTPETaipei
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

SFO → TPE

14 h

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 306° (NW).

Leave San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive Taipei Sun 8 Nov, 16:00 local +1 day.

TPE → SFO

11 h 55 min

Estimated gate-to-gate scheduled time. Initial heading 45° (NE).

Leave Taipei Sat 7 Nov, 10:00 local → arrive San Francisco Sat 7 Nov, 05:55 local.

TPE-bound flights are the slower direction by about 125 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 distance10,391 km · 6,457 mi · 5,611 nmi
Initial heading306° (NW) from SFO; 45° (NE) from TPE
Farthest from the equator49.9°N — the path arcs north of both airports
Crossesthe 180th meridian (International Date Line area)
Share of the longest possible trip52% of the 20,015 km to the far side of the Earth

Time zones and jet lag

SFOAmerica/Los_Angeles — UTC−7 now; UTC−8 standard time, UTC−7 during daylight saving time
TPEAsia/Taipei — UTC+8 now; UTC+8 all year (no daylight saving time)
DifferenceTaipei 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 → TPE. 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 TPE Taiwan Taoyuan International AirportTaipei, Taiwan · longest runway 12,008 ft3,660 m

More routes from SFO and TPE

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 SFOPEK San Francisco – Beijing 9,494 km5,899 mi · 12 h 40 min SFOSIN San Francisco – Singapore 13,582 km8,439 mi · 17 h 45 min HKGTPE Hong Kong – Taipei 806 km501 mi · 1 h 55 min ICNTPE Seoul – Taipei 1,464 km909 mi · 2 h 45 min TPEHND Taipei – Tokyo 2,122 km1,319 mi · 3 h 20 min TPENRT Taipei – Tokyo 2,181 km1,355 mi · 3 h 20 min LAXTPE Los Angeles – Taipei 10,922 km6,787 mi · 14 h 40 min JFKTPE New York – Taipei 12,545 km7,795 mi · 15 h 35 min

Routes of a similar length

DFWHND Dallas–Fort Worth – Tokyo 10,378 km6,448 mi · 13 h 50 min LAXPVG Los Angeles – Shanghai 10,415 km6,472 mi · 14 h SYDDEL Sydney – Delhi 10,435 km6,484 mi · 13 h 20 min AKLEZE Auckland – Buenos Aires 10,312 km6,408 mi · 12 h

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).