Distance from Beijing to Cape Town
The great-circle distance between Beijing, China and Cape Town, South Africa is 12,955 km (8,050 mi · 6,995 nmi) — the shortest possible route over the Earth's surface, the path aircraft approximately follow.
The numbers
- Great-circle distance
- 12,955 km · 8,050 mi · 6,995 nmi
- Initial bearing Beijing → Cape Town
- 247° (WSW)
- Initial bearing Cape Town → Beijing
- 58° (ENE)
- Nonstop flight (rough estimate)
- ≈ 15 h 54 min
- Time zones
- Beijing UTC+08:00 · Cape Town UTC+02:00 (-6 h)
- Sunrise gap today
- 494 min — the sun rises earlier in Beijing
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
- Beijing
- 39.9075, 116.3972
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 21:20 UTC / 11:22 UTC
- Cape Town
- -33.9258, 18.4232
- Sunrise / sunset today
- 05:34 UTC / 16:12 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.