What is the distance from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town?

The great-circle distance from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town is 3,782 miles (6,087 km).

What is the time difference between Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town?

Cape Town is 5 hours ahead of Rio de Janeiro.

How much CO₂ does a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town produce?

A nonstop flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town emits about 901 kg of CO₂ per economy passenger — roughly 3.6× the emissions of an equivalent train trip.

✈ GIG → CPT

8H FLIGHT. TWO MOVIES, NO SLEEP, ONE EXISTENTIAL CRISIS.

Flight time: 8h

Distance: 3,782 mi

Or: 6,087 km

Jet lag: 5h

Flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town

From Galeão (GIG), Brazil South America → Cape Town International (CPT), South Africa Africa

↔ Flying the other way? Cape Town → Rio de Janeiro

How long is the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town?

A nonstop flight from Rio de Janeiro (GIG) to Cape Town (CPT) takes about 8 hours, covering a great-circle distance of 3,782 miles (6,087 km). Actual scheduled time varies by airline, routing, and wind — expect ±15 to 30 minutes from this estimate.

Avg flight time

Nonstop, scheduled

Distance

3,782 mi

6,087 km · great-circle

Avg speed

761 km/h

Door-to-door including taxi

Time zones & jet lag

Rio de Janeiro timezone

UTC-3

America/Sao_Paulo

Cape Town timezone

UTC+2

Africa/Johannesburg

Time difference

+5h

5 hours ahead

Jet lag (rough)

~5d

Eastward — worse

CO₂ footprint per passenger

Economy class, single passenger. Source: DEFRA 2024 averages.

✈ Flight 901 kg CO₂

🚗 Car (alone) 1041 kg CO₂

🚆 Train 250 kg CO₂

This flight emits roughly 3.6× the CO₂ of an equivalent train trip and 0.9× a car driven alone over the same distance.

8H FLIGHT. TWO MOVIES, NO SLEEP, ONE EXISTENTIAL CRISIS.

Flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town

How long is the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town?

Time zones & jet lag

CO₂ footprint per passenger

Flights from Rio de Janeiro

Flights to Cape Town