FLIGHT HOP.fyi

✈ CPT → SFO

20H 23M FROM CAPE TOWN TO SAN FRANCISCO. THIS IS NOT TRAVEL. THIS IS ENDURANCE.

Flight time
20h 23m
Distance
10,251 mi
Or
16,498 km
Jet lag
9h

Flight from Cape Town to San Francisco

From Cape Town International (CPT), South Africa Africa  →  SFO (SFO), USA North America

↔ Flying the other way? San Francisco → Cape Town

How long is the flight from Cape Town to San Francisco?

A nonstop flight from Cape Town (CPT) to San Francisco (SFO) takes about 20 hours 23 minutes, covering a great-circle distance of 10,251 miles (16,498 km). Actual scheduled time varies by airline, routing, and wind — expect ±15 to 30 minutes from this estimate.

Avg flight time

20h 23m

Nonstop, scheduled

Distance

10,251 mi

16,498 km · great-circle

Avg speed

809 km/h

Door-to-door including taxi

Time zones & jet lag

Cape Town timezone

UTC+2

Africa/Johannesburg

San Francisco timezone

UTC-7

America/Los_Angeles

Time difference

-9h

9 hours behind

Jet lag (rough)

~6.3d

Westward — easier

CO₂ footprint per passenger

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

✈ Flight 2442 kg CO₂
🚗 Car (alone) 2821 kg CO₂
🚆 Train 676 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.

Flights from Cape Town

Nearest destinations

Long-haul from Cape Town

More flights to North America

Flights to San Francisco

Nearest origins

Long-haul to San Francisco

More flights from Africa