Distance between Adelaide and Melbourne (straight line)
The straight-line distance between Adelaide and Melbourne, both in Australia, is 654 km (406 miles), as the crow flies, measured from one city centre to the other. It is the shortest path over the Earth's surface; any road between them is longer.
Straight-line distance
654 km
406 miles · straight line
Heading from Adelaide
121° (east-southeast)
initial compass bearing to Melbourne
Flight time estimate, not a booking
~50 min
at about 800 km/h, in the air only
Straight-line (great-circle) distance, as the crow flies. The road distance is longer.
AdelaideMelbourneThe line is the great circle: straight over the globe, curved on a flat map.
Measure your own two places
Pick any two cities, addresses or coordinates in the calculator, or start from where you are standing. It gives the same straight-line distance, in miles and kilometres.
Adelaide to Melbourne at a glance
- Straight-line distance
- 654 km (406 miles), as the crow flies
- Heading from Adelaide
- 121° (east-southeast) to Melbourne
- Heading from Melbourne
- 297° (west-northwest) to Adelaide
- Midpoint
- 36.4135° S, 141.7219° E, halfway along the straight line
- Flight time estimate, not a booking
- About 50 min in the air at a cruising speed of 800 km/h along the straight line. Take-off, landing, the real flight path and any stops add more.
- Adelaide, Australia
- 34.9287° S, 138.5986° E (city centre)
- Melbourne, Australia
- 37.8140° S, 144.9633° E (city centre)
Nearby city pairs
Other distances from Adelaide
- Adelaide to Sydney1,162 km
- Adelaide to Brisbane1,601 km
- Adelaide to Gold Coast1,601 km
- Adelaide to Perth2,131 km
Other distances from Melbourne
- Melbourne to Sydney713 km
- Melbourne to Gold Coast1,346 km
- Melbourne to Brisbane1,375 km
- Melbourne to Perth2,721 km
- Melbourne to London16,904 km
Questions
Is 654 km (406 miles) the driving distance from Adelaide to Melbourne?
No. 654 km (406 miles) is the straight-line distance between the two city centres, as the crow flies. A road route is always longer, because roads bend around terrain and water, and MapGO does not measure driving distance or travel time.
How is the distance between Adelaide and Melbourne measured?
Along a great circle: the shortest line over the Earth's surface, from Adelaide's centre (34.9287° S, 138.5986° E) to Melbourne's (37.8140° S, 144.9633° E). This is what "straight-line distance" and "as the crow flies" mean on a globe. On a flat map the line can look curved.
How accurate is this distance?
Within about 0.5% for the two centre points. The figure treats the Earth as a sphere (the haversine formula), while the real Earth is slightly flattened, which shifts a long straight-line distance by up to about 0.5%. Measuring from another part of either city changes it more, since a large city can be tens of kilometres across.
Computed by MapGO from each city's centre point (GeoNames) with the haversine formula. All distances on this page are straight lines over the Earth's surface, not road distances.