Distance between Berlin and Johannesburg (straight line)

The straight-line distance between Berlin (Germany) and Johannesburg (South Africa) is 8,869 km (5,511 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

8,869 km

5,511 miles · straight line

Heading from Berlin

167° (south-southeast)

initial compass bearing to Johannesburg

Flight time estimate, not a booking

~11 h 5 min

at about 800 km/h, in the air only

Straight-line (great-circle) distance, as the crow flies. The road distance is longer.

BerlinJohannesburgThe 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.

Berlin to Johannesburg at a glance

Straight-line distance
8,869 km (5,511 miles), as the crow flies
Heading from Berlin
167° (south-southeast) to Johannesburg
Heading from Johannesburg
351° (north) to Berlin
Midpoint
13.2614° N, 22.1379° E, halfway along the straight line
Flight time estimate, not a booking
About 11 h 5 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.
Berlin, Germany
52.5244° N, 13.4105° E (city centre)
Johannesburg, South Africa
26.2023° S, 28.0436° E (city centre)

Nearby city pairs

Questions

Is 8,869 km (5,511 miles) the driving distance from Berlin to Johannesburg?

No. 8,869 km (5,511 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 Berlin and Johannesburg measured?

Along a great circle: the shortest line over the Earth's surface, from Berlin's centre (52.5244° N, 13.4105° E) to Johannesburg's (26.2023° S, 28.0436° 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.