Distance between Edinburgh and Glasgow (straight line)
The straight-line distance between Edinburgh and Glasgow, both in the United Kingdom, is 42 miles (67 km), 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
42 miles
67 km · straight line
Heading from Edinburgh
262° (west)
initial compass bearing to Glasgow
Midpoint
55.9097° N, 3.7276° W
halfway along the straight line
Straight-line (great-circle) distance, as the crow flies. The road distance is longer.
EdinburghGlasgowThe 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.
Edinburgh to Glasgow at a glance
- Straight-line distance
- 42 miles (67 km), as the crow flies
- Heading from Edinburgh
- 262° (west) to Glasgow
- Heading from Glasgow
- 81° (east) to Edinburgh
- Midpoint
- 55.9097° N, 3.7276° W, halfway along the straight line
- Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- 55.9521° N, 3.1965° W (city centre)
- Glasgow, United Kingdom
- 55.8651° N, 4.2576° W (city centre)
Nearby city pairs
Other distances from Edinburgh
- Edinburgh to Manchester175 miles
- Edinburgh to Liverpool176 miles
- Edinburgh to Birmingham245 miles
- Edinburgh to London332 miles
Other distances from Glasgow
- Glasgow to Liverpool177 miles
- Glasgow to Manchester183 miles
- Glasgow to Birmingham252 miles
- Glasgow to London345 miles
Questions
Is 42 miles (67 km) the driving distance from Edinburgh to Glasgow?
No. 42 miles (67 km) 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 Edinburgh and Glasgow measured?
Along a great circle: the shortest line over the Earth's surface, from Edinburgh's centre (55.9521° N, 3.1965° W) to Glasgow's (55.8651° N, 4.2576° W). 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.