Cape Town to Port Elizabeth runs about 12 times a day, with the first departure around 06:17 and the last around 18:33. One passenger pays between €56.19 and €69.64, every fee included, depending on the operator and the way you travel. The fastest door to door is 4h 26m over 676 km, on services run by 4 operators across 2 modes.
What one seat costs
The spread between the cheapest and dearest typical fare on this corridor, across 4 operators and 2 ways of making the journey. The operator sets the price on the day.
Typical fares
€56.19 to €69.64
- 106%Moves across the booking window
When it runs, leaving Cape Town
No operator has filed a timetable for this direction yet, so the first and last departure below follow the pattern of the corridor. Read them as the shape of the service day rather than as times to turn up for.
- 06:17First departure
- 18:33Last departure
- 12Services per day
- 100%Run direct
Shosholoza Meyl runs this service and does not sell it here. Bookaway takes the payment.
Buying this journey
Bookaway lists departures for Cape Town to Port Elizabeth on your date, and you pay on their side.
See Cape Town to Port Elizabeth on Bookaway
Partner link. We do not sell this ticket, and we earn nothing from this one.
Fares by date
What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.
Typical fares
- about €115.78Wed16
- about €138.20Thu17
- about €110.47Fri18
- about €115.78Sat19
- about €111.65Sun20
- about €88.64Mon21
- about €70.35Tue22
- about €75.07Wed23
- about €93.36Thu24
- about €86.87Fri25
- about €92.18Sat26
- about €82.74Sun27
- about €72.71Mon28
- about €62.09Tue29
- about €64.45Wed30
- about €76.25Thu1
- about €67.99Fri2
- about €71.53Sat3
- about €65.63Sun4
- about €57.37Mon5
- about €56.19Tue6
Based on what this route has cost recently. The operator sets the price on the day, and the live fare is confirmed when you book.
The flight gets you into Port Elizabeth. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.
A room in Port Elizabeth for the night the flight gets in
Sort by distance from Redhouse and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.
Search Port Elizabeth on Booking.com
Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.
When to book Cape Town to Port Elizabeth
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €63.8690 days
- €60.3260 days
- €64.4545 days
- €67.4030 days
- €56.1921 days
- €62.0914 days
- €70.357 days
- €110.473 days
- €115.781 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 21 days ahead, at €56.19.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time is 106 percent. The dearest point is €115.78, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 21 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
Book now Fares on this route are lowest around 21 days ahead. You are inside that window.
This corridor, specifically
Facts that apply to Cape Town to Port Elizabeth and to no other route on the site.
Clocks
Both ends keep the same time, so the arrival is the departure plus the journey.
The shape of it
676 km
663 km as the crow flies, 2% further by the route services actually take. The bearing runs east.
Who lives at each end
4,772,846 → 1,050,078
Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.
How we know
2/4
2 of these connections were inferred from service-area overlap rather than observed in a timetable. We would rather say so.
The route
What the journey actually looks like
Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.
- Direct or connecting
- 82% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 18% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 676 km against 663 km in a straight line, a detour of 2 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
- Where the change is
- Connections are made at Oudtshoorn, George, Paarl, Stellenbosch. The gap between arriving and leaving is 70 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 14 percent chance of not being made on the timetable alone. Part of this journey is a self transfer between separate tickets, so leave more time than the minimum and expect to check in again.
Port Elizabeth is large, and the road in from PLZ can take longer than the last hour of the flight. Cars are not our business.
A car waiting when you land in Port Elizabeth
Settled in advance, so the ride into Port Elizabeth costs what it said it would rather than what the rank says.
Book a transfer from PLZ with Daytrip
Partner links. We do not operate transfers. We earn a commission on a booking, and the fare is the same as going direct.
Who runs this route
The flight gets in hours before any room is ready. Holding a bag is not what we sell.
Left luggage near Redhouse
Most of the points near Redhouse open before the first train and shut after the last one.
Check Port Elizabeth on StasherOr try Bounce
Partner links. We do not run these networks. We earn a commission on a booking, and the price is the same as going direct.
Questions about Cape Town to Port Elizabeth
The questions people actually ask about this journey, answered from the same prices and times the page above is built on rather than written once and left to go stale.
How long does it take to get from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
The fastest journey from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth takes 4h 26m door to door, of which 1h 16m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 4h 52m, because that average includes slower stopping services and journeys with a connection. Times include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end.
How much does it cost to travel from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
The cheapest fare from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is €56.19, as of 15 September 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €99.87. Both figures are the total for one passenger, including taxes, supplier fees and our service fee, so nothing is added at checkout.
What is the cheapest way to get from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
The cheapest way from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is by flight, at €62.09 for one passenger on 6 October 2026. That journey takes 4h 26m door to door. Cheaper is rarely faster on this corridor, and the comparison table on this page shows what each mode costs against what it saves.
What is the fastest way to get from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
The fastest way from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth is by flight, at 4h 26m door to door. Only 1h 16m of that is spent moving; the remaining 3h 10m is reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end. The cheapest fare on that mode is €62.09.
When should I book Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
Fares from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth bottom out around 21 days before departure, at €56.19. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the dearest lead time is 106 percent, measured on 15 September 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.
Which day of the week is cheapest for Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
Tuesday is the cheapest day to depart from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, at €62.09. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of 15 September 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.
Which month is cheapest for Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
February is the cheapest of the next 5 months to travel from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, at €49.70 for one passenger. Each month is priced on its fifteenth, so the comparison is like for like rather than a mix of weekends and midweek departures.
Who runs services from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
4 operators sell services from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth across 2 modes: Airlink (SAA), British Airways, Safair, Shosholoza Meyl. Journey times, fares and fare conditions differ between them, and the operator table on this page compares all of them on speed, flexibility and what is provided on board.
Is there a direct service from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
82 percent of the services we sell from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth are direct. The rest connect at Oudtshoorn, George, Paarl, Stellenbosch, with about 70 minutes between the two services. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is rebooked at no charge.
How much CO2 does the journey from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth produce?
Travelling from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth by train produces about 21.9 kg of CO2 per passenger, the lowest of any mode on this corridor. The same journey by Flight produces about 168.0 kg, roughly 8 times as much for one passenger.
Which station or terminal do services from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth use?
Services from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth by flight leave from Cape Town CPT and arrive at Gqeberha PLZ. Allow about 3h 10m in total for reaching the departure terminal and leaving the arrival one, which is already included in every door to door time on this page.
Can I change or refund a ticket from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth?
1 of the 4 operators we sell from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth allow a change or a refund. A change on a changeable fare costs €5.00. The operator table on this page names which is which, and the condition is shown again before you pay.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.
Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon, Distances
- On this page
- Every figure above was computed for Cape Town to Port Elizabeth on 15 September 2026: 676 km of route against 663 km in a straight line, 22 services a day, 4 operators a cheapest fare of €56.19, and 4h 26m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.
The flight is the simple part. What you do once you are in Port Elizabeth is somebody else's catalogue.
Day trips out of Port Elizabeth and across South Africa
Day trips that leave Port Elizabeth in the morning and cover a good part of South Africa by evening.
See Port Elizabeth on GetYourGuideOr browse Viator
Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.
The two ends, compared
Cape Town reaches 45 places in 16 countries on services we hold, over distances from 40 to 9,686 km. Port Elizabeth reaches 31 places in 1 countries, from 112 to 904 km.
Other ways to make this journey
Leaving Cape Town
- 45Places you can leave for
- 16Countries
- 25Operators
Arriving in Port Elizabeth
Leaving Port Elizabeth
- 31Places you can leave for
- 1Countries
- 7Operators