Addis Ababa to Cape Town

Compare trains, buses, flights and ferries from Addis Ababa to Cape Town. From €478.04, fastest 10h 20m, with the total price and every fee shown up front.

Traveling from Addis Ababa to Cape Town costs €478.04 at the cheapest and takes 10h 20m door to door at the fastest, across 1 mode and 1 operator. The route covers 5,393 km. Cheapest is by flight, fastest is by flight.

Checked September 13, 2026Priced for September 30, 2026One passenger, all fees included

At a glance

Distance
5,393 km
Fastest
10h 20m
Average
10h 51m
Services per day
5
Cheapest
€478.04
CO2 per passenger
798.2 kg
Door to door

Every way to make this journey

Journey times below are door to door, so they include getting to the terminal and away from it at the other end. Fares are the cheapest we currently sell on September 30, 2026.

Door to door means the whole journey, including reaching the terminal and leaving it at the far end. Fares are the cheapest sold on each mode.
ModeDoor to doorMovingAt the endsFromCO2Per day
Flight10h 20m7h 10m3h 10m€502.82798.2 kg5
  • 10h 20mFastest, by Flight
  • €502.82Cheapest, by Flight
  • 798.2 kgLowest CO2, by Flight
  • 5,393 kmDistance traveled
Real services

The cheapest and the fastest on September 30, 2026

Two journeys we can sell today, with the service number each operator files them under.

Cheapest€478.04
  1. Ethiopian Airlines EA643707:302h 6m09:36Addis Ababa ADDNairobi NBO
  2. Kenya Airways KA457210:275h 46m16:13Nairobi NBOCape Town CPT

Changes at Nairobi, with 51 minutes between services and a walk of about 5 minutes.

Door to door 11h 53mCO2 920.9 kgChanges 1Fixed, no changes

Fastest€496.33
  1. Ethiopian Airlines EA191606:217h 10m13:31Addis Ababa ADDCape Town CPT

Door to door 10h 20mCO2 798.2 kgChanges 0Fixed, no changes

Today's real departures

Live from the operators' own published timetables, through the open transit feeds they publish. Times and services are real. Fares are modeled until our booking connectors are live.

Checking the live timetables.

Live from the operators' own published timetables, through the open transit feeds they publish. Times and services are real. Fares are modeled until our booking connectors are live.

Prices over the next three weeks

Live from our own engine, refreshed on every request. The cheapest days for each way of traveling are marked.

Cheapest fare by mode and day for Addis Ababa to Cape Town
Cheapest fare by mode and day for Addis Ababa to Cape TownMonSep 14TueSep 15WedSep 16ThuSep 17FriSep 18SatSep 19SunSep 20MonSep 21TueSep 22WedSep 23ThuSep 24FriSep 25SatSep 26SunSep 27
Flight€847.97€1,047.39€682.77€928.21€871.57€837.94€613.15€561.82€518.75€702.83€784.25€624.95€690.44€502.82

Cheapest day: 2026-09-30 · €478.04

That is the traveling done. What happens after you walk out into Cape Town is not something we sell.

A hotel room

Rooms within reach of Cape Town railway station

Hotels and apartments near downtown, most of them with free cancellation, on a map that shows what is walkable.

Partner links. We do not sell accommodation. We earn a commission when a booking completes, and it never changes what you pay.

Booking window

When to book Addis Ababa to Cape Town

The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.

  1. €659.1790 days
  2. €460.3460 days
  3. €365.9445 days
  4. €380.6930 days
  5. €499.8721 days
  6. €502.8214 days
  7. €613.157 days
  8. €682.773 days
  9. €847.971 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €365.94.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 132 percent. The most expensive point is €847.97, 1 days out.
What that means
Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 45 days before departure. Waiting from here has usually cost money on this corridor rather than saved it.
€847.97€365.941371421304560

Book now Fares on this route are lowest around 45 days ahead. You are inside that window.

Day of the week

Which departure day costs least

Median cheapest fare for each weekday, taken across the next three weeks of real prices.

  1. €502.82Sun
  2. €561.82Mon
  3. €518.75Tue
  4. €682.77Wed
  5. €784.25Thu
  6. €624.95Fri
  7. €690.44Sat
Across the year

How the fare moves month by month

The same journey priced on the fifteenth of each of the next six months.

  1. €1,047.39Sep
  2. €551.20Oct
  3. €408.42Nov
  4. €459.16Dec
  5. €511.67Jan
  6. €343.52Feb

The route

Addis AbabaAddis AbabaCape TownCape Town
The journey

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
20% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 80% involve one connection.
How far it really runs
The route covers 5,393 km against 5,236 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.
Where the change is
Connections are made at Nairobi, Gaborone, Johannesburg, Harare. The gap between arriving and leaving is 51 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
If the connection is missed
The tightest connection we sell here has a 18 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.
First and last departure
The first service of the day leaves Addis Ababa at 06:21 and the last at 07:30, across 5 departures. The return direction keeps its own timetable, so the times back are not these times reversed.
Terminals

Where you leave from and where you arrive

The stations, airports and ports each mode on this corridor actually uses.

Addis Ababa

Rail
  • Addis Abeba train station
  • Furi-Lebu Railway Station
Bus
  • ali
  • Gelan
Air
  • ADD

Cape Town

Rail
  • Cape Town railway station
  • Langa
  • Parow
Bus
  • Grey
  • Gardens
Air
  • CPT
Ferry
  • Nelson Mandela Gateway to Robben Island

Cape Town is large, and the road in from CPT can take longer than the last hour of the flight. Cars are not our business.

A taxi stand outside an airport terminal

Getting from CPT into Cape Town

Settled in advance, so the ride into Cape Town costs what it said it would rather than what the cab stand says.

Partner links. We do not operate transfers. We earn a commission on a booking, and the fare is the same as going direct.

Carriers

Who runs this route

Speed, flexibility and what is on board. Nothing here is a rating, because we have not earned one.

Every operator we sell on this corridor. Speed is the carrier's own typical cruising speed, not the average over this route.
OperatorFromFastestTypical speedFlexibilityOn board
Ethiopian Airlines€496.3310h 20m740 km/hFixed fareNot published
  • Ethiopian Airlines
The price

What the fare is made of

Every part of the total, so the number at checkout is the number here.

The cheapest flight fare we sell on 2026-09-30, broken into its parts. Nothing is added after this.
PartAmountShare
Operator fare€397.5083%
Taxes€71.5515%
Supplier fees€7.001%
Our service fee€1.990%
Total you pay€478.04100%

The flight gets in hours before any room is ready. Holding a bag is not what we sell.

Left luggage lockers

Somewhere to drop the bags in Cape Town?

Priced by the bag and by the day, booked before you get there, and insured while it sits.

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 Addis Ababa to Cape Town

The questions people actually ask about this trip, 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 Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

The fastest journey from Addis Ababa to Cape Town takes 10h 20m door to door, of which 7h 10m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 10h 51m, 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 Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

The cheapest fare from Addis Ababa to Cape Town is €478.04, checked on September 13, 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €713.45. 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 Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

The cheapest way from Addis Ababa to Cape Town is by flight, at €502.82 for one passenger on September 30, 2026. That journey takes 10h 20m 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.

When should I book Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

Fares from Addis Ababa to Cape Town bottom out around 45 days before departure, at €365.94. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive lead time is 132 percent, measured on September 13, 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.

Which day of the week is cheapest for Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

Sunday is the cheapest day to depart from Addis Ababa to Cape Town, at €502.82. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, checked on September 13, 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.

Which month is cheapest for Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

February is the cheapest of the next 6 months to travel from Addis Ababa to Cape Town, at €343.52 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 service from Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

1 operators sell services from Addis Ababa to Cape Town across 1 mode: Ethiopian Airlines. 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 Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

20 percent of the services we sell from Addis Ababa to Cape Town are direct. The rest connect at Nairobi, Gaborone, Johannesburg, Harare, with about 51 minutes between the two services. Both legs are sold on one booking, so a missed connection is rebooked at no charge.

Which station or terminal do services from Addis Ababa to Cape Town use?

Services from Addis Ababa to Cape Town by flight leave from Addis Ababa ADD and arrive at Cape Town CPT. 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 Addis Ababa to Cape Town?

0 of the 1 operators we sell from Addis Ababa to Cape Town 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

Observed service A carrier record shows this named operator serving this named pair, and we carry that through unchanged.

Schedules, seat counts and fares are generated by our own model until the supplier contracts are signed. Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance are real. We would rather say that on every page than let a modeled number pass for a filed one.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares, The booking window, Carbon, Distances

On this page
Every figure above was computed for Addis Ababa to Cape Town on September 13, 2026: 5393 km of route against 5236 km in a straight line, 5 services a day, 1 operators, a cheapest fare of €478.04, and 10h 20m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Plenty of what is worth seeing sits outside Cape Town and elsewhere in South Africa. None of it is ours to sell.

A guided tour group

What to book in Cape Town before you go

The tickets worth having in advance, because the line at the door is usually the whole morning.

Partner links. We do not sell tours or tickets. We earn a commission on a booking, and it never changes the price.

Other ways to make this journey

Leaving Addis Ababa

Arriving in Cape Town

Leaving Cape Town

  • 45Places you can leave for
  • 16Countries
  • 25Operators

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