Downtown Cape Town at night, from the roof of the Strand South hotel.

Johannesburg to Cape Town

Compare trains, buses, flights and ferries from Johannesburg to Cape Town. From €99.26, fastest 5h 13m, with the total price and every fee shown up front.

Johannesburg to Cape Town runs about 72 times a day, with the first departure around 06:06 and the last around 20:50. One passenger pays between €99.26 and €109.88, every fee included, depending on the operator and the way you travel. The fastest door to door is 5h 13m over 1,299 km, on services run by 9 operators across 1 mode.

Checked September 19, 2026Priced for October 6, 2026One passenger, all fees included

What one seat costs

The spread between the cheapest and dearest typical fare on this corridor, across 9 operators and 1 way of making the journey. The operator sets the price on the day.

Typical fares · Priced for October 6, 2026

€99.26 to €109.88

  • 169%Moves across the booking window

When it runs, leaving Johannesburg

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.

  • 06:06First departure
  • 20:50Last departure
  • 72Services per day
  • 100%Run direct

Fares by date

What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.

Typical fares

  1. about €222.57Sun20
  2. about €192.48Mon21
  3. about €155.31Tue22
  4. about €165.34Wed23
  5. about €206.64Thu24
  6. about €191.89Fri25
  7. about €158.85Sat26
  8. about €149.41Sun27
  9. about €130.53Mon28
  10. about €125.81Tue29
  11. about €134.07Wed30
  12. about €156.49Thu1
  13. about €144.69Fri2
  14. about €124.63Sat3
  15. about €115.78Sun4
  16. about €100.44Mon5
  17. about €99.26Tue6
  18. about €104.57Wed7
  19. about €131.12Thu8
  20. about €120.50Fri9
  21. about €124.63Sat10

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 Cape Town. It does not get you a bed, and neither do we.

A hotel room

A room in Cape Town for the night the flight gets in

Sort by distance from Cape Town railway station and you can see which places are ten minutes on foot and which are not.

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 Johannesburg to Cape Town

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

  1. €125.8190 days
  2. €86.8760 days
  3. €82.7445 days
  4. €88.0530 days
  5. €124.6321 days
  6. €124.6314 days
  7. €158.857 days
  8. €155.313 days
  9. €222.571 days
Cheapest lead time
Fares bottom out around 45 days ahead, at €82.74.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 169 percent. The most expensive point is €222.57, 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.
€222.57€82.74137142130456090

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

This corridor, specifically

Facts that apply to Johannesburg to Cape Town 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

1,299 km

1,262 km as the crow flies, 3% further by the route services take. The bearing runs south-west.

Who lives at each end

9,418,1834,772,846

Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.

How we know

0/2

2 of these connections were inferred from service-area overlap rather than observed in a timetable. We would rather say so.

The route

JohannesburgJohannesburgCape TownCape Town
The journey

What the journey looks like

Direct or connecting, how far the route really runs, and what happens when a connection is missed.

How far it really runs
The route covers 1,299 km against 1,262 km in a straight line, a detour of 3 percent. Track and road geometry account for the difference.

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

A car waiting when you land in 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.

Who runs this route

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

Left luggage lockers

Baggage storage near Cape Town railway station

Most of the points near Cape Town railway station open before the first train and close after the last one.

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 Johannesburg 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 Johannesburg to Cape Town?

The fastest journey from Johannesburg to Cape Town takes 5h 13m door to door, of which 2h 3m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 5h 20m, 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 Johannesburg to Cape Town?

The cheapest fare from Johannesburg to Cape Town is €99.26, as of September 19, 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €170.06. 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 Johannesburg to Cape Town?

The cheapest way from Johannesburg to Cape Town is by flight, at €99.26 for one passenger on October 6, 2026. That journey takes 5h 13m 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 Johannesburg to Cape Town?

Fares from Johannesburg to Cape Town bottom out around 45 days before departure, at €82.74. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive lead time is 169 percent, measured on September 19, 2026. Booking inside the last week has consistently cost more on this corridor.

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

Saturday is the cheapest day to depart from Johannesburg to Cape Town, at €124.63. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of September 19, 2026. Shifting a departure by one day is usually worth more than shifting the booking by one week.

Which month is cheapest for Johannesburg to Cape Town?

February is the cheapest of the next 5 months to travel from Johannesburg to Cape Town, at €85.69 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 Johannesburg to Cape Town?

No operator record names Johannesburg to Cape Town directly. Airlink (SAA), British Airways, CemAir, LIFT Airline, Mango, Safair publish service areas covering both ends and may serve it, so we list them as possible operators rather than confirmed ones.

Is there a direct service from Johannesburg to Cape Town?

Every service we sell from Johannesburg to Cape Town is direct, with around 72 departures a day and a fastest journey of 5h 13m door to door. No connection is needed, so there is no missed connection risk to plan around on this corridor.

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

Services from Johannesburg to Cape Town by flight leave from Johannesburg JNB 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 Johannesburg to Cape Town?

0 of the 9 operators we sell from Johannesburg 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

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.

Derived from service area No carrier record names this exact pair. The operators listed publish a service area covering both places at a distance their mode plausibly carries people, which is evidence that the corridor is served and not evidence of a specific service. Pages state which, because presenting the two as the same thing would be dishonest.

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 Johannesburg to Cape Town on September 19, 2026: 1299 km of route against 1262 km in a straight line, 72 services a day, 9 operators a cheapest fare of €99.26, and 5h 13m door to door on the fastest mode. The return direction is computed separately and its numbers are not these numbers.

Being on the water gives Cape Town a set of days out that do not start at a station. We do not sell those either.

A guided tour group

Day trips out of Cape Town and across South Africa

Day trips that leave Cape Town in the morning and cover a good part of South Africa by evening.

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

Johannesburg reaches 104 places in 45 countries on services we hold, over distances from 41 to 13,566 km. Cape Town reaches 45 places in 16 countries, from 40 to 9,686 km.

Other ways to make this journey

Leaving Johannesburg

  • 104Places you can leave for
  • 45Countries
  • 46Operators

Arriving in Cape Town

Leaving Cape Town

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

Find tickets

Plan with Ori

Ori, the trip planner

Ask it something like this