London to Cape Town runs about 23 times a day, with the first departure around 06:19 and the last around 19:31. One passenger pays between €755.34 and €906.97, every fee included, depending on the operator and the way you travel. The fastest door to door is 16h 3m over 9,961 km, on services run by 4 operators across 1 mode.
What one seat costs
The spread between the cheapest and dearest typical fare on this corridor, across 4 operators and 1 way of making the journey. The operator sets the price on the day.
Typical fares
€755.34 to €906.97
- 163%Moves across the booking window
When it runs, leaving London
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.
- 06:19First departure
- 19:31Last departure
- 23Services per day
- 87%Run direct
Fares by date
What this journey usually costs, by departure date. It shows which days run dearer.
Typical fares
- about €1,646.24Mon14
- about €1,413.19Tue15
- about €1,503.46Wed16
- about €1,535.91Thu17
- about €1,436.79Fri18
- about €1,466.88Sat19
- about €1,365.99Sun20
- about €966.56Mon21
- about €906.97Tue22
- about €1,032.05Wed23
- about €1,244.99Thu24
- about €1,229.11Fri25
- about €1,177.78Sat26
- about €1,114.06Sun27
- about €781.89Mon28
- about €755.34Tue29
- about €813.16Wed30
- about €973.64Thu1
- about €874.84Fri2
- about €908.74Sat3
- about €824.96Sun4
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 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.
Search Cape Town 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 London to Cape Town
The same search run across the whole booking window, so the shape of the curve is visible rather than described.
- €963.6190 days
- €759.4760 days
- €641.6445 days
- €626.7230 days
- €824.9621 days
- €1,114.0614 days
- €1,365.997 days
- €1,503.463 days
- €1,646.241 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Fares bottom out around 30 days ahead, at €626.72.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 163 percent. The most expensive point is €1,646.24, 1 days out.
- What that means
- Today sits inside the cheap window, which closes about 30 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 30 days ahead. You are inside that window.
This corridor, specifically
Facts that apply to London to Cape Town and to no other route on the site.
Clocks
1 hours ahead on arrival. The clock moves even though you do not.
The shape of it
9,961 km
9,671 km as the crow flies, 3% further by the route services actually take. The bearing runs south.
Who lives at each end
8,961,989 → 4,772,846
Population at the departure city and at the arrival city, which is usually what decides how often anything runs.
How we know
Observed
Every operator on this corridor is named in a carrier record.
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
- 83% of the services we sell on this corridor run through without a change. The remaining 17% involve one connection.
- How far it really runs
- The route covers 9,961 km against 9,671 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 Frankfurt am Main, Luanda, Paris, Zürich. The gap between arriving and leaving is 56 minutes, of which about 5 is walking.
- If the connection is missed
- The tightest connection we sell here has a 17 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.
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 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.
Book a ride from CPT 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.
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.
Check Cape Town 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 London 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 London to Cape Town?
The fastest journey from London to Cape Town takes 16h 3m door to door, of which 12h 53m is spent moving, on the flight. Most services take around 17h 6m, 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 London to Cape Town?
The cheapest fare from London to Cape Town is €755.34, as of September 13, 2026. A typical fare across the next three weeks is €1,315.25. 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 London to Cape Town?
The cheapest way from London to Cape Town is by flight, at €906.97 for one passenger on September 29, 2026. That journey takes 16h 3m 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 London to Cape Town?
Fares from London to Cape Town bottom out around 30 days before departure, at €626.72. Across the whole booking window the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive lead time is 163 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 London to Cape Town?
Tuesday is the cheapest day to depart from London to Cape Town, at €906.97. That is the median of 21 priced departure days across the next three weeks, as of 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 London to Cape Town?
February is the cheapest of the next 6 months to travel from London to Cape Town, at €631.44 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 London to Cape Town?
4 operators sell services from London to Cape Town across 1 mode: British Airways, Norse Atlantic Airways UK, South African Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways. 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 London to Cape Town?
83 percent of the services we sell from London to Cape Town are direct. The rest connect at Frankfurt am Main, Luanda, Paris, Zürich, with about 56 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 London to Cape Town use?
Services from London to Cape Town by flight leave from London LHR 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 London to Cape Town?
0 of the 4 operators we sell from London 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.
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 London to Cape Town on September 13, 2026: 9961 km of route against 9671 km in a straight line, 24 services a day, 4 operators a cheapest fare of €755.34, and 16h 3m 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.
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.
See Cape Town 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
London reaches 520 places in 109 countries on services we hold, over distances from 17 to 11,718 km. Cape Town reaches 45 places in 16 countries, from 40 to 9,686 km.
Other ways to make this journey
Leaving London
- 520Places you can leave for
- 109Countries
- 196Operators
Arriving in Cape Town
Leaving Cape Town
- 45Places you can leave for
- 16Countries
- 25Operators