Distance calculator between cities
Pick two cities to get the straight-line flight distance, estimated flight time and compass bearing, with the shortest route drawn on the map.
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Why the shortest route is a curve
Stretch a string across a globe between New York and Tokyo and it runs up over Alaska, not straight across the Pacific. That string is a great circle, the largest circle you can draw on a sphere, and its arc is always the shortest path. Airlines fly close to great circles to save fuel.
The dashed line is the route you would take by holding one compass heading the whole way, a rhumb line. On a Mercator map it looks straight, which is exactly why sailors liked Mercator, but it is longer. Switch to the globe view and the magenta great circle becomes the obvious shortcut. Why maps distort routes like this.
Popular city-to-city distances
- New York to London
- New York to Los Angeles
- New York to Paris
- London to Paris
- London to Tokyo
- Los Angeles to Tokyo
- Los Angeles to Sydney
- New York to Tokyo
- London to Sydney
- New York to Miami
- Los Angeles to Las Vegas
- Los Angeles to San Francisco
- New York to Chicago
- New York to Boston
- New York to Washington, D.C.
- Chicago to Los Angeles
- Seattle to Los Angeles
- New York to Toronto
- London to Rome
- London to Berlin
- London to Dubai
- Dubai to Singapore
- London to New Delhi
- New Delhi to Mumbai
- Beijing to Tokyo
- Singapore to Sydney
- Sydney to Melbourne
- Sydney to Auckland
- Los Angeles to Honolulu
- Dallas to New York
- Orlando to New York
- Atlanta to New York
- Madrid to London
- Los Angeles to Mexico City
- New York to São Paulo
- London to Cape Town
- Cairo to London
- Istanbul to London
- Moscow to Beijing
- Buenos Aires to Madrid
- Hong Kong to London
- Paris to Rome
Frequently asked questions
How is the distance between cities calculated?
With the haversine formula, which gives the shortest distance between two points on a sphere (the great-circle distance), using Earth's mean radius of 6,371 km. It matches airline "as the crow flies" distances to within about 0.5%; Earth is slightly flattened, which accounts for the difference.
Is this the driving distance?
No. It is the straight-line distance over Earth's surface. Road distance is usually 20–40% longer because roads follow terrain and borders. Use a routing app such as Google Maps for driving directions.
How is the flight time estimated?
Distance divided by a typical airliner cruise speed of about 800 km/h, plus 30 minutes for take-off, climb and landing. Real flights vary with winds (the jet stream makes eastbound flights faster), routing and aircraft.
Why does the shortest route look curved on a flat map?
Because flat maps distort the globe. The shortest path between two points on a sphere is an arc of a great circle. On a Mercator map that arc bends toward the pole, while the straight line (a rhumb line, constant compass heading) is actually longer. Switch the map to Globe view to see the route straighten out.
What is a nautical mile?
Exactly 1,852 metres, originally one minute (1/60 of a degree) of latitude. It is used in aviation and at sea, and speeds in nautical miles per hour are knots.