Madrid to Caracas distance

Madrid to Caracas in a straight line

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, Madrid and Caracas are 6,997 km (4,348 mi) apart, 17% of the way around the Earth at the equator. That’s the geodesic on the WGS84 ellipsoid, the distance “as the crow flies”. There’s no road between them: the straight line crosses 6,502 km of sea, 93% of the way.

From Madrid, Caracas lies to the west (bearing 260°), and from Caracas, Madrid lies to the northeast. The straight line reaches Caracas on a bearing of 230°: the bearing keeps turning along the way (31° in all), which is why the shortest route looks curved on a flat map.

If the plane kept the same bearing all the way (242°, to the southwest), it would follow the rhumb line, the one that looks straight on a Mercator map: 7,074 km (4,396 mi), 77.3 km more (1.1% longer).

What the route flies over

Under the straight line there are 6,502 km of sea (93%) and 495 km of land. In order, from Madrid: 280 km over Spain and 190 km over Portugal.

Planes don’t follow the line exactly: they fly along airways, chase tailwinds and avoid closed airspace, but on long flights they stay close to it.

Halfway between Madrid and Caracas

Halfway along the straight line, 3,498 km (2,174 mi) from each city, is the point 29.1600° N, 39.7403° W. It falls at sea; the nearest town is Lagens (Azores, Portugal, pop. 3,907), 1,379 km away.

Time difference and flight

A direct flight would take about 9 hr 15 min. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 6,997 km straight line at 800 km/h (about 497 mph), a typical airliner cruising speed. Real schedules depend on wind, routing and airports, and not every pair has a direct flight. Westbound flights usually take a little longer than eastbound ones because of high-altitude winds (the jet stream).

In January, Caracas is 5 hours behind Madrid; in July, 6 hours behind Madrid. It changes because they don’t switch to summer time together.

With that flight time, if you leave Madrid at 10:00, you land in Caracas around 14:15 (Caracas time) in January and around 13:15 in July.

The two cities

Caracas is 29.9° farther south than Madrid and 63.2° farther west. Madrid has 3.5 million people (INE population register, January 1, 2025) and Caracas 3.0 million people (GeoNames).