Madrid to Havana distance

Madrid to Havana in a straight line

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, Madrid and Havana are 7,454 km (4,632 mi) apart, 19% 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 7,004 km of sea, 94% of the way.

From Madrid, Havana lies to the west (bearing 281°), and from Havana, Madrid lies to the northeast. The straight line reaches Havana on a bearing of 234°: the bearing keeps turning along the way (47° in all), which is why the shortest route looks curved on a flat map.

If the plane kept the same bearing all the way (255°, to the west), it would follow the rhumb line, the one that looks straight on a Mercator map: 7,648 km (4,752 mi), 194 km more (2.6% longer). That’s why long routes don’t look “straight” on a map: the curve is the short way.

What the route flies over

Under the straight line there are 7,004 km of sea (94%) and 450 km of land. In order, from Madrid: 270 km over Spain and 155 km over Portugal.

The straight line climbs to 41.8° N (at 41.7557° N, 21.3779° W), 1.3° farther north than Madrid: on a sphere that’s the short way, even if it looks like a detour on a flat map. 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 Havana

Halfway along the straight line, 3,727 km (2,316 mi) from each city, is the point 38.6525° N, 47.4337° W. It falls at sea; the nearest town is Witless Bay (Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, pop. 1,640), 1,054 km away.

Time difference and flight

A direct flight would take about 9 hr 50 min. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 7,454 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).

Havana is 6 hours behind Madrid all year (Cuba Time versus Central European Time): when it’s 12:00 in Madrid, it’s 6:00 in Havana.

With that flight time, if you leave Madrid at 10:00, you land in Havana around 13:50 (Havana time).

The two cities

Havana is 17.3° farther south than Madrid and 78.7° farther west. Madrid has 3.5 million people (INE population register, January 1, 2025) and Havana 2.2 million people (GeoNames).