Madrid to Lima distance

Madrid to Lima in a straight line

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, Madrid and Lima are 9,502 km (5,904 mi) apart, 24% 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 6,028 km of sea, 63% of the way.

From Madrid, Lima lies to the west (bearing 250°), and from Lima, Madrid lies to the northeast. The straight line reaches Lima on a bearing of 227°: the bearing keeps turning along the way (23° in all), which is why the shortest route looks curved on a flat map.

If the plane kept the same bearing all the way (233°, to the southwest), it would follow the rhumb line, the one that looks straight on a Mercator map: 9,563 km (5,942 mi), 61.2 km more (0.6% longer).

What the route flies over

Under the straight line there are 6,028 km of sea (63%) and 3,474 km of land. In order, from Madrid: 335 km over Spain, 175 km over Portugal, 330 km over Guyana, 2,079 km over Brazil, and 555 km over Peru.

It crosses the equator. 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 Lima

Halfway along the straight line, 4,751 km (2,952 mi) from each city, is the point 17.4786° N, 45.6390° W. It falls at sea; the nearest town is Sinnamary (Guyane, pop. 3,180), 1,558 km away.

Time difference and flight

A direct flight would take about 12 hr 25 min. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 9,502 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, Lima is 6 hours behind Madrid; in July, 7 hours behind Madrid. It changes because they don’t switch to summer time together (in the Southern Hemisphere, summer is in January).

With that flight time, if you leave Madrid at 10:00, you land in Lima around 16:25 (Lima time) in January and around 15:25 in July.

The two cities

Lima is 52.5° farther south than Madrid and 73.3° farther west. Madrid has 3.5 million people (INE population register, January 1, 2025) and Lima 7.7 million people (GeoNames).