Madrid to Tokyo distance

Madrid to Tokyo in a straight line

In a straight line, the shortest distance over the Earth’s surface, Madrid and Tokyo are 10,785 km (6,702 mi) apart, 27% 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 1,764 km of sea, 16% of the way.

From Madrid, Tokyo lies to the northeast (bearing 29°), and from Tokyo, Madrid lies to the northwest. The straight line reaches Tokyo on a bearing of 153°: the bearing keeps turning along the way (124° in all), which is why the shortest route looks curved on a flat map.

If the plane kept the same bearing all the way (92°, to the east), it would follow the rhumb line, the one that looks straight on a Mercator map: 12,587 km (7,821 mi), 1,802 km more (17% 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 1,764 km of sea (16%) and 9,021 km of land. In order, from Madrid: 365 km over Spain, 890 km over France, 110 km over Belgium, 480 km over Germany, 105 km over Denmark, 395 km over Sweden, 575 km over Finland, 4,823 km over Russia, 1,015 km over People's Republic of China, and 220 km over Japan.

The straight line climbs to 68.3° N (at 68.2602° N, 66.6423° E), 27.8° 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 Tokyo

Halfway along the straight line, 5,393 km (3,351 mi) from each city, is the point 68.1052° N, 73.5651° E. It falls at sea; the nearest town is Mys-Kamennyy (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia, pop. 1,745), 39.6 km away.

Time difference and flight

A direct flight would take about 14 hr. That’s an estimate: 30 minutes for takeoff, climb, descent and landing, plus the 10,785 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, Tokyo is 8 hours ahead of Madrid; in July, 7 hours ahead of 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 Tokyo around 8:00 the next day (Tokyo time) in January and around 7:00 the next day in July.

The two cities

Tokyo is 4.7° farther south than Madrid and 143.4° farther east. Madrid has 3.5 million people (INE population register, January 1, 2025) and Tokyo 9.7 million people (GeoNames).