Cheap flights from London to Cape Town

April is the cheapest month for this route, and the price calendar carries fares for every other month too, so you can see what the school breaks do to the fare. Cape Town is dry and warm from roughly November through March, which is when demand peaks, while the cooler, wetter winter months are quieter and often kinder to your budget. Midweek departures and midweek returns usually cost less than weekend ones, and steering clear of the December and January holidays and the Easter break helps. If April or May suits you, book a few weeks ahead rather than months.

The airline mix on this route is broad. Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and Kenya Airways are full-service carriers, and they sell connections through their hubs rather than a nonstop. Norse Atlantic UK LTD flies long-haul on a low-cost model, so read the fare rules carefully: what is included differs from a full-service ticket. Edelweiss Air is a leisure carrier, while Hahn Air, A.P.G. Distribution System and Accesrail appear as ticketing and distribution partners rather than as the airline whose aircraft you board. Direct flights also exist on the route, so compare a nonstop fare against a connecting one before you decide.

Cape Town International is the only airport serving the city, so there is no second arrival point to weigh up — direct and connecting tickets both land there. The airport sits outside the centre, so plan on a taxi, a ride-hailing app, an airport shuttle or a hired car rather than a walk. Traffic into town builds in the morning and again in the late afternoon, so allow extra time if you land then. If your trip is booked as separate tickets, leave room for a delayed first leg before you commit to anything onward. Ask at the London desk whether your bag is tagged all the way through to Cape Town.

Currency

ZAR (R)

Power sockets

Type C, D, G, N · 230 V

Language

South African Sign Language, Southern Ndebele, Sesotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Swazi, Northern Sotho, Venda, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, English

Emergency number

112

Calling code

+27

Internet domain

.za

Population of Cape Town

3.8 M (2021)

Time zone

UTC+02 (Africa/Johannesburg)

Country facts: Wikidata

• Check which London airport your fare leaves from — London City, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted are far apart, and switching between them eats a day.
• On a low-cost long-haul ticket, confirm what the fare includes before you pay.
• If your connection is on separate tickets, leave enough time to collect and re-check your bags.
• Check passport validity and entry rules for South Africa before you book.
• Compare a direct fare with a connecting one — the difference often decides the trip.
• If you want April, book early, because the cheapest seats on this route go first.