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Flying from Cairo to Riyadh?

Add a departure date and see which side gets the sun.

About this route

CairoRiyadh

A medium flight from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. No clock change on arrival.

Route type International
Distance 1,612 km / 1,002 mi
Distance class Medium-haul
Direction East-southeast
Est. duration About 2h 15m
Time change No change

Departing from

CAI

Cairo International Airport

Location Cairo, Egypt
Time zone GMT+3 · UTC+3
Current time

The mother of the world

Cairo sprawls along the Nile in a metro area of more than 20 million people, one of the largest and oldest continuously inhabited urban areas on Earth, with the Pyramids of Giza visible from its western edge. The metro system doesn't yet reach the airport, although an extension is planned; taxis, ride-hailing, and buses cover the trip for now, and traffic can make it slow at peak times. Cairo's existing metro lines are some of the busiest in Africa and the Middle East, covering much of the city along the river. It runs hot and dry most of the year, with mild winters and very little rain.

Surrounding hubs

394 km / 245 mi
474 km / 295 mi
757 km / 470 mi

Arriving at

RUH

King Khalid International Airport

Location Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Time zone GMT+3 · UTC+3
Current time

The desert capital

Riyadh sits on a high desert plateau in central Saudi Arabia, a fast-modernizing capital of wide boulevards and an increasingly dense skyline. The Riyadh Metro's Yellow Line runs directly to all of King Khalid International's terminals, a fast and recent addition to what was, until 2024, a thoroughly car-dependent city. Summers are extremely hot and dry, regularly exceeding 45°C (113°F), with mild, pleasant winters. Outside the metro's reach, the city is still built primarily for cars, with wide highways connecting its sprawling districts.

Surrounding hubs

353 km / 219 mi
421 km / 262 mi
491 km / 305 mi
How it works

Find out which side of the plane to sit on.

Pick your airports, set your departure time, and you're done.

We calculate the sun's position based on your flight path and departure time, then tell you which side of the plane gets direct sun and which stays shaded. No guessing, just math.

01

Enter your flight

Pick your departure and arrival airports and set your departure time at the departure airport. FlightSide estimates the duration and you can adjust it if you know the exact schedule.

02

We track the sun along your route

Your flight path is broken into hundreds of points. At each one we check where the sun is and which side of the plane it faces.

03

You get a recommendation

Which side of the plane to sit on, left or right, depending on whether you'd rather avoid the sun or enjoy it. The percentages and the map are there if you want to see why.

Want to go deeper? Accuracy, edge cases, polar routes — see the FAQ →

Latest journal

Notes from the product.

Small updates, route observations, and clearer explanations for how the app keeps evolving.