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How long would it take to get to Venus?

Venus is 23,736,380 miles from Earth at its closest and 162,177,881 miles at its farthest. A car at 65 mph would need 41.7 years for the shorter distance and 285 years for the longer. A passenger jet at 570 mph would need 4.8 years and 32.5 years.

23,736,380 mi

Distance at the closest

2 minutes 7 seconds

Light travel time at the closest

41.7 years

By car at 65 mph

4.8 years

By jet at 570 mph

A radar map of Venus on a globe with a latitude and longitude grid — Venus seen in Magellan radar mosaics, centered at 180 degrees east longitude and mapped onto a computer-simulated globe with a 5 degree grid. Image: NASA/JPL.

Travel time by vehicle

Travel time to Venus by vehicle
Vehicle	Speed	Closest	Typical	Farthest
Walking	3 mph	903 years	3,535 years	6,167 years
Bicycle	12 mph	226 years	884 years	1,542 years
Car on a highway	65 mph	41.7 years	163 years	285 years
Passenger jet	570 mph	4.8 years	18.6 years	32.5 years
SR-71 Blackbird, its official speed record	2,193 mph	451 days	4.8 years	8.4 years
Voyager 1, about 17 km/s	38,028 mph	26 days	102 days	178 days
Parker Solar Probe at closest approach, 692,000 km/h	429,989 mph	2 days 7 hours	9 days	16 days
Light	670,616,629 mph	2 minutes 7 seconds	8 minutes 19 seconds	14 minutes 31 seconds

How long real spacecraft took

Mariner 2 needed 109 days. Spacecraft rarely fly straight at a target. They follow curved paths timed to launch windows, so the trip is longer than the distance alone suggests.

Spacecraft that reached Venus
Mission	Launched	Arrived	Trip time	What happened
Mariner 2	August 27, 1962	December 14, 1962	109 days	Closest approach to Venus

Why the answer changes

Venus is 6.8 times farther away at its farthest than at its closest, so every travel time above is 6.8 times longer at the far end. The distance depends on where both planets are in their orbits. The closest figure is the smallest possible gap, and the typical figure is the midpoint between the closest and the farthest.

Try your own speed

Speed

Unit

Other destinations

The MoonBy car, 145 days at the closest.MarsBy car, 59.5 years at the closest.The SunBy car, 160 years at the closest.JupiterBy car, 642 years at the closest.

Sources and method

Distances: NASA Planetary Fact Sheet, accessed October 18, 2026. Closest and farthest are the minimum and maximum distance from Earth in NASA's table. Typical is the midpoint, except for the Moon (average distance) and the Sun (mean distance).
Vehicle speeds are round figures chosen for comparison, not measurements. Light travels at 299,792.458 km/s.
Mariner 2: NASA science site, date only.