Temperature influences the efficiency of the toroidal CVT. However, temperature rise in the traction contact areas has not been examined. In this article, temperature rise in the traction contact areas of a toroidal CVT is discussed. First, measured temperature distributions at the contact points under conditions that are typically found in a toroidal CVT using an FZG twin-disk test machine and thin-film sensors were shown. Second, experimental results were compared with results from a traction analysis program (REIB99), which is a program that calculates traction coefficient and temperature rise using rheological models and flash temperature theory. Qualitative agreement of temperature rise was good between the experimental results and our calculations. Measured temperatures were two times higher than the calculated temperatures for all measured conditions. Finally, temperature rise at the traction points of the toroidal CVTs were analyzed using REIB99. The calculated temperature rise under varying conditions of variator ratio and input revolution was discussed.