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Natural Earth 1:50m · 43 capitals
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European Capitals Quiz

Forty-three capital cities on a flat map of Europe, from Lisbon and Reykjavik to Chișinău. Each card names a capital — click its country or drag the card onto it. Luxembourg and Monaco share their names with their capitals, so they stay locked under their flags. Three tries per card; three flags, three hints and three skips are free for the round.

Read the capital on the card, then click its country or drag the card onto it. Flag turns the card into that country's flag, Hint opens all three facts about it; after three misses, or Skip, the map places it for you. Scroll or pinch to zoom in.

All 43 capitals and their countries, the flags explained, more maps ↓

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European Capitals Quiz

Forty-three European capitals on a flat map of Europe: read the city on the card and find its country. Three tries each, no labels.

Bern, Amsterdam, Ankara: not the biggest city

Three of the best-known cards name a city that is not the largest in its country. Switzerland's constitution names no capital at all; Bern is the federal city, where parliament and government have sat since 1848, while Zürich is far bigger. The Dutch constitution does name Amsterdam, but the States General, the ministries and the Supreme Court are all in The Hague. Turkey moved its capital from Istanbul to Ankara in 1923, at the founding of the republic, and left its largest city on the Bosphorus. Smaller versions of the same thing: Vaduz is not even the most populous municipality in Liechtenstein — Schaan is — and the City of San Marino on Monte Titano is smaller than Serravalle down the hill.

Four capitals on one river, and two almost touching

The Danube is the only river with four capitals on its banks — Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade, in the order the water passes them — and the first two are the closest pair of national capitals in the world apart from Rome and the Vatican, about fifty-five kilometres apart. Rome and Vatican City are the extreme case: the Vatican's card is a country entirely inside another capital, and on the map it is a single dot to find inside Rome. Nicosia is Europe's last divided capital, cut in two by the Green Line; both halves are on this map, but only the Republic of Cyprus takes a card.

Moves, renamings and a city built after a siege

Several capitals are newer than their countries, or newer under their present names. Helsinki became Finland's capital in 1812, when the Russian tsar moved it from Turku, closer to St Petersburg. Oslo was Christiania until 1925. Podgorica was Titograd from 1946 to 1992. Tirana was made Albania's capital only in 1920. Valletta was built from scratch after the Ottoman siege of 1565 and named after Jean de Valette, the Grand Master who had held the island. Reykjavik is the northernmost capital of a sovereign state. Kyiv is the spelling on its card, the Ukrainian form rather than the Russian-derived Kiev, and Chișinău keeps its Romanian diacritics.

Why Luxembourg and Monaco stay locked

Two countries share a name with their capital, Luxembourg and Monaco, and a card that named the city would name the country; they stay locked under their flags, leaving forty-three cards. Andorra la Vella, Vatican City and the City of San Marino come close to the same thing, but the extra words keep them in the deck.

All 43 capitals and their countries

43 capitals are in the deck, listed in alphabetical order by city, each with its country. Kosovo, Luxembourg, Monaco and Northern Cyprus are on the map but not in the deck.

  1. AmsterdamNetherlands
  2. Andorra la VellaAndorra
  3. AnkaraTurkey
  4. AthensGreece
  5. BelgradeSerbia
  6. BerlinGermany
  7. BernSwitzerland
  8. BratislavaSlovakia
  9. BrusselsBelgium
  10. BucharestRomania
  11. BudapestHungary
  12. ChișinăuMoldova
  13. City of San MarinoSan Marino
  14. CopenhagenDenmark
  15. DublinIreland
  16. HelsinkiFinland
  17. KyivUkraine
  18. LisbonPortugal
  19. LjubljanaSlovenia
  20. LondonUnited Kingdom
  21. MadridSpain
  22. MinskBelarus
  23. NicosiaCyprus
  24. OsloNorway
  25. ParisFrance
  26. PodgoricaMontenegro
  27. PragueCzechia
  28. ReykjavikIceland
  29. RigaLatvia
  30. RomeItaly
  31. SarajevoBosnia and Herzegovina
  32. SkopjeMacedonia
  33. SofiaBulgaria
  34. StockholmSweden
  35. TallinnEstonia
  36. TiranaAlbania
  37. VaduzLiechtenstein
  38. VallettaMalta
  39. Vatican CityVatican
  40. ViennaAustria
  41. VilniusLithuania
  42. WarsawPoland
  43. ZagrebCroatia

Questions about the capitals

Is Bern really the capital of Switzerland?

Legally Switzerland has no capital: the constitution is silent, and Bern is the Bundesstadt, the federal city, chosen in 1848 to host the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council. The rest was spread about on purpose: the Federal Supreme Court sits in Lausanne, and Zürich, the largest city, got the federal technical university.

Why is Amsterdam the capital when the government is in The Hague?

The constitution names Amsterdam as the capital, and the king is sworn in there. Everything that governs — the States General, the ministries, the Supreme Court, the royal working palace — is in The Hague, which has been the seat of the counts of Holland and then of the republic's assemblies since the Middle Ages. The Hague is also the provincial capital of South Holland.

Which two capitals on this map are closest together?

Vienna and Bratislava, about fifty-five kilometres apart as the crow flies, are the closest pair of national capitals anywhere except Rome and Vatican City, which are one inside the other. Both Rome and Vatican City are dealt here, so the Vatican's card has to land on a single dot inside the Italian one.

More maps

Flags of the same map: Europe. Other maps: US state capitals, Asian capitals, Capitals of the Americas, African capitals, French regional capitals, Spanish regional capitals, Italian regional capitals, Brazilian state capitals, German state capitals, Canadian provincial capitals. All 235 flags of the world with their capitals: Flags of the world · all modes.