European Capitals Quiz
Everyone knows Paris and Rome. This set is decided by the other fifty: the microstates, the Balkans, the Baltics and the handful of countries where the obvious answer is quietly wrong.
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The three that catch nearly everyone
Europe looks like the easy continent, and for the first fifteen questions it is. What separates a good score from a great one is a small group of countries where the famous city and the constitutional answer are not the same thing.
Switzerland. Swiss law does not designate a capital at all. Bern is the Bundesstadt, the federal city, where the government and parliament sit, and that is why it is the answer. Zurich is much larger, Geneva is far more famous internationally as the home of a great many international organisations, and neither is the seat of the Swiss federal government.
The Netherlands. Amsterdam is the capital, written into the constitution, but the government, the parliament, the Supreme Court and every foreign embassy are in The Hague. It is the only country in this set where the capital and the seat of government have been separated for centuries without anyone finding it strange.
Turkey. Istanbul is the largest city in Europe by some measures and was the imperial capital for centuries, but the Republic moved the capital to Ankara in 1923. Turkey and Russia both appear in this set and in the Asian one, because both straddle the conventional boundary between the two continents.
What is actually in the set
| Group | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereign states | France, Poland, Greece, Estonia | The core of the set |
| Microstates | Monaco, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Vatican City | Two of them are their own capital |
| UK nations | England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland | London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast |
| Autonomous territories | Faroe Islands, Aland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey | Each has its own seat of government |
| Island regions | Azores, Madeira, Balearic Islands, Svalbard | Regional capitals rather than national ones |
Kyiv, not Kiev. The spelling in this set follows the Ukrainian transliteration, which is now standard in English usage and in the style guides of most major publications. The older form came into English through Russian. If you are learning capitals from an atlas printed before about 2019, expect several spellings to have moved on.
The Balkans and the Baltics, which is where rounds are won
If you want one region to study, make it the former Yugoslavia. Zagreb, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Podgorica, Skopje, Ljubljana and Pristina are seven answers that most players can name perhaps three of, and they cluster tightly enough on the map to learn as a group rather than as isolated facts. Podgorica is worth a second look: it was called Titograd from 1946 until 1992, which is why older reference books and a surprising number of quiz questions still get it wrong.
The Baltic three, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, are the other classic cluster. They are easy to learn and easy to mix up, and the reliable trick is geographic order from north to south: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, so Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius, alphabetical going down the map in both the countries and the capitals.
The microstates are free points
Five of Europe's smallest countries are in this set and four of them are almost self answering once you have seen them once. Monaco and Vatican City are city states, so the country is the capital. San Marino's capital is the City of San Marino. Liechtenstein's is Vaduz, and Andorra's is Andorra la Vella, which at roughly 1,020 metres is the highest capital in Europe. Learn those five and you have five questions that cost you nothing for the rest of your life.
At the other extreme is Longyearbyen, the administrative centre of Svalbard and one of the northernmost settlements of any size on Earth. It is included here as a territorial capital rather than a national one, alongside Torshavn in the Faroe Islands and Mariehamn in Aland.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bern really the capital of Switzerland?
Bern is the federal city and the seat of the Swiss government and parliament, which is what a capital means in practice. Swiss law is unusual in not formally designating a capital at all, but Bern is the answer every reference work gives.
Why is Amsterdam the capital when the government is in The Hague?
The Dutch constitution names Amsterdam as the capital, while the government, parliament, Supreme Court and embassies are all based in The Hague. The two roles have been separated for centuries.
Why are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland listed separately?
They are the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom, each with its own capital city. The United Kingdom itself also appears, with London.
Does this set include Russia and Turkey?
Yes, both. They straddle the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia, so they appear in the European set and the Asian set alike, with Moscow and Ankara.
More Guess the Capital sets
- African capitals59 countries and territories, including the ones whose capital is not the biggest city.
- Asian capitals49 entries, including the purpose-built capitals and the ones that changed name recently.
- North America and the Caribbean43 entries, most of them islands, and the ones with two capitals on one island.
- Oceania and the Pacific27 island nations and territories, including a country with no official capital.
- South American capitalsAll 12 countries plus the territories, and the one country with two capitals.
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