Andorra · Andorra la Vella
Casa de la Vall in the old town was built in 1580 and later became the home of Andorra’s parliament.
European capitals quiz
What's this country's capital? Which country does that capital belong to? Four options, a little discovery after each answer and mistakes you can practise.
European countries & capitals
Discover Europe's countries and capitals through matching pairs, quizzes in both directions and short city stories.
Europe and the European Union are different collections. The main set covers countries with territory in geographical Europe, plus Kosovo. Notes explain the Caucasus boundary and relevant status distinctions. The extended set also includes Cyprus and Armenia.
Austria · Vienna
Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert lived and worked in Vienna, helping make it a major centre of European music.
Belgium · Brussels
Most of the ornate guild houses around Brussels’ Grand-Place were rebuilt after the city was bombarded in 1695.
Switzerland · Bern
Bern’s old town has around 6 km of arcades: covered walkways that shelter pedestrians from rain and sun.
Bern is the federal city and serves as the de facto capital; Switzerland has no formally designated capital in the usual legal sense.
Germany · Berlin
Napoleon took the four-horse sculpture from the Brandenburg Gate to Paris; it returned to Berlin in 1814.
Denmark · Copenhagen
Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue was unveiled in 1913, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale.
Estonia · Tallinn
Tallinn’s old town combines the upper town on a hill with the lower merchants’ town at its foot.
Spain · Madrid
Madrid’s Prado Museum opened in 1819, although its building was originally designed to house natural history collections.
Finland · Helsinki
The cathedral, Government Palace, main university building and National Library around Helsinki’s Senate Square were designed by the same architect, Carl Ludvig Engel.
France · Paris
Pont Neuf means “New Bridge”, even though it is the oldest surviving bridge in Paris.
United Kingdom · London
The meridian at London’s Greenwich Observatory was chosen in 1884 as the international reference for measuring longitude.
Ireland · Dublin
Dublin became a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010; even its bridges and streets carry writers’ names.
Iceland · Reykjavík
Reykjavík means “smoky bay”, a name linked to the steam rising from local hot springs.
Italy · Rome
Rome’s Pantheon has an opening almost 9 metres wide in its dome, letting daylight and rain into the building.
Liechtenstein · Vaduz
The castle above Vaduz is both a symbol of the town and the permanent residence of Liechtenstein’s princely family.
Lithuania · Vilnius
Vilnius appears in written records in 1323, when it was already the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Luxembourg · Luxembourg
Luxembourg’s old town grew on a steep rocky outcrop by the meeting of the Alzette and Pétrusse rivers, giving it natural defences.
Latvia · Riga
Riga’s historic centre is famous for its richly decorated Art Nouveau buildings.
Monaco · Monaco
Monaco’s Oceanographic Museum preserves scientific instruments used on Prince Albert I’s ocean expeditions.
Monaco is a city-state: this entry refers to Monaco as a whole, not a separate capital or the Monte Carlo district.
Malta · Valletta
The Knights of St John founded Valletta in 1566, planning a fortified city on a peninsula between two harbours.
Netherlands · Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s 17th-century canal ring was planned in concentric arcs around the old town as the city expanded onto drained land.
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, while the government and parliament are based in The Hague.
Norway · Oslo
The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo, with its ceremony traditionally held at City Hall on 10 December.
Portugal · Lisbon
After the earthquake of 1755, central Lisbon was replanned and rebuilt as the district now called Baixa Pombalina.
Sweden · Stockholm
Stockholm is built on fourteen islands, making water a defining part of the city itself.
Vatican City · Vatican City
In 1984, the whole of Vatican City was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, rather than just one building.
Vatican City is an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, with no separate capital city.
Albania · Tirana
Tirana became Albania’s capital in 1920, initially on a temporary basis.
Its Clock Tower predates that capital status: it was built in the early 19th century.
Bosnia & Herzegovina · Sarajevo
Sarajevo’s old trading and craft quarter, Baščaršija, began developing in the 15th century.
Its name comes from Turkish and means the main market.
Bulgaria · Sofia
The remains of ancient Serdica lie beneath the centre of modern Sofia.
At the Western Gate, parts of an old street, the city wall and water channels are on display.
Belarus · Minsk
The upper part of Minsk’s National Library building, completed in 2006, resembles an enormous cut diamond.
This unusual structure houses the library’s book collections.
Czechia · Prague
The astronomical clock at Prague’s Old Town Hall dates back to 1410.
Figures of the twelve apostles appear in its mechanical display.
Greece · Athens
The Parthenon stands on Athens’ rocky Acropolis hill and was built in the 5th century BC.
The temple was dedicated to Athena, the city’s patron goddess.
Croatia · Zagreb
A funicular just 66 metres long links Zagreb’s Upper and Lower Towns.
It began operating in 1890 and is the city’s oldest form of public transport.
Hungary · Budapest
Budapest was formed in 1873 by joining three towns: Buda, Óbuda and Pest.
Buda and Pest grew on opposite banks of the Danube.
Moldova · Chișinău
A white-stone Triumphal Arch, 13 metres tall, stands in central Chișinău.
Above its four openings is an upper level with a clock.
Montenegro · Podgorica
Podgorica lies on five rivers: the Morača, Zeta, Ribnica, Cijevna and Sitnica.
The Morača, the largest river through the city, later flows into Lake Skadar.
North Macedonia · Skopje
The Vardar flows through Skopje, and the Stone Bridge is one of the city’s symbols.
The bridge, river and Kale Fortress even appear on the city’s coat of arms.
Poland · Warsaw
Warsaw’s Old Town was carefully reconstructed after World War II because most of it had been destroyed in 1944.
Old documents, images and surviving building fragments helped guide the rebuilding.
Romania · Bucharest
A large area of old Bucharest was demolished to make room for the Palace of Parliament.
Around 2,800 chandeliers were used in the interior of this enormous building.
Serbia · Belgrade
Belgrade stands where two major rivers meet: the Sava and the Danube.
Russia · Moscow
Moscow’s Kremlin is a walled citadel whose defences include 20 towers.
Red Square runs alongside its eastern wall.
Slovenia · Ljubljana
Ljubljana’s Triple Bridge started as a single stone bridge built in 1842.
Between 1929 and 1932, architect Jože Plečnik added two pedestrian bridges beside it.
Slovakia · Bratislava
Bratislava Castle stands on a hill above the Danube.
Its oldest surviving tower once safeguarded the Hungarian coronation jewels.
San Marino · San Marino
Three towers symbolise the city of San Marino: Guaita, Cesta and Montale.
The historic centre and Mount Titano joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008.
Ukraine · Kyiv
Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral preserves mosaics and frescoes from the 11th century.
The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery complex includes underground churches and caves as well as buildings above ground.
Kosovo · Pristina
Pristina’s NEWBORN letter sculpture was unveiled on 17 February 2008, the day Kosovo declared independence.
Its colours and artwork are changed to convey new messages.
Kosovo’s independence is not recognised by every state; this collection lists it separately for learning purposes.
Türkiye · Ankara
Ankara is home to Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Türkiye.
Near Ankara Castle, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations displays archaeological finds from the region.
Kazakhstan · Astana
Astana’s Bayterek monument takes its symbolism from the Tree of Life.
Its observation deck offers a view over the city from above.
The capital’s name was restored to Astana in 2022; it had previously been called Nur-Sultan.
Georgia · Tbilisi
Tbilisi’s name is linked to the Georgian word “tbili”, meaning “warm”.
The city’s Abanotubani district is known for bathhouses supplied by natural hot sulphur springs.
Azerbaijan · Baku
Baku’s old city, Icherisheher, preserves much of its 12th-century defensive walls.
One of its symbols is the Maiden Tower, part of the UNESCO-listed old city ensemble.
Armenia · Yerevan
Yerevan’s history is linked to Erebuni Fortress, founded in 782 BC.
A surviving cuneiform inscription by King Argishti I helped establish this date.
Cyprus · Nicosia
Nicosia’s old city is surrounded by defensive walls built by the Venetians in the 16th century.
Eleven heart-shaped bastions strengthen this circular fortification.
How to play
Choose a European country collection, a quiz length and a direction. Each question has four options. After answering, discover the correct country–capital pair and short facts about the city. A perfect quiz is a win; your best score is the percentage of correct answers. Practise mistakes without changing your original result. Keyboard: 1–4 to answer, Enter to continue. Switching language or refreshing preserves your game.
No sign-up · No ads