Ask a quiz table for the capital of Slovakia and someone will confidently say Ljubljana. It's Bratislava. Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, and the two countries' names are close enough to trip up almost anyone. This deck is full of traps like that.
Part 1 covered 18 capitals, from Paris and Berlin to Bern, Ankara and Edinburgh. Part 2 covers the rest of Europe's sovereign countries, plus Wales, so the two decks together take you round the whole continent without repeating a card.
The Nordic north and the Baltic three
- Oslo (Norway) was called Christiania, later spelled Kristiania, until 1925.
- Helsinki became Finland's capital in 1812. Before that the capital was Turku.
- Reykjavík (Iceland) is the northernmost capital of any sovereign country.
- Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia) and Vilnius (Lithuania) run north to south in the same order as the countries. Say it as "T, R, V" going down the map.
Central and eastern Europe
- Bratislava (Slovakia) sits on the Danube right against the borders with Austria and Hungary, and is very close to Vienna.
- Ljubljana (Slovenia) is the one to keep apart from Bratislava.
- Bucharest (Romania), not Budapest, which is Hungary's capital from part 1.
- Minsk (Belarus), Chișinău (Moldova), Kyiv (Ukraine) and Moscow (Russia). Moscow wasn't always the capital: from 1712 until 1918 the capital was St Petersburg, apart from a brief spell back in Moscow around 1730.
- Kyiv is the spelling based on Ukrainian; Kiev is the older English spelling, taken from Russian. Most English-language media now use Kyiv.
The Balkans
Zagreb (Croatia), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Belgrade (Serbia, where the Sava meets the Danube), Podgorica (Montenegro), Skopje (North Macedonia), Tirana (Albania) and Sofia (Bulgaria). The country called the Republic of Macedonia changed its name to North Macedonia in 2019, after an agreement with Greece; the capital stayed Skopje.
The microstates
Europe's smallest countries make its capital list easy to get wrong:
- Vatican City is the world's smallest country, and its capital is the city-state itself.
- Monaco and San Marino are also capitals that share their country's name, as is Luxembourg.
- Andorra la Vella is Europe's highest capital, at over 1,000 metres in the Pyrenees.
- Vaduz is the capital of Liechtenstein.
Capitals with a catch
- Vaduz isn't the biggest town in Liechtenstein. Schaan has more people.
- Valletta (Malta) is tiny. It's the capital, but several Maltese towns are larger.
- Montenegro has two titles. Podgorica is the capital, but the constitution names Cetinje, the historic royal seat, as the Old Royal Capital.
- Nicosia (Cyprus) is a divided city. The Republic of Cyprus has its capital there. The northern part of the city is run by the Turkish Cypriot administration, which declared the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" in 1983; only Turkey recognises it. A UN buffer zone runs through the middle of the city.
- Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, with Pristina as its capital. Many countries recognise it; Serbia does not, and nor do several others, including five EU members. Kosovo is not a UN member, so it isn't on the cards.
- Transnistria, a strip of eastern Moldova, has run its own affairs since the early 1990s from Tiraspol, but no UN member recognises it. To Moldova and almost every other country, it's part of Moldova.
- Cyprus is in Europe politically, not geographically. The island lies in western Asia but is an EU member, so most European capital lists include Nicosia. Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan sometimes appear on European lists too; they're left out here.
Easy ones to mix up
- Bratislava and Ljubljana. Slovakia gets Bratislava, Slovenia gets Ljubljana.
- Bucharest and Budapest. Romania and Hungary are neighbours, which doesn't help.
- Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius. Use "T, R, V" from north to south.
- Podgorica and Cetinje. Capital first, royal history second.
- London and Cardiff. London is the capital of the United Kingdom; Cardiff is the capital of Wales. Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland, and Edinburgh of Scotland (part 1).
Frequently asked questions
What is the capital of Slovakia?
Bratislava. Ljubljana, the usual wrong guess, is the capital of Slovenia.
Which European capital is not the largest city?
In this deck, Vaduz (Liechtenstein), Valletta (Malta) and the City of San Marino are all smaller than other towns in their countries. In part 1, Bern, Ankara and Edinburgh are the famous examples.
Is it Kyiv or Kiev?
Both refer to Ukraine's capital. Kyiv follows the Ukrainian name and is now the spelling most English-language media use.
How many capitals are in Europe?
It depends where you draw Europe's edge and whether you count countries with limited recognition, so lists vary. These two decks cover 46 sovereign countries, plus Scotland and Wales.
Try it
Cover the answers and say each capital before you flip, then do the Baltic three and the Balkans as a run. Where in the world is the capital that touches two other countries' borders?