Flags and capitals of Europe

Europe packs many countries into a small area, from Iceland in the North Atlantic to Russia in the east, and from Norway to Malta. Distances are short, so in Pin Drop a few hundred kilometres can be the difference between two countries. In the flag modes, Europe's long history of tricolours makes it one of the trickiest regions.

Plenty of European flags are simple bands, and simple bands are easy to confuse. Ireland and Italy share green and white with orange or red. The Netherlands and Luxembourg differ mainly in the shade of blue and the proportions. Slovakia, Slovenia and Russia all use white, blue and red, with only the coats of arms to separate the first two. Romania and Moldova are close relatives, and Romania is almost identical to Chad in Africa. Belgium and Germany use the same three colours, one in vertical and one in horizontal bands.

The Nordic cross is another family: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland all place an off-centre cross on a coloured field, as do the Faroe Islands and Åland. Learn the colour pairs and the outline of the cross and they become easier.

Capitals are generally well known, but a few catch people out: Switzerland's federal city is Bern, not Zürich or Geneva, Türkiye's is Ankara, and the Netherlands names Amsterdam as its capital while the government sits in The Hague. Names can be similar too: Austria and Australia, Slovakia and Slovenia, Latvia and Lithuania, Sweden and Switzerland, Iceland and Ireland.

Europe also has many multilingual states. Switzerland has four national languages, Belgium three official ones, and Luxembourg recognises Luxembourgish, French and German. Ireland lists Irish and English, Malta Maltese and English, and Finland Finnish and Swedish.

Use the table below to study every country, then check the look-alike flags before you start a quiz with Europe already selected.