Western Europe
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7correct to beat the crowd
50 free Western Europe trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Western Europe packs an extraordinary amount into a small corner of the map. Within a day's train ride a traveller can cross half a dozen borders, hear as many languages, and pass from windswept ocean cliffs to glaciers, vineyards and medieval city centres. Some of its states are among the oldest in the world, and a few are small enough to walk across in an afternoon. This quiz covers the region the way a geography class does. Expect the countries and their capital cities, including the capitals that surprise people, along with the physical map: the major rivers, the mountain ranges and their highest peaks, the surrounding seas and straits, and the islands offshore. A handful of questions touch on famous landmarks, languages and turning points in history. It suits students revising a map test on countries and capitals, travellers planning a trip, and quiz hosts who need a ready-made geography round. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so a wrong guess still teaches something, and the questions can be printed for use on paper.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which country, where the Grimaldi family first took power in 1297, is the second-smallest in the world?
Monaco
Monaco squeezes into about two square kilometres of the French Riviera, which also makes it the most densely populated country on Earth.
Q 02Which Scottish lake on the Great Glen holds more water than all the lakes of England and Wales combined?
Loch Ness
Loch Ness is only the second-largest Scottish loch by surface area, behind Loch Lomond, but it plunges to about 230 metres, deep enough to hold far more water.
Q 03Which country seats its government in The Hague and has about a quarter of its land below sea level?
Netherlands
The Netherlands still names Amsterdam as its capital, and most of its low ground is polder land reclaimed from the water since the 14th century.
Q 04Which peak on the border of France and Italy is Europe's highest mountain outside the Caucasus?
Mont Blanc
Mont Blanc was first climbed in 1786 by Jacques Balmat and the doctor Michel-Gabriel Paccard, and France and Italy still dispute who owns the summit.
Q 05Which warm ocean current, flowing north past Florida, keeps the winters of northwest Europe unusually mild?
Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream feeds the North Atlantic Current, which carries warm water northeast and leaves western Europe milder than other places at the same latitude.
Q 06Which country, split between Flanders in the north and Wallonia in the south, has Brussels as its capital?
Belgium
Belgium also has a small German-speaking community in the east, and its capital doubles as the headquarters of NATO and the de facto capital of the European Union.
Q 07Which arm of the Atlantic, called La Manche or the sleeve by the French, is the world's busiest seaway?
English Channel
The English Channel narrows to just 34 km at the Strait of Dover, and more than 500 ships pass through it every day.
Q 08Which country, wedged between Switzerland and Austria, is one of only two doubly landlocked nations on Earth?
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein, whose capital is Vaduz, is surrounded entirely by landlocked neighbours, a quirk it shares only with Uzbekistan.
Q 09Which capital of Portugal lost most of its buildings to a devastating earthquake in 1755?
Lisbon
Lisbon was rebuilt to a grid plan under the Marquis of Pombal, and Cabo da Roca just to its west is the westernmost point of the European mainland.
Q 10Which mountain range, with tiny Andorra tucked among its peaks, forms the border between France and Spain?
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees peak at Aneto, at just over 3,400 metres, while Andorra within them is ruled by two co-princes: a Spanish bishop and the president of France.
Q 11Which city, said in legend to be named after a bear, serves as the capital of Switzerland?
Bern
Bern was chosen as the seat of government in 1848, ahead of Zurich and Lucerne, and Switzerland still calls it the federal city rather than a capital.
Q 12Which capital of Austria was the seat of the Habsburg emperors and home to Mozart and Haydn?
Vienna
Vienna drew so many composers, among them Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, that Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are known together as the First Viennese School.
Q 13Which capital of Ireland, at the mouth of the River Liffey, is home to the Guinness brewery founded in 1759?
Dublin
Dublin took its name from a dark tidal pool behind Dublin Castle, and the brewery went on to become the largest in the world.
Q 21Which river, the longest in Germany, flows north from Basel past Cologne on its way to the sea?
Rhine
The Rhine begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, runs about 1,230 km, and marks much of the border between France and Germany.
Q 22Which river rises near Dijon and winds through Paris before reaching the sea at Le Havre?
Seine
The Seine's spring, in a village northwest of Dijon, has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864.
Q 23Which river, sometimes called the Isis as it passes Oxford, flows on through London to the sea?
Thames
The Thames, at 215 miles, is the longest river entirely in England, and it stays tidal as far upstream as Teddington Lock.
Q 14Which capital of Spain stands about 650 metres above sea level on the River Manzanares?
Madrid
Madrid is usually ranked the second-highest capital in Europe, behind only Andorra la Vella, and it lies in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula.
Q 15Which capital of Germany, built along the River Spree, is about one-third forests, parks, rivers and lakes?
Berlin
Berlin grew from two medieval merchant settlements on the Spree, Berlin and Cölln, and is the most populous city proper in the European Union.
Q 16Which capital of Scotland grew up around a castle built on the plug of an extinct volcano?
Edinburgh
Edinburgh has been nicknamed the Athens of the North since the early 19th century, and its Fringe is the world's largest annual international arts festival.
Q 17Which city, once a leading port for coal exports, was proclaimed the capital of Wales only in 1955?
Cardiff
Cardiff was a small town until the early 19th century, then boomed by shipping coal from the Rhondda and neighbouring valleys.
Q 18Which capital of Northern Ireland was home to the shipyard that built the RMS Titanic?
Belfast
Belfast's Harland & Wolff yard launched the liner in 1911, and the city had earlier been the world's largest centre of linen manufacture.
Q 19Which landlocked country between France and Germany is the world's only remaining sovereign grand duchy?
Luxembourg
Luxembourg is headed by a grand duke rather than a king, and its people speak Luxembourgish, a Germanic language, alongside French and German.
Q 20Which small city, the birthplace of Beethoven, served as the capital of West Germany until reunification?
Bonn
Bonn was chosen in 1949 and kept the seat of government until 1999, nine years after the two Germanys reunited.
Q 24Which river rises in southwest Germany and touches ten countries before reaching the sea in Romania?
Danube
The Danube is Europe's second-longest river after the Volga, and it flows through Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade on the way.
Q 25Which river, the longest in France, flows through a valley famous for its hundreds of Renaissance châteaux?
Loire
The Loire runs north to Orléans and then west through Tours and Nantes, and its valley is nicknamed the Garden of France.
Q 26Which river, reaching the Atlantic through an estuary below Limerick, is the longest in the British Isles?
Shannon
The Shannon runs 360 km from the Shannon Pot in County Cavan, and Irish myth names it after Sionann, who drowned when a well burst forth.
Q 27Which river begins at a Swiss glacier, passes Lyon and enters the Mediterranean at the Camargue delta?
Rhône
The Rhône splits into two arms at Arles to form its delta, and for centuries it was the main trade route between inland France and the Mediterranean ports.
Q 28Which river, the longest on the Iberian Peninsula, flows west past Toledo to reach the Atlantic in Portugal?
Tagus
The Tagus runs just over 1,000 km and changes its name on the way, from the Tajo in Spain to the Tejo once it crosses the border.
Q 29Which river rises in the Czech Republic and flows past Dresden and Hamburg to the sea at Cuxhaven?
Elbe
The Elbe crosses Bohemia before entering Germany, where part of its course once ran along the western border of East Germany.
Q 30Which river, rising on the slopes of Plynlimon in mid Wales, is the longest in Great Britain?
Severn
The Severn runs 220 miles and is known for its tidal bore, a wave that forms in its lower reaches and travels upstream.