Geography Trivia Questions and Answers
One question about the world on the card, everyone’s best guess, and the answer one tap away.
- Time
- 15–60 min
- Players
- Two or more people
- Best for
- Game nights, road trips and travel lovers
- Deck
- 150 questions in 6 categories
How to use these geography trivia questions
- Pick a category from the menu under the card, or keep “All categories”.
- Read the question on the top card aloud and let everyone call out or write down an answer.
- Tap “Show answer”, then “Next question”, or swipe the card away, for another. Questions do not repeat until you have seen the whole category.
- Tap the heart to save a question on this device, or tap “Make a 10-question list” to copy questions with their answers.
When to play geography trivia
Geography trivia needs one reader and a few people who like maps, so it suits a long drive as well as a table full of friends. Each card holds its own answer, which means nobody has to look anything up or prepare a quiz in advance.
On a long drive
The passenger reads US states and Landmarks out loud. Questions about the Gateway Arch or the Mile High City are fun to ask when the road is heading that way.
Planning a trip together
Play a round of Capitals or Rivers, lakes and oceans while you look at destinations. A question about Lake Titicaca or the Cliffs of Moher can end up on the itinerary.
A game night with friends
Split into two teams and alternate between Mountains and deserts and Flags and borders. Picturing a flag from its description gets the whole table talking.
Ways to play geography trivia
Around the world in ten questions
One person reads ten questions from a single category while everyone writes answers down. After the tenth, the reader taps through the answers and players mark their own. Switch readers and pick a new category, so a round of Capitals can be followed by Flags and borders.
Map on the table
Spread a paper map or open a globe in the middle of the table. When a question names a river, a desert or a landmark, the player who answers must also point to roughly where it is. Pointing to the right continent earns a bonus point.
Road trip quiz
The passenger reads from the US states category while the driver and everyone in the back seat call out answers. Capitals and nicknames are quick to play out loud, and a state you are driving through makes a good question to save for last.
Tips for a good geography quiz
- Decide before you start whether “the Rockies” counts for the Rocky Mountains and whether a close spelling of Reykjavík or Aconcagua is good enough. Most groups accept both.
- Play Flags and borders with nothing but the card: the flag questions describe each flag in words, so the fun is picturing it before the answer appears.
- Mix in a category nobody claims as their strength. A player who knows every capital may stall on state nicknames, and that keeps the scores close.
All 150 geography trivia by category
The complete list, grouped by category. The cards above draw from the same list, so you can read ahead here and play there.
Capitals
Capital cities from Wellington and Reykjavík to Rabat, Hanoi and Buenos Aires.
- What is the capital of Brazil?Answer: Brasília
- What is the capital of New Zealand?Answer: Wellington
- What is the capital of Argentina?Answer: Buenos Aires
- Lisbon is the capital of which country?Answer: Portugal
- What is the capital of Thailand?Answer: Bangkok
- What is the capital of South Korea?Answer: Seoul
- Which city is Morocco’s capital: Casablanca, Rabat or Marrakesh?Answer: Rabat
- What is the capital of Vietnam?Answer: Hanoi
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- Which planned city replaced Lagos as Nigeria’s capital in 1991?Answer: Abuja
- Bogotá is the capital of which South American country?Answer: Colombia
- What is the capital of Chile?Answer: Santiago
- What is the capital of Finland?Answer: Helsinki
- Which capital’s name joins two old towns on opposite banks of the Danube?Answer: Budapest
- Which city is the northernmost capital of an independent country?Answer: Reykjavík
- What is the capital of the Philippines?Answer: Manila
- Which Himalayan country has Kathmandu as its capital?Answer: Nepal
- What is the capital of Jamaica?Answer: Kingston
- What is the capital of Ireland?Answer: Dublin
- What is the capital of India?Answer: New Delhi
- What is the capital of Poland?Answer: Warsaw
- Which city is the capital of Wales?Answer: Cardiff
- How many capital cities does South Africa have?Answer: three
- What is the capital of Austria?Answer: Vienna
- What is the capital of Denmark?Answer: Copenhagen
- Accra is the capital of which West African country?Answer: Ghana
Rivers, lakes and oceans
The Thames and the Danube, Lake Baikal and the Dead Sea, the Mariana Trench and the Bay of Fundy.
- Which river flows through the heart of London?Answer: the Thames
- Ancient Rome grew up on the banks of which river?Answer: the Tiber
- Which great river flows north through Egypt into the Mediterranean?Answer: the Nile
- Which river flows through Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade?Answer: the Danube
- Which is the largest of the five Great Lakes?Answer: Lake Superior
- Which Great Lake lies entirely within the United States?Answer: Lake Michigan
- Which lake in Siberia is the deepest lake in the world?Answer: Lake Baikal
- The shore of which salt lake is the lowest dry land on Earth?Answer: the Dead Sea
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- Which ocean, mostly frozen over in winter, is the smallest?Answer: the Arctic Ocean
- Which ocean separates Europe from North America?Answer: the Atlantic Ocean
- Which landlocked body of water, called a sea, is the largest lake on Earth?Answer: the Caspian Sea
- Which river carved the Grand Canyon?Answer: the Colorado River
- Which river flows past Memphis and New Orleans on its way to the sea?Answer: the Mississippi
- Which giant waterfall on the Zambezi River is shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe?Answer: Victoria Falls
- Which waterfall in Venezuela is the tallest in the world?Answer: Angel Falls
- Which sea lies between Italy and the Balkan Peninsula?Answer: the Adriatic Sea
- Which stretch of water separates England from France?Answer: the English Channel
- What is the deepest known part of the world’s oceans?Answer: the Mariana Trench
- Which river, the longest in Europe, flows into the Caspian Sea?Answer: the Volga
- Which great Chinese river is the longest in Asia?Answer: the Yangtze
- Which large lake high in the Andes is shared by Peru and Bolivia?Answer: Lake Titicaca
- Which Scottish lake is famous for tales of a monster living in its depths?Answer: Loch Ness
- Which major river flows past Basel, Bonn and Cologne?Answer: the Rhine
- What do you call the fan of land a river builds where it meets the sea?Answer: a delta
- Which bay between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia has the highest tides on Earth?Answer: the Bay of Fundy
Mountains and deserts
The Andes and the Alps, Mont Blanc and Aconcagua, the Gobi, the Atacama and the Namib.
- What is the tallest mountain in Japan?Answer: Mount Fuji
- Which mountain range runs down the whole western side of South America?Answer: the Andes
- In which mountain range is Mount Everest?Answer: the Himalayas
- Which mountain range stretches across Switzerland and Austria?Answer: the Alps
- Which mountain range runs along the border of France and Spain?Answer: the Pyrenees
- Counting cold deserts too, what is the largest desert on Earth?Answer: Antarctica
- Which desert stretches across southern Mongolia and northern China?Answer: the Gobi
- Which desert in northern Chile is one of the driest places on Earth?Answer: the Atacama
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- Joshua trees grow wild in which desert of California and Nevada?Answer: the Mojave
- What is the highest mountain in South America?Answer: Aconcagua
- What is the highest mountain in the Alps?Answer: Mont Blanc
- Which active volcano towers over the east coast of Sicily?Answer: Mount Etna
- Which mountain range runs from New Mexico all the way up into Canada?Answer: the Rocky Mountains
- What do you call a green spot in the desert where water lets palm trees grow?Answer: an oasis
- Which mountain range crosses Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia?Answer: the Atlas Mountains
- Which sandy desert covers much of Botswana?Answer: the Kalahari
- Which coastal desert gave its name to a country in southwestern Africa?Answer: the Namib
- What is the horseshoe-shaped belt of volcanoes around the Pacific Ocean called?Answer: the Ring of Fire
- What is a flat-topped hill with steep cliff sides called?Answer: a mesa
- Measured from its base on the ocean floor, which Hawaiian mountain is taller than Everest?Answer: Mauna Kea
- What is the highest peak in the lower 48 US states?Answer: Mount Whitney
- What is the long valley in East Africa where the land is slowly pulling apart?Answer: the Great Rift Valley
- What are the tall, thin rock spires of Bryce Canyon called?Answer: hoodoos
- What do you call a slow-moving river of ice?Answer: a glacier
- Which mountain range stretches between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea?Answer: the Caucasus
Landmarks
Stonehenge, Uluru, the Space Needle, the Alhambra and the Giant’s Causeway.
- Which Australian city has an opera house with roofs shaped like white sails?Answer: Sydney
- What is the giant red sandstone rock in the middle of Australia called?Answer: Uluru
- In which city does the Brandenburg Gate stand?Answer: Berlin
- Which ancient stone circle stands on Salisbury Plain in England?Answer: Stonehenge
- The Space Needle rises over which US city?Answer: Seattle
- In which city does the Gateway Arch stand?Answer: St. Louis
- Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana Beach are in which city?Answer: Rio de Janeiro
- What is the giant observation wheel on London’s South Bank called?Answer: the London Eye
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- Which Dutch city is famous for its rings of canals lined with tall, narrow houses?Answer: Amsterdam
- Which hilltop palace and fortress overlooks Granada in Spain?Answer: the Alhambra
- Which red-rock valley on the Arizona–Utah line appears in many old Westerns?Answer: Monument Valley
- Which Scottish city has a castle perched on an old volcanic rock?Answer: Edinburgh
- Which huge stone statue near Giza has a lion’s body and a human head?Answer: the Great Sphinx
- What is the huge coral reef off Australia’s northeast coast called?Answer: the Great Barrier Reef
- Which park, created in 1872, was the first US national park?Answer: Yellowstone
- Which Chicago park is home to the mirrored sculpture nicknamed the Bean?Answer: Millennium Park
- Which pyramid-shaped peak towers over the Swiss village of Zermatt?Answer: the Matterhorn
- Which tall sea cliffs face the Atlantic in County Clare, on Ireland’s west coast?Answer: the Cliffs of Moher
- Which stretch of coast in Northern Ireland is made of thousands of six-sided stone columns?Answer: the Giant’s Causeway
- Which architect designed Park Güell in Barcelona?Answer: Antoni Gaudí
- What are the giant ancient drawings etched into the desert of southern Peru called?Answer: the Nazca Lines
- Half Dome and El Capitan are in which California national park?Answer: Yosemite
- Which fairy-tale castle did King Ludwig II build in the Bavarian Alps?Answer: Neuschwanstein
- Which tall tower with a glass floor high in the air rises over Toronto?Answer: the CN Tower
- Which old volcanic crater looms over Waikiki Beach in Honolulu?Answer: Diamond Head
US states
State capitals and nicknames, from Tallahassee and Albany to the Beehive State and Big Sky Country.
- What is the largest US state by area?Answer: Alaska
- Which New England state is the smallest of all fifty?Answer: Rhode Island
- What is the capital of New York State?Answer: Albany
- What is the capital of California?Answer: Sacramento
- What is the capital of Texas?Answer: Austin
- What is the capital of Florida?Answer: Tallahassee
- Springfield is the capital of which state?Answer: Illinois
- Which Midwestern state is known as the Show-Me State?Answer: Missouri
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- Which Southern state proudly calls itself the Peach State?Answer: Georgia
- Which state’s name comes from French words for “green mountain”?Answer: Vermont
- Which state is shaped so much like a mitten that locals point to places on their hand?Answer: Michigan
- Horse farms and bluegrass meadows give which state its nickname?Answer: Kentucky
- Which state was the first to approve the US Constitution, in 1787?Answer: Delaware
- Which state calls itself the Land of 10,000 Lakes?Answer: Minnesota
- Which state, nicknamed the Gem State, is famous for its potatoes?Answer: Idaho
- Which state between New York and Pennsylvania is called the Garden State?Answer: New Jersey
- The Sooner State is the nickname of which Plains state?Answer: Oklahoma
- Nevada’s name is Spanish. What does it mean?Answer: snow-covered
- The beehive is the symbol of which Western state?Answer: Utah
- Which state capital is nicknamed the Mile High City?Answer: Denver
- Which state goes by the nickname Big Sky Country?Answer: Montana
- Ohio is named after a river. Which tree gives the state its nickname?Answer: the buckeye
- People from which state are called Hoosiers?Answer: Indiana
- Which state’s flag shows a mother pelican feeding her chicks?Answer: Louisiana
- Which is the only US state named after a president?Answer: Washington
Flags and borders
Flags described in words, neighboring countries, the prime meridian and the International Date Line.
- Which country’s flag shows a red maple leaf on white, between two red bands?Answer: Canada
- Which country’s flag is a red circle on a plain white field?Answer: Japan
- Which country’s tricolor flag runs blue, white and red from the pole?Answer: France
- Which country’s flag has vertical green, white and orange stripes, green nearest the pole?Answer: Ireland
- Which country’s flag has horizontal stripes of black, red and gold?Answer: Germany
- Which country’s flag is nicknamed the Union Jack?Answer: the United Kingdom
- Which Nordic country’s flag has a yellow cross on blue?Answer: Sweden
- Which country’s green flag has a yellow diamond holding a starry blue globe?Answer: Brazil
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- Which country’s flag shows an eagle on a cactus with a snake in its beak?Answer: Mexico
- Which country’s flag has a golden sun with a face on a white stripe between two light blue ones?Answer: Argentina
- Which country’s white flag has a red and blue circle ringed by four black bar symbols?Answer: South Korea
- Which Caribbean country’s flag has a gold diagonal cross with green and black triangles?Answer: Jamaica
- Which country’s flag has nine blue and white stripes and a white cross in the corner?Answer: Greece
- Which country’s flag has a sideways green Y shape and six colors?Answer: South Africa
- How many stripes are on the flag of the United States?Answer: thirteen
- Which two countries share the longest border in the world?Answer: Canada and the United States
- Which is the only US state that borders just one other state?Answer: Maine
- Missouri and Tennessee each border how many other states?Answer: eight
- Which small mountain kingdom is completely surrounded by South Africa?Answer: Lesotho
- Which tiny country sits in the mountains between France and Spain?Answer: Andorra
- Portugal shares a land border with only one country. Which one?Answer: Spain
- Which two South American countries do not border Brazil?Answer: Chile and Ecuador
- Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with which country?Answer: the Dominican Republic
- Which line of 0° longitude runs through Greenwich in London?Answer: the prime meridian
- In the Pacific, what is the line where the calendar date changes called?Answer: the International Date Line
Frequently asked questions
How many geography trivia questions are there?
There are 150 geography trivia questions, 25 in each of six categories: capitals; rivers, lakes and oceans; mountains and deserts; landmarks; US states; and flags and borders. Every question has a short answer, shown on the card when you tap “Show answer” and printed under it in the list on this page.
Are these geography questions easy or hard?
They run from easy to medium. Each category mixes questions most adults can answer, like the capital of Thailand or the river through London, with harder ones, like the deepest lake in the world or the two South American countries that do not border Brazil. Every answer is a settled fact about places that do not change.
How do the flag questions work without pictures?
Each flag question describes a well-known flag in words, such as a red circle on white or a yellow cross on blue, and asks which country it belongs to. Players picture the flag and name the country, then tap “Show answer” to check.
What should we play after geography trivia?
Try general trivia questions for science, animals, food and words, or sports trivia and movie trivia for a quiz on a different theme. The places round of the emoji quiz turns cities and countries into picture puzzles.