1. ALBANIA2. ANDORRA3. ARMENIA4. AUSTRIA5. AZERBAIJAN6. BELARUS7. BELGIUM8. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA9. BULGARIA10. CROATIA11. CYPRUS12. CZECH REPUBLIC13. DENMARK14. ESTONIA15. FINLAND

16. FRANCE17. GEORGIA18. GERMANY19. GREECE20. HUNGARY21. ICELAND22. IRELAND23. ITALY24. KOSOVO25. LATVIA26. LIECHTENSTEIN27. LITHUANIA28. LUXEMBOURG

29. MACEDONIA (FYROM)30. MALTA31. MOLDOVA32. MONACO33. MONTENEGRO34. NETHERLANDS35. NORWAY36. POLAND37. PORTUGAL38. ROMANIA39. RUSSIA40. SAN MARINO41. SERBIA42. SLOVAKIA43. SLOVENIA

44. SPAIN45. SWEDEN46. SWITZERLAND47. TURKEY48. UKRAINE49. UNITED KINGDOM50. VATICAN CITY

THE AZORES (PORTUGAL)

THE FAROE ISLANDS (DENMARK)

MADEIRA (PORTUGAL)

CANARY ISLANDS (SPAIN)

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THE FAMILY TRAVEL MAP

Check the number of your destination below

then find it on the map.

Biggest country: Russia, 17.1 million sq km (6.6 million sq mi), 143.4 million peopleSmallest country: Vatican City, 0.44 sq km (0.27 sq mi), 800 peopleHighest mountain: Mt Elbrus, Russia, 5,642m (18,510ft)Longest river: Volga, Russia, 3,692km (2,294mi)Largest lake (entirely in Europe): Lake Ladoga, Russia,17,700 sq km (6,800 sq mi)Highest waterfall: Vinnufossen, Norway, 860m (2,822ft)Largest glacier: Vatnajökull, Iceland, 8,100 sq km (3,100 sq mi)Biggest city: Istanbul, Turkey, 14,804,116 peopleTallest building: Federation Tower, Moscow, Russia, 373.8m (1,226ft)Longest bridge: Ponte Vasco da Gama, Lisbon, Portugal, 17km (10.5mi)

EUROPE IN A BOX

Find your destination below and check out some fascinating facts about it. Don’t stop there! Read on to discover more

about every country in Europe.

1. ALBANIA SIZE: 28,748 sq km

(11,100 sq mi)POPULATION: 3 million

CAPITAL: Tirana

•The country’s wild, rugged landscape is home to bears, wolves, boar and lynx, as well as around 3,250 species of plant - a third of all the plants found in Europe.

•Albanians are big fans of facial hair - they have 27 different words for moustache!

•The country’s distinctive flag features a black double-headed eagle on a red background.

2. ANDORRA SIZE: 468 sq km (181 sq mi) POPULATION: 85,660 CAPITAL: Andorra la Vella

•Andorra is a tiny landlocked country in the Pyrenees, the mountain chain bordering France and Spain.

•It’s an extremely steep place, boasting Europe’s highest capital city, and its snowy slopes attract hordes of skiers.

•The life expectancy of the average person here is 81 years, the highest in the world - they must ski very carefully!

3. ARMENIA SIZE: 29,743 sq km (11,484 sq mi) POPULATION: 3 million CAPITAL: Yerevan

•In 301 ad, Armenia became the first country in the world to make Christianity its official religion. Built shortly afterwards, Etchmiadzin Cathedral is thought to be the oldest cathedral in the world.

•Chess is taken so seriously here that in 2011 the Armenian government made it a compulsory subject in schools.

•Its capital, Yerevan, is known as the ‘pink city’ owing to the bright reddish colour of the volcanic stone used for its buildings.

4. AUSTRIA SIZE: 83,871 sq km (32,383 sq mi)POPULATION: 8.6 millionCAPITAL: Vienna

•Mountains cover over 60 per cent of the country. The highest peak is the 3,798m (12,461ft) Grossglockner, which means ‘Big Bell’.

•Another mountain is home to the world’s largest ice cave, the 42-km (26-mi) long Eisriesenwelt, which means ‘World of Ice Giants’.

•Austria has produced many famous classical composers, including Johann Strauss, Gustav Mahler and, perhaps the most famous of them all, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

•Austrians are renowned for their love of delicious desserts and cakes. Check out the strudel, a pastry stuffed with apples and raisins, served in cafés throughout the country.

5. AZERBAIJAN SIZE: 86,600 sq km (33,400 sq mi) POPULATION: 9.8 millionCAPITAL: Baku

•Part of the Soviet Union from 1922-91, Azerbaijan sits on vast reserves of oil and gas which make the country most of its money.

•Yanar Dağ, or the ‘Burning Mountain’, is a giant fire that’s been raging continuously on a hillside in Azerbaijan for over 65 years, fed by natural gas seeping out of the ground.

•The capital, Baku, lies on the coast of the Caspian Sea - the world’s largest inland sea.

•Away from centres of industry, the country boasts great stretches of forested mountains where deer, bears and lynx live.

6. BELARUS SIZE: 207,595 sq km (80,153 sq mi) POPULATION: 9.5 millionCAPITAL: Minsk

•With its highest peak standing just 346m (1,130ft) above sea level, Belarus is a pretty flat place.

•Its capital and largest city, Minsk, was founded in the 11th century, but has been destroyed and rebuilt eight

times since then.

•The green stripe on the country’s flag is supposed

to represent the 40 per cent of the country

that is covered in forest.

•The national dish is draniki, a type of potato pancake.

7. BELGIUM SIZE: 30,528 sq km (11,787 sq mi)POPULATION: 11.3 millionCAPITAL: Brussels

•Home of the cartoon reporter Tintin and the fictional detective Hercule Poirot, Belgium has plenty of real people too. In fact, it’s one of the world’s most densely populated countries.

•Its history is closely linked with that of its neighbours, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Together, they are known as the Low Countries, because so much of the land here is below sea level.

•It has three official languages: French (mainly spoken by people in the south), Flemish (spoken by those in the north) and German (spoken by a small community in the east).

•It’s known across the world for its delicious food and drink, including chocolate, waffles, beer and fries - which are believed to have been invented here rather than in neighbouring France.

8. BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA SIZE: 51,209 sq km (19,772 sq mi) POPULATION: 3.8 millionCAPITAL: Sarajevo

•Many tourists come here to visit Perućia, one of the largest stretches of ancient forest left in Europe, which is believed to have formed around 20,000 years ago.

•Bosnia has a tiny 20-km (12-mi) long stretch of coast, which pokes out of the middle of neighbouring Croatia’s shoreline.

•The people here speak three languages: Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian, although it’s quite easy to be multilingual as they are slightly different versions of the same language.

9. BULGARIA SIZE: 111,002 sq km (42,858 sq mi) POPULATION: 7.1 millionCAPITAL: Sofia

•One of Europe’s oldest states, Bulgaria was founded back in 681.

•In 1972, some of the world’s oldest gold jewellery, dating back over 6,500 years, was discovered here in a collection of graves.

•One of Bulgaria’s major exports is rose oil, which is used in the production of perfumes.

•Bulgarians shake their heads for yes and nod their heads for no, so make sure you know what you’re agreeing to!

10. CROATIA SIZE: 56,594 sq km (21,851 sq mi) POPULATION: 4.2 millionCAPITAL: Zagreb

•The town of Pula boasts one of Europe’s best-preserved Roman amphitheatres, dating back to the first century ad.

•With a population of just 21 people, Hum in northwest Croatia claims to be the smallest town in the world.

•One of the world’s most popular breeds of dog, the black and white spotted dalmatian, is Croatian.

•The currency, the kuna, is named after the animal furs that used to be traded in medieval times.

•The neck tie was invented in Croatia - it’s where the word ‘cravat’ comes from.

11. CYPRUS SIZE: 9,251 sq km (3,572 sq mi) POPULATION: 1.2 million CAPITAL: Nicosia

•Ownership of this island in the eastern Mediterranean is disputed between the Greek-controlled south and the Turkish-controlled north.

•The supposed birthplace of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, who rose out of the water, Cyprus itself is believed to have risen out of the sea during volcanic eruptions 20 million years ago.

•Cyprus enjoys one of Europe’s sunniest climates with very long summers stretching all the way from April to November.

•In ancient times, the island grew wealthy from exporting copper from its mines all across Europe. In fact, the word ‘copper’ comes from the Greek word for the island, Kupros.

12. CZECH REPUBLIC SIZE: 78,866 sq km (30,450 sq mi) POPULATION: 10.5 million CAPITAL: Prague

•The Czech Republic and its neighbour, Slovakia, were once united as another country known as Czechoslovakia, but

peacefully parted ways in 1993 after an event in 1989 known as the ‘Velvet Revolution’.

•The country is home to more than 2,000 castles, including the world’s largest, Prague Castle, in the capital, which is 570m (1,870ft) long and covers an area of 7 hectares (18 acres).

•They make a lot of beer in the Czech Republic, which is just as well, as the people here drink more of it per head than in any other country - around 160 litres (35 gallons) per person per year.

13. DENMARK SIZE: 42,921 sq km (16,572 sq mi) POPULATION: 5.7 millionCAPITAL: Copenhagen

•Along with Sweden and Norway, Denmark is part of an area of northern Europe known as Scandinavia.

•Denmark consists of a long piece of land jutting into the sea, known as Jutland, as well as more than 1,000 islands - these include the Faroe Islands which lie in the Atlantic between the UK and Iceland.

•Between 800-1050, ships filled with Viking warriors set out from Denmark across Europe to raid and conquer. The remains of their longships and plundered treasure can be seen in the country’s museums.

•The capital, Copenhagen, boasts a statue of The Little Mermaid, a character created by the country’s most famous writer, Hans Christian Andersen.

•Lego building bricks, played with across the world, were invented by a Danish carpenter called Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1947.

•The Danish flag was first flown in 1219, making it the world’s oldest continuously used flag.

14. ESTONIA SIZE: 45,227 sq km (17,462 sq mi) POPULATION: 1.3 millionCAPITAL: Tallinn

•One of the three ‘Baltic Republics’, along with Latvia and Lithuania, this small country is one of the least crowded on Earth. In fact, more people visit each year as tourists than live there.

•Estonia has one of the highest ratios of women to men of any country in the world. For every 100 women, there are just 84 men.

•The country has had a lot of success in the strange sport of ‘wife carrying’, which involves male competitors running along a course while carrying a female teammate on their back. The Estonians were world champions every year between 1998 and 2008.

•Chess is hugely popular. When the Estonian chess grandmaster Paul Keres died in the 1970s, more than 100,000 mourners (or around 10 per cent of population) lined the streets for his funeral.

15. FINLAND SIZE: 338,424 sq km (130,666 sq mi)POPULATION: 5.5 million CAPITAL: Helsinki

•Outside of the cities, where 85 per cent of the people live, you’re more likely to encounter an island (it has more than 179,500, the most in the world) or a lake (it has about 188,000, the most in Europe) than you are another person.

•Forests - where wolves, wolverines, elk and the national animal, the brown bear, roam - cover 86 per cent of the country.

•During the summer months, the northern regions enjoy 24 hours of daylight with the Sun never fully setting below the horizon.

•Finland has won more Olympic gold medals per person than any other nation.

•The border between Sweden and Finland is a time zone, meaning that the countries set their times an hour apart. So you can celebrate New Year in Finland, step over the border, and do it all over again one hour later in Sweden.

16. FRANCE SIZE: 551,500 sq km (212,935 sq mi) POPULATION: 65 millionCAPITAL: Paris

•More people visit France than any other nation on Earth - over 80 million every year, which is 15 million more than actually live there.

•Most of France takes up a single chunk of land at the western end of mainland Europe, but there are other, smaller parts dotted around the world: in the Caribbean, in South America, in the Pacific, and even off the coast of Africa.

•Mont Blanc, which lies in the Alps on the border between France and Italy, is Western Europe’s highest mountain, standing 4,808m (15,774ft) tall.

•Famous Serbs include the scientist Nikola Tesla and the champion tennis player, Novak Djokovic.

•Serbia is one of the world’s largest producers of raspberries, accounting for around 25 per cent of the global supply.

42. SLOVAKIA SIZE: 49,035 sq km (18,933 sq mi)POPULATION: 5.4 millionCAPITAL: Bratislava

•The centre of the country is dominated by a group of mountains called the High Tatras where winter sports, such as skiing and snowboarding, are popular.

•Built in the 12th century, the vast, sprawling 41,000 sq m (441,000 sq ft)Spiš Castle is one of Europe’s largest fortresses.

•Slovakia has more castles per person than any other European country - more than 300.

•And it has even more caves - over 6,000, including one of Europe’s largest ice caves, the Dobšinská Ice Cave, where the ice is up to 25m (82ft) thick in places.

•Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, in the far west, lies next to Austria and Hungary, making it the only capital in the world that borders two other countries.

43. SLOVENIA SIZE: 20,273 sq km (7,827 sq mi)POPULATION: 2.1 millionCAPITAL: Ljubljana

•The three distinctive peaks of the country’s highest mountain - the 2,864-m (9,395-ft) high Mt Triglav - are the country’s national symbol and feature on the Slovenian flag.

•According to legend, the capital Ljubljana was founded by Jason and his Argonauts after they found the golden fleece.

•The world’s oldest wooden wheel, believed to date from 3200 bc, was discovered near the capital in 2002.

•The country has only one island, which is located in the middle of a lake overlooked by the medieval Bled Castle, Slovenia’s oldest fortress.

•The world’s most ancient grapevine - an estimated 450 years old - can be found growing in the city of Maribor up against the wall of a house.

•Postojna Cave is one of the most visited caves in Europe. It stretches for around 24km (15mi). Around 4km (2.5mi) can be explored on a special cave train.

44. SPAIN SIZE: 505,970 sq km (195,356 sq mi)POPULATION: 46 millionCAPITAL: Madrid

•Spain is made up of a large area of southwestern mainland Europe and a number of islands. Some of these islands lie to Spain’s east, while others, the Canary Islands, are off the west coast of North Africa.

•Millions of tourists visit the country every year, many drawn by its sunny weather and the sandy beaches lining its long coast.

•The football teams of its two biggest cities, Real Madrid and Barcelona, are among the richest and most successful on Earth.

•In the 16th century, Spain built up a huge empire, much of it based in central and South America. However, most of its colonies became independent in the 19th century.

•Cádiz, in southern Spain, is the country’s oldest city, and one of the oldest in Europe, having been inhabited since around 1100 bc.

•La Tomatina is a festival of tomato throwing held in August, when people paint the town of Buñol red by hurling hundreds of squashy, ripe tomatoes at each other.

45. SWEDEN SIZE: 450,295 sq km (173,860 sq mi) POPULATION: 9.9 million CAPITAL: Stockholm

•Famed for natural wonders, about half the country is covered in forest, and there are around 100,000 lakes and 200,000 islands.

•The 8-km (4.9-mi) long Öresund Bridge connects Sweden with Denmark over a narrow stretch of water.

•Ice hockey is particularly popular and the country has been world champion on several occasions.

•Every winter, a hotel is built out of snow and ice in the village of Jukkasjärvi in northern Sweden. And every spring it melts away again.

•Crayfish is a real delicacy in Sweden. It’s so popular that in August, huge crayfish feasts are held outdoors. In 2016, a whopping 219,000kg (483,000lb) were caught and eaten. Yum!

46. SWITZERLAND SIZE: 41,285 sq km (15,940 sq mi) POPULATION: 8.4 millionCAPITAL: Bern

•This small country at the heart of Europe has many, many mountains - there are more than 200 that are over 3,000m (9,840ft) high, and more than 200 at over 4,000m (13,120ft).

•You can catch a train to Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest station, which sits up in the peaks at an elevation of 3,454m (11,332ft).

•The mountain-dwelling ibex and chamois goats have specially adapted hooves that grip tightly to rocks, allowing them to climb near-vertical surfaces.

•Over the years, Switzerland has kept out of international politics. It is not a member of the European Union and has stayed neutral in all conflicts since 1814, including both World Wars.

•Many international organisations have their headquarters in Switzerland, including the Red Cross, the World Trade Organisation, FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.

•Deep underground on the Swiss-French border is one of the world’s largest and most amazing machines - the Large Hadron Collider, where tiny particles are sent crashing into each other at nearly the speed of light in order to recreate conditions similar to the Big Bang.

•The Swiss are serious chocoholics, eating more of the sweet stuff per person than any other nation.

47. TURKEY SIZE: 783,362 sq km (302,458 sq mi)POPULATION: 80 millionCAPITAL: Ankara

•Turkey straddles two continents - most of the country (around 97 per cent) is in Asia, but a small portion lies on the European mainland. Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, sits on the border between the two.

•Once part of the Ottoman Empire, modern Turkey was founded in 1923. Its first leader, Mustafa Kemal, was given the name Atatürk, meaning ‘father of the Turks’.

•Turkey sits on a number of tectonic plate boundaries, and has suffered numerous devastating earthquakes over the course of its history.

•The country’s highest mountain is Mt Ararat in the far east at 5,137m (16,854ft), which some believe to be the place where Noah’s Ark came to rest after the great flood described in the Christian Bible.

•The country has numerous remains from the ancient civilizations that once dominated this region, including the Greeks, the Romans and the Byzantines. The site of ancient Troy is in northwest Turkey.

48. UKRAINE SIZE: 603,500 sq km (233,013 sq mi)POPULATION: 43 million CAPITAL: Kiev

•Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Ukraine is Europe’s second largest country after Russia. No fewer than 19 languages are spoken here in addition to Ukrainian.

•The landscape is a mixture of rolling plains, mountains and forests where animals such as lynx, wolves, brown bears and wild boar thrive.

•The world’s worst nuclear accident occurred in Ukraine in 1986 when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded, sending dangerous radioactive chemicals into the air and across much of Europe. The nearby town of Pripyat was abandoned and remains a ghost town to this day.

•The Arsenalna metro station in Kiev is the deepest in the world. The elevator ride down to the platform 105.5m (346ft) below ground takes around five minutes.

•Built in the Ukraine in the 1980s, the Antonov An-225 ‘Mriya’ is the largest, heaviest plane ever constructed with a length of 84m (275ft) a wingspan of 88.4m (290ft) and a fully loaded weight of 640 tonnes (705 sh. tons).

•The Ukrainian brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have both been heavyweight boxing champions.

49. UNITED KINGDOM SIZE: 242,495 sq km (93,628 sq mi)POPULATION: 66 millionCAPITAL: London

•The United Kingdom isn’t one country, but four: England, Scotland, Wales (which together form the island of Britain) and Northern Ireland. Together they form a single state. England is the largest country and has the largest population.

•Over the centuries, the UK has been settled by successive waves of invaders, including Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings and Normans. However, the country has managed to fight off all attempts at invasion since 1066.

•Britain is a small place. Wherever you are, you’re never more than 120km (75mi) from the coast.

•This small country once ruled the largest empire in history, which at its peak in the 1920s, covered around a quarter of Earth’s total land area and contained more than 20 per cent of its people.

•One of the most famous natural attractions is the Giant’s Causeway which consists of around 40,000 hexagonal columns on the coast of Northern Ireland. It looks man made but was actually formed by volcanic eruptions approximately 60 million years ago.

•The UK is famed across the world for its arts. It has produced many notable writers, including William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and JK Rowling, as well as hugely successful musicians, such as the Beatles, One Direction and Adele.

•Many sports were invented here, including football, rugby, golf and cricket - all of which are still popular today.

50. VATICAN CITY SIZE: 0.44 sq km (0.17 sq mi)POPULATION: 800 CAPITAL: Vatican City

•The final country in this list is also the smallest. Ruled by the Pope, the world’s most minuscule nation is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.

•It contains many religious buildings, including St Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel - its famous ceiling design was painted by the Renaissance artist, Michelangelo.

•Security at the Vatican is provided by the Swiss Guard, specially trained soldiers from Switzerland who wear brightly coloured striped uniforms.

•Most of the Vatican’s citizens actually live abroad, representing the church around the world in diplomatic positions.

•The Louvre in Paris is the most visited museum in the world, attracting over 9 million people a year. It holds what is probably the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa painted by the Italian Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci.

17. GEORGIA SIZE: 69,700 sq km (26,900 sq mi) POPULATION: 3.4 millionCAPITAL: Tbilisi

•Georgia’s language is unlike any other in the world, with many unique sounds and letters. It can sound very strange to visitors who have never heard it before.

•People in Georgia call their country ‘Sakartvelo’. But it’s been called Georgia by foreigners since the Middle Ages, probably after the country’s patron saint, St George.

•Inspired by the hot springs in the city, Georgia’s capital city, Tbilisi, is named after the Georgian word for ‘warm’.

18. GERMANY SIZE: 357,340 sq km (137,970 sq mi) POPULATION: 80.7 million CAPITAL: Berlin

•Berlin Zoo, in the capital, is home to more species than any other zoo on Earth.

•The multi-turreted 19th-century castle Neuschwanstein, in the south of the country, looks like it should be in a fairy tale. It was the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland.

•The country is well known for its great range of food and drink, including bread (some 300 varieties), sausages (1,500 varieties) and beer (countless varieties).

•Beer is so popular that the city of Munich holds a festival dedicated to it every autumn, known as Oktoberfest.

•In winter, Christmas markets are held in towns and cities all across the country, selling traditional wooden toys and gingerbread biscuits.

•Germany boasts the narrowest street in the world (the 31-cm-wide Spreuerhofstrasse in the city of Reutlingen), and some of the longest words. Try getting your mouth around the 63-letter-long rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsauf gabenübertragungsgesetz, a technical term relating to the production of meat.

19. GREECE SIZE: 131,957 sq km (50,949 sq mi)POPULATION: 10.9 millionCAPITAL: Athens

•Greece welcomes more than 22 million tourists a year, making it the only country in the world that has more visitors than people who live there.

•On average, Greece enjoys sunshine on 250 days of the year, making it officially the continent’s sunniest country.

•The Olympic Games were staged here for over a thousand years from 776 bc to 393 ad. They were revived in the 19th century with the first modern games being held in Athens in 1896.

•Perhaps its most famous building, the Parthenon, a temple from the 5th century bc, sits on top of a hill called the Acropolis in the centre of Athens.

•Greece boasts more than 6,000 islands, of which some 227 are inhabited.

•Its highest mountain is Mt Olympus, which in ancient times was believed to be the home of the Greek gods.

•Showing the palm of your hand is considered an insult in Greece, known as the moutza.

20. HUNGARY SIZE: 93,024 sq km (35,917 sq mi) POPULATION: 9.8 millionCAPITAL: Budapest

•Budapest, the capital and largest city, was once two separate cities either side of the Danube river: Buda on the west bank and Pest on the east. They were unified in 1873.

•Public bathing has been popular here since Roman times, with the country boasting 1,500 hot springs and around 450 spas.

•Hungary’s most famous cuisine is a type of thick, hearty stew called goulash.

•It is home to the world’s first official wine region, the Tokaj region, where wine has been produced since the 5th century.

•The country doesn’t have a coast, but sunseekers flock to the shores of Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe.

21. ICELAND SIZE: 103,000 sq km (39,769 sq mi) POPULATION: 332,000 CAPITAL: Reykjavik

•Iceland is very volcanic. It sits in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on a hot spot where molten lava comes bubbling up through the Earth’s crust, creating new land.

•Parts of it are very cold: 10 per cent of the land is covered in ice, much of which is taken up by Vatnajökull, the largest glacier in Europe.

•Other parts are extremely warm. The volcanoes heat water below the surface, forming hot springs and giant geysers that shoot super-heated steam high into the air.

•These volcanic springs also produce nearly all the country’s electricity - which is just as well, as Icelanders use more of it than any other European nation.

•Around 30,000 people, or a tenth of the entire country’s population, travelled to the European Football Championships in France 2016 to support the Iceland team.

•It’s one of the best places in Europe to see the Northern Lights, the great technicolour light shows in the sky that take place when electrically charged particles enter the atmosphere and collide with each other.

•Don’t worry about getting bitten - Iceland is the only country on Earth where there are no mosquitoes.

•According to a survey, around 10 per cent of the population believe the island is inhabited by mischievous elves called Huldufólk.

22. IRELAND SIZE: 69,797 sq km (26,949 sq mi) POPULATION: 4.7 million CAPITAL: Dublin

•It’s also known as the Republic of Ireland and the ‘Emerald Isle’ because of its great expanses of rolling green fields.

•Around 99 per cent of the country is rural, with just 1 per cent taken up by towns and cities. The largest is Dublin, which is home to a quarter of the population.

•Over the centuries, many people from Ireland have moved to other countries. Today, around the world, about 80 million people claim Irish descent.

•St Patrick, the nation’s patron saint, is famed for converting the country to Christianity and driving out all the snakes (don’t tell anyone, but there haven’t actually ever been any snakes in Ireland).

•Ireland has produced many famous writers including James Joyce, WB Yeats and George Bernard Shaw.

•There is a superstition that if you kiss the Blarney Stone, which is set into the walls of Blarney Castle, you will become a good speaker. Millions of people have done it.

23. ITALY SIZE: 302,073 sq km (116,631 sq mi) POPULATION: 59.8 millionCAPITAL: Rome

•According to legend, Italy’s capital, Rome, was founded by the twins Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a wolf after their mother abandoned them.

•There are still many ancient buildings and monuments from Roman times remaining today. Perhaps the most well known is the Colosseum, a giant stone arena in Rome where bloodthirsty gladiatorial contests were once held.

•After the Roman Empire’s collapse, Italy split into a number of different territories and kingdoms. They wouldn’t unite into a single country until the mid-19th century.

•In the 15th century, Italy saw a great artistic revival known as the Renaissance, when famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo produced many great works of art.

•The world’s biggest pizza was created in Rome in 2012. It was 37m (122ft) across, 20cm (8in) thick and covered in 900kg (1,984lb) of tomatoes and 1,674kg (3,960lb) of cheese.

•Every Italian eats, on average, more than 30kg (66lb) of pasta every year.

•Football is Italy’s most popular sport. The country has won the World Cup four times; the last time in 2006.

•Italy lies on a part of the Earth’s crust where two plates are coming together. In the south, there are numerous active volcanoes, including Mt Etna on the island of Sicily.

24. KOSOVO SIZE: 10,908 sq km (4,212 sq mi) POPULATION: 1.8 millionCAPITAL: Pristina

•Europe’s newest nation declared its independence from Serbia in 2008.

•It’s a young country in several ways - more than 70 per cent of the population is under 35 years old.

•Outside of the capital and largest city, Pristina, much of the country is mountainous.

25. LATVIA SIZE: 64,573 sq km (24,932 sq mi) POPULATION: 2 millionCAPITAL: Riga

•With its shore lapped by the icy Baltic Sea, and an interior crisscrossed by 12,000 rivers and some 3,000 lakes, Latvia is a land dominated by water.

•It boasts Europe’s widest waterfall, the 249-m (817-ft) wide Venta Rapid - although, at just 2m (6.5ft) high, it’s certainly not the tallest.

•Filled with beautiful buildings, the capital, Riga, is sometimes known as the ‘Paris of the North’.

•Riga is home to Europe’s largest market, which occupies a set of enormous former airship hangars.

•Prehistoric pieces of amber (fossilized tree sap), dating back between 20 and 50 million years, often wash up on Latvia’s shores, where they are collected by locals and turned into jewellery known as dzintar. Some even contain the remains of prehistoric insects.

26. LIECHTENSTEIN SIZE: 160 sq km (62 sq mi) POPULATION: 38,000 CAPITAL: Vaduz

•Tiny Liechtenstein is one of just two countries in the world that are double landlocked - that means they are surrounded by countries that are also landlocked (the other is the much larger Uzbekistan in Central Asia).

•Most of this small territory is covered in mountains where winter sports are popular.

•Liechtenstein is the world’s leading producer of false teeth, with more than 60 million sets being made every year.

27. LITHUANIA SIZE: 65,300 sq km (25,212 sq mi) POPULATION: 2.8 million CAPITAL: Vilnius

•Lithuania is the most populous of the three Baltic Republics. As with the others, it was once part of the Soviet Union but became independent in 1991.

•The Curonian Spit is a 98-km (61-mile) sand dune off the country’s coast, much of which is covered in forests that are home to sea eagles, wild boar and elk.

•You can get a bird’s-eye view of the country on a hot-air balloon trip up above the capital, Riga.

•People have been planting wooden crucifixes on the Hill of Crosses in Northern Lithuania since 1831. There are now more than 200,000 of all shapes and sizes.

•According to the Guinness Book of Records, the geographic centre of Europe is in Lithuania. A monument marking the spot was erected there in 2004.

28. LUXEMBOURG SIZE: 2,586 sq km (998 sq mi) POPULATION: 576,250 CAPITAL: Luxembourg City

•The smallest of the low countries is split into two distinct parts: a flat south where most of the people live, and a hilly north which is covered in forests.

•Luxembourg is the world’s only Grand Duchy, which means it’s ruled by a monarch known as a Grand Duke.

•The 37-km (23-mi) long Valley of the Castles takes you on a drive past seven of the country’s best castles (there are 75 in total).

•Many of the institutions of the European Union are based in the capital city, including the European Court of Justice.

29. MACEDONIA (FYROM) SIZE: 25,713 sq km (9,928 sq mi) POPULATION: 2 millionCAPITAL: Skopje

•The letters in brackets stands for the ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’, which is the country’s official name. It’s a bit of a mouthful, which is why it’s usually abbreviated to FYROM.

•The longer name was insisted on by Macedonia’s southern neighbour, Greece, so as to avoid confusion with its own province - also called Macedonia - which lies right next to the FYROM.

•Mountains cover about 80 per cent of this landlocked country. Thirty-four reach higher than 2,000m (6,562ft).

•Vodno Mountain, which overlooks the capital, is topped by a 66-m (216-ft) high Christian cross, which was erected in 2000 to celebrate the Millennium. A cable car runs to its summit.

•Every year, Macedonians hold a tree-planting day to try and restore forests damaged in wildfires in 2006 and 2007.

30. MALTA SIZE: 316 sq km (122 sq mi) POPULATION: 420,000 CAPITAL: Valletta

•Malta is a small collection of islands just south of Italy, of which only the three largest, Malta, Gozo and Comino, are inhabited.

•Malta is home to around 420,000 people, Gozo to around 30,000, while little Comino has just three permanent residents.

•Comino is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve, as well as a popular diving site.

•Although there may not be much land, there are plenty of people. Malta is one of the most densely populated countries in the world with around 1,265 inhabitants per square km (3,000 per square mile).

•As the islands have no rivers or lakes, the people have become skilled at extracting drinking water from seawater.

•Around 13,000 years ago, back in the last Ice Age, sea levels were much lower and there was a land bridge connecting Malta to Italy.

•Many of Malta’s most imposing forts and castles were built by the Knights of St John, an order of Christian soldiers who settled here in the 16th century.

•Colourful Maltese fishing boats called luzzu traditionally have eyes painted on either side of the prow, which are believed to protect the fishermen while they are out at sea.

31. MOLDOVA SIZE: 33,846 sq km (13,068 sq mi) POPULATION: 3.5 millionCAPITAL: Chişinău

•If you want to do something a little different, try visiting Moldova. This tiny landlocked state is the least visited country in Europe - just 94,000 people came here in 2015; or around 80 million fewer than visited France.

•The Milestii Mici wine cellar holds the biggest wine collection in the world with over two million bottles.

•Some of the communities in southern Moldova speak Gagauz, one of the rarest languages on Earth.

•Moldova’s flag features an eagle and an auroch, a type of extinct wild cattle from which modern cattle descended.

•The country’s national dish is a type of bright yellow porridge made with maize called mamaliga.

32. MONACO SIZE: 2 sq km (0.77 sq mi) POPULATION: 38,400 CAPITAL: Monaco

•As the most densely populated country in Europe and the one with the richest inhabitants (the average person here has a fortune of around $1.7 million), there are more millionaires here per square metre than anywhere else on Earth.

•Home to movie stars, sports people and international business owners, Monaco’s streets are lined with luxury high-rise buildings and its harbour is filled with mega yachts.

•It’s governed by Prince Albert II of the Grimaldi family, who have ruled here for over 800 years.

•A Formula 1 Grand Prix is held here every year when super-fast cars race through the country’s narrow, twisty streets.

33. MONTENEGRO SIZE: 13,812 sq km (5,333 sq mi)POPULATION: 626,000 CAPITAL: Podgorica

•This small piece of land has been home to many different peoples, including Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Serbs and Venetians. When Yugoslavia broke up in the 1990s, Montenegro initially formed a new state with neighbouring Serbia called Serbia and Montenegro. But, in 2006 the Montenegrins voted to go it alone.

•Montenegro means ‘Black Mountain,’ a reference to Montenegro’s many dark, tree-lined peaks. More than 60 per cent of the country is 1,000m (3,300ft) or more above sea level.

•It boasts Europe’s deepest river canyon, the Tara, which has walls rising to 1,300m (4,265ft) in some parts.

•A 2,000-year-old olive tree in the coastal town of Bar is believed to be one of the oldest in the world.

34. NETHERLANDS SIZE: 37,354 sq km (14,422 sq mi) POPULATION: 17 millionCAPITAL: Amsterdam

•Let’s start with the name, as it can cause confusion: the country is officially called the Netherlands, but is sometimes referred to as Holland by foreigners (although Holland is technically a province of the Netherlands) and the people are known as Dutch, as is the language they speak.

•It’s a very flat, low-lying country with around a quarter of the land below sea level.

•Much of the Netherlands has been built on land reclaimed from the sea. The capital, Amsterdam, was constructed on what used to be swampland.

•In the 17th century, the Netherlands government put a tax on the width of houses - the wider the house, the more you had to pay. But some cunning people got round this by building extremely narrow, tall houses. Holland’s narrowest house is Singel 7 in Amsterdam which is just 1m (3ft) wide!

•Bicycling is very popular here - there are around double the number of bikes to cars.

•In winter, speed skaters whizz up and down Amsterdam’s frozen canals.

•The people in the Netherlands are the tallest in the world - the average man’s height is 1.84m (6ft 1in).

35. NORWAY SIZE: 386,209 sq km (149,116 sq mi) POPULATION: 5.3 million CAPITAL: Oslo

•Norway’s landscape features thick pine forests, towering mountains and deep fjords - long sea inlets on the coast that were carved out by slow-moving glaciers millions of years ago.

•Puffins, Arctic foxes and polar bears are just some of the animals that live in Norway.

•In the north, the sun never completely sets below the horizon between May and July. There’s a golf course where you can play at night.

•The Sami people, who have been living in the northern regions for over 10,000 years, tend great herds of reindeer.

•Norway is officially the world’s best winter sports nation, having won more medals at the Winter Olympics than any other country.

•In 2000, the world’s longest road tunnel, the Laerdal tunnel, opened, stretching for 24.5km (15.23mi) through a mountain range in the centre of the country.

•Many Norwegian people tell legends of trolls - strange monsters that live in the country’s forests and mountains, and which are turned to stone if exposed to sunlight.

•Norway has the biggest piggy bank on Earth. Since 1996, the country has saved almost all the money it has made through selling oil - one of its biggest exports - and now has a reserve of over a trillion dollars.

•The country gets 98 per cent of its electricity from hydroelectric power, more than any other country.

36. POLAND SIZE: 311,888 sq km (120,420 sq mi) POPULATION: 38.6 millionCAPITAL: Warsaw

•In the late-18th century, Poland’s land was divided up between Russia, Prussia (now part of Germany) and Austria. For 123 years, Poland ceased to exist. It was reformed after the First World War.

•In the north of the country is a great wetland area called Masuria where there are more than 2,000 lakes.

•Much of the eastern part of the country is taken up by the sprawling Białowieża Forest, one of the last remaining parts of the ancient forest that once covered the whole of northern Europe.

•This forest is home to a herd of bison, the continent’s largest land animal.

•Much of the forest lies within a national park where cars are banned. People can only visit the park on foot, by bike or in a horse-drawn carriage.

•Poland’s second largest city and former capital, Kraków, is overlooked by a giant castle complex called Wawel. According to legend, this was once the lair of a ferocious dragon called Smok, which used to terrorize the local community. It was slain by Krakus, a Polish prince who went on to found the city, naming it after itself.

37. PORTUGAL SIZE: 92,225 sq km (35,608 sq mi) POPULATION: 10.3 millionCAPITAL: Lisbon

•The westernmost country on the European mainland, Portugal also owns the island groups of the Azores and Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean.

•Madeira was the birthplace of Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world’s most famous footballers.

•Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, is the oldest in Western Europe and one of the oldest in the world, having first been settled more than 3,000 years ago.

•The capital is home to both the oldest bookshop in the world, Livraria Bertrand (opened 1732), and the longest bridge in Europe, the Vasco da Gama Bridge, which stretches for around 17km (10.5mi) over the Tagus River.

•In the 16th century, a Portuguese sailor called Ferdinand Magellan led the first expedition to sail all the way around the world (although he died before it returned).

•Portugal’s southern Algarve region is famed for its sunny climate and sandy beaches, attracting hordes of holidaymakers.

•Portugal’s forests supply over half the world’s cork.

38. ROMANIA SIZE: 238,391 sq km (92,043 sq mi) POPULATION: 19.5 million CAPITAL: Bucharest

•The vast Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest is the heaviest building on Earth, made up of 700,000 tonnes (772,000 sh. tons) of steel and bronze.

•The world’s largest flag, measuring 349m (1,145ft) by 227m (745ft), and weighing 5 tonnes (5.5 sh. tons), was unfurled just outside a small village near Bucharest in 2013.

•The following year, the world’s longest sausage was squeezed out in a tent in the city of Ploieşti. It measured an incredible 62.75km (39mi).

•Romania contains the region of Transylvania, home to the fictional vampire, Count Dracula. The spooky looking, 700-year-old Bran Castle is believed by some to have been the inspiration for the count’s castle in the novel.

•Around 6,000 bears live in Romania’s mountains, Europe’s largest population.

•Romania’s most famous sportsperson is the gymnast, Nadia Comăneci. At the 1976 Olympics, she became the first person to be awarded a perfect 10 for an event.

39. RUSSIA SIZE: 17.1 million sq km (6.6 million sq mi)POPULATION: 143.4 millionCAPITAL: Moscow

•Russia is big. Really big - by far the biggest country on Earth! It takes up around a tenth of all the land on the planet, extends across 11 time zones, and borders 14 countries.

•The Ural Mountains, which run for around 2,575km (1,600mi) through Western Russia are usually regarded as marking the border between Europe and Asia.

•The 5,642-m (18,510-ft) tall Mt Elbrus is Europe’s tallest mountain.

•Russia is also home to Europe’s longest river, the 3,690-km (2,293-mi) long River Volga, and the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Baikal, which is 1,637m (5,371ft) deep and contains around 20 per cent of the world’s entire unfrozen fresh water supply. Wow!

•It has more forest than any other country (even Brazil) with trees taking up around 45 per cent of the total area (around 7.8 million sq km (3 million sq miles).

•Tsar Peter the Great, who ruled from 1682 to 1725, built the city of St Petersburg. Its beautiful palaces and museums are some of country’s most visited sites.

40. SAN MARINO SIZE: 61.2 sq km (23.6 sq mi) POPULATION: 33,290CAPITAL: San Marino

•This tiny country lies within - and is completely surrounded by - Italy.

•According to tradition, it was founded in 301 ad by a Christian called Marinus (later Saint Marinus or, in Italian, San Marino), fleeing from persecution by the Romans.

•Many sports stadiums can hold more people than live in San Marino.

•There are no borders between Italy and San Marino, so you can come and go as you please. In fact, if you want your passport stamped, you have to pay five euros for the privilege.

41. SERBIA SIZE: 88,361 sq km (34,116 sq mi) POPULATION: 7.1 millionCAPITAL: Belgrade

•Belgrade is one of Europe’s oldest cities. Archaeological remains have shown that this region was first inhabited in around 5700 bc by the Vinča people, who left behind strange alien-like carvings.

•No fewer than 17 Roman emperors were born in Serbia, which is more than any country other than Italy itself.

•In the late-14th century, Serbia was ruled by Prince Marko, who has become a major figure in Serbian legends. According to the tales, he had enormous strength which he used to help create the Serbian landscape, flinging giant boulders around and forging rivers with his sword. Eventually, he retired to a cave where he stuck his sword in a rock and went to sleep. But the sword is gradually working its way out of the rock. When it finally falls to the floor, Marko will wake up.

•The Serbian church follows an old calendar, known as the Julian Calendar, which differs from the calendar used by much of the rest of Europe. This means that Serbs celebrate Christmas on 7 January.

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