GeoGuessr Tips: Eastern/Northern Europe

Eastern and Northern Europe can feel overwhelming, but a few sharp tips make each country recognizable.

Ukraine is defined by poor road quality, flat landscapes, and green summer foliage. Concrete poles dominate, though wooden poles sometimes have support blocks. Its Cyrillic script includes characters like Є, Ґ, and Ї. The word street is вулиця. The distinct half-blue and half-yellow flag is also common in coverage.

Russia also uses the Cyrillic alphabet, with unique letters like Ы, Э, Ё, and Ъ. Their Word for street: улица. Cars have very plain white license plates, and highways use blue signs. Another subtle tip is that the bottoms of road signs are often painted black.

The Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia) look nearly identical. Country domain codes are a good distinguisher here: .lt (lithuania), .lv (latvia), .ee (estonia). Expect endless forests and “A-frame” utility poles. There are unique language characters for Estonian (Ä Ö Ü Õ), Latvian (Ā Ē Ī Ģ Ķ Ļ Ņ), and Lithuanian (Ą Ę Į Ų Ė). The safe bet is to guess centrally among them.

Norway is full of Nordic-style red and white wooden houses. Norwegian has 3 unique characters (Æ, Ø, Å). Rural roads have long dashed outer lines, and highways feature yellow dividers. Its directional signs are black and yellow. It also has heavy vegetation, which is unique compared to other countries nearby.

Sweden differs with short dashed roadside lines and no yellow dividers, ever. Swedish has the unique letters Å, Ä, Ö (Norway shares the Å). Highways feature blue signs with white text (like Russia). Some highways have a checkered pattern on them too.

Iceland is instantly recognizable due to its diverse terrain. Things such as volcanic black soil, almost no trees, metal-framed street signs, and rugged mountains help set it apart. Unlike forested Northern Europe, its barren, coastal landscapes stand out immediately. There are also many cliffs and waterfalls throughout.