Country-guessing Europe's Nordic Countries
Identifying the right country in the Nordics can be hard. This guide helps figuring it out systematically! First, there are a few easy hints to check if you're in Iceland or Faroe Islands. If that's not the case, look for bollards, road markings, give-way signs, direction signs, or language - all of these can help you quickly identify the right country. Lastly, there are some unique metas that are only found in one country, which are listed at the bottom.
Iceland or Faroe Islands
Iceland and Faroe Islands are quite unique and can typically be identified right away. Check for the following:
🇮🇸 Iceland landscape
The Icelandic landscape is characterized by an absence of vegetation other than grass. Roads are usually flat, with hills and mountains visible in the distance and undulating terrain surrounding the roads.
🇮🇸 Iceland bollards
In Iceland, bollards are recognizable for their distinct yellow color and top edge.
🇫🇴 Faroe Islands landscape
The Faroe Islands have a unique jagged green mountain landscape without trees.
🇫🇴 Faroe Islands Google Car
In the Faroe Islands you will see the Google Car with plain grey roof racks and side mirrors.
Give Way Signs
Each of the four big Nordic countries has a unique give way sign. Note that the outline around the give way signs, which is a key distinction, does not apply to all warnings signs in each country - so look out for the give way signs specifically.
🇩🇰 Denmark
Warning signs in Denmark feature a triangular shape with a red border and white background. Give-way signs specifically have NO outline outside the red border.
🇳🇴 Norway
Warning signs in Norway feature a triangular shape with a red border and white background. Give-way signs specifically have an additional outline outside the red border.
🇸🇪 Sweden
Warning signs in Sweden feature a triangular shape with a red border and yellow background. Give-way signs specifically have NO outline outside the red border.
🇫🇮 Finland
Warning signs in Finland feature a triangular shape with a red border and yellow background. Give-way signs specifically have an additional outline outside the red border.
Road Markings
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden have unique road markings. Due to their many rural roads, these are quite useful to memorize.
🇩🇰 Denmark
In Denmark, main roads often feature distinct short-dashed edge markings.
🇳🇴 Norway
Norway often has dashed white lines on the side of the road.
🇸🇪 Sweden
In Sweden, roads typically have white dashed side lines and a white center line, with the gaps between the side dashes being longer than the dashes themselves.
🇫🇮 Finland
In Finland, road lines usually consist of solid white side lines (when present) and a center line that can be white or yellow, sometimes accompanied by a secondary line or stripes.
Direction Signs
Each of the four big Nordic countries has a unique direction sign, which you can find all over the country.
🇩🇰 Denmark
Danish direction signs are typically white with a metal border around them.
🇳🇴 Norway
Norway uses yellow directional signs.
🇸🇪 Sweden
Swedish directional signs are white on blue background with a thin arrow on the sides.
🇫🇮 Finland
In Finland, minor directional signs have white text on blue background with a bold arrow on the sides.
Bollards
🇩🇰 Denmark and 🇮🇸 Iceland have unique bollards too. Note that 🇸🇪 Sweden and 🇫🇮 Finland have similar-looking bollards and 🇳🇴 Norway hardly uses bollards.
🇩🇰 Denmark
In Denmark, bollards have a distinctive appearance and are abundant throughout the country.
🇮🇸 Iceland
As mentioned in the first section, Iceland's bollards are recognizable for their distinct yellow color and top edge.
🇸🇪 Sweden
In Sweden, bollards are typically black-and-white, featuring a grey or orange reflector, and come in various shapes.
🇫🇮 Finland
Finnish bollards appear cylindrical from the front.
Language
Each of the Nordic countries has a unique language too. Only Danish and Norwegian is hard to distinguish as they share the same character set.
🇩🇰 Denmark
Denmark uses the special characters å, æ, and ø.
🇳🇴 Norway
Norway uses the special characters å, æ, and ø.
🇸🇪 Sweden
Sweden uses the special characters å, ä, and ö.
🇫🇮 Finland
Finland uses the special characters ä and ö. It often has double vowels and many long words.
🇮🇸 Iceland
Iceland's language is fairly unique and uses the unique characters Þ and ð, amongst other special characters.
Language
Each of the Nordic countries has a unique language too. Only Danish and Norwegian is hard to distinguish as they share the same character set.
Green license plates
🇳🇴 Norway commercial vehicles use green license plates.
Yellow license plates
🇩🇰 Denmark commercial vehicles feature yellow license plates on the front and back.
Yellow & blue chevrons
🇸🇪 Sweden chevrons use yellow and blue colors.
Dirt roads in forests
🇫🇮 Finland typically is the best option when you see a dirt or gravel road in a Nordic country without any other meaningful clues.
Yellow pedestrian signs
🇮🇸 Iceland is the only European country to have a yellow background behind its pedestrian signs.