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In Eastern Europe, location clues vary widely, from unique bollard designs and utility pole markings in countries like Ukraine and Serbia to distinctive road signs and scripts in places like Russia and Bulgaria. Look for features like specific guardrails in Czechia and Slovakia, steering wheel placement in Russian vehicles, and language-specific letters or scripts, such as Cyrillic in Bulgaria and unique characters in Czech, Slovak, and Albanian. Road features, such as double middle lines in Poland or colored directional signs, also help distinguish between these diverse countries in GeoGuessr.

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Eastern Europe Metas

In Albania, when panning upwards in the sky, rifts are often visible.

Coverage 🇦🇱 Albania

In Montenegro, when panning upwards in the sky, rifts are often visible.

Coverage 🇲🇪 Montenegro

In Eastern Russia, most cars have the steering wheel on the right-hand side, contrasting with Western Russia and almost all of Europe, where steering wheels are on the left side of the car.

Driving Direction 🇷🇺 Russia

Most of Ukraine has a red Google car with a long antenna visible.

Google Car 🇺🇦 Ukraine

A key way to identify North Macedonia is by the absence of an antenna on the Google Streetview car, a feature that is usually visible in most of Eastern Europe.

Google Car 🇲🇰 North Macedonia

A key way to identify Serbia is by the absence of an antenna on the Google Streetview car, a feature that is usually visible in most of Eastern Europe.

Google Car 🇷🇸 Serbia

The Ukrainian language, written in the Cyrillic script, includes several letters unique to it, as compared to Russian: ґ, і, ї, and є (distinct from э in Russian and Belarusian)

Language 🇺🇦 Ukraine

The Slovak language, similar in appearance to Czech for non-speakers, has distinct letters unique to it: Slovak includes Ľ, Ô, Ä, Ŕ, and Ĺ; Czech, on the other hand, uses Ř, Ě, and Ů.

Language 🇸🇰 Slovakia

In Montenegro, while both Cyrillic and Latin scripts appear on the GeoGuessr map, Latin script is more commonly seen on signs. Latin Montenegrin features the letters: Č, Š, and Ž, as well as Ć, Ś, and Ž.

Language 🇲🇪 Montenegro

Bulgaria predominantly uses Cyrillic. There are no distinguishing Cyrillic letters unique to Bulgarian Cyrillic.

Language 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

The Albanian language is distinctive for its frequent use of the letters q, j, and k, and it includes the distinct characters ç and ë.

Language 🇦🇱 Albania

Polish language is identifiable by frequent use of the letter "z" and the unique "ł" (Ł). Other commonly seen letters include j, w, and y. Additionally, Polish includes letters like ó, ż, ś, ę, and ń.

Language 🇵🇱 Poland

Slovene includes special letters Č, Š, and Ž and is closely related to Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin.

Language 🇸🇮 Slovenia

Romanian, a Romance language similar to Italian, includes special letters such as ă, ș, and ț.

Language 🇷🇴 Romania

Only Czechia uses the letters Ř, Ě, and Ů.

Language 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Macedonian, written in the Cyrillic script, includes road signs with Latin text, although most other signs are exclusively in Cyrillic. Unique to Macedonian are the letters ‘Ѓ’ and ‘Ќ’. The letters ‘Љ’, ‘Њ’, and ‘Џ’ are shared only with Serbian.

Language 🇲🇰 North Macedonia

Serbian uses both Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Unique to Serbian Cyrillic are these letters: Ђ ђ Ћ ћ

Language 🇷🇸 Serbia

The Russian language uses the Cyrillic script.

Language 🇷🇺 Russia

Croatian is a slavic language with unique characters such as ž, š, and ć. There are a high occurrence of j and z in Croatian.

Language 🇭🇷 Croatia

The Hungarian language is notable for its vowels marked with one or two lines, resembling apostrophes. The letters ő and ű are unique to Hungarian, featuring double italic lines. However, ö and ü also appear in Hungarian, similar to their use in other languages like German.

Language 🇭🇺 Hungary

In Ukraine (and Russia) public transport vehicles have yellow license plates.

License Plate 🇺🇦 Ukraine

North Macedonia has a mixture of some cars with the standard European license plate and other cars with the rare white, elongated plates.

License Plate 🇲🇰 North Macedonia

Some of Albania’s license plates are recognizable by the light blue vertical stripes on both the left and right edges. Note that Albania also has license plates with a red vertical stripe on the left edge.

License Plate 🇦🇱 Albania

In Hungary, commercial vehicles like taxis and some trucks have yellow license plates, while regular vehicles use standard European plates.

License Plate 🇭🇺 Hungary

Before 2016, Croatia used purely white license plates. In 2016, they switched to European-style plates with a blue stripe on the left. However, not all Street View coverage in Croatia is updated, so many vehicles still display the older, white, long plates.

License Plate 🇭🇷 Croatia

One of the best ways to identify Russia is via its license plates. Russian plates are elongated and completely white- a rarity in Europe.

License Plate 🇷🇺 Russia

A Ukrainian license plate features a small section of yellow and blue on the left side.

License Plate 🇺🇦 Ukraine

The second most common license plate in Albania has a red section on the left. The most common Albanian plates have a blue strip on each side.

License Plate 🇦🇱 Albania

Hungarian bollards have a red rectangle on the front. The back side has the same rectangle but in white.

Bollards 🇭🇺 Hungary

The is a Czech bollard. It has unique fluro orange stripes in the black section of the bollard. The back of the bollard has a white rectangle in the black section.

Bollards 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Croatian bollards have a red rectangle on the front. The back side has the same rectangle but in white.

Bollards 🇭🇷 Croatia

Polish bollards have a red diagonal stripe wrapping around the bollard.

Bollards 🇵🇱 Poland

The most common type of Ukrainian bollard features a red rectangle wider than those in Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, and North Macedonia. Typically, these bollards in Ukraine appear run-down, with the red rectangle often damaged.

Bollards 🇺🇦 Ukraine

The main type of Serbian bollard resembles those in Slovenia and Montenegro, with the key difference being that the red rectangle on Serbian bollards is always positioned to one side, not in the center.

Bollards 🇷🇸 Serbia

This is the front view of the Slovenian bollard.

Bollards 🇸🇮 Slovenia

Albanian bollards have a unique design with a vertical red rectangle inside a black diagonal strip on the front, where the black part extends to the top of the bollard, a rarity in bollard designs. The rear of these bollards features a white rectangle instead of the front's red one.

Bollards 🇦🇱 Albania

The is a Slovakian bollard. It has unique fluro orange stripes in the black section of the bollard. The back of the bollard has a white rectangle in the black section.

Bollards 🇸🇰 Slovakia

North Macedonian bollards have a red rectangle on the front. The back side has the same rectangle but in white.

Bollards 🇲🇰 North Macedonia

Bulgarian bollards have a red rectangle on the front. The back side has the same rectangle but in white.

Bollards 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

This is a Russian bollard.

Bollards 🇷🇺 Russia

This is the front view of the Montenegrin bollard.

Bollards 🇲🇪 Montenegro

In Czechia, roads often have solid outer lines with no center line, a feature useful for distinguishing Czechia from Slovakia.

Street Markings 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Poland’s double middle lines are very common and usually a good clue for Poland.

Street Markings 🇵🇱 Poland

The Hungarian word for street is "utca".

Street Name 🇭🇺 Hungary

The Croatian word for street is Ulica. Croatian street signs are blue with white lettering.

Street Name 🇭🇷 Croatia

The Ukrainian word for street is вулиця (vulytsya), abbreviated as вул. (vul.).

Street Name 🇺🇦 Ukraine

The Bulgarian term for street is "улица".

Street Name 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

The Albanian word for street is rruga.

Street Name 🇦🇱 Albania

Poland has green coloured directional signs with white lettering.

Street Sign 🇵🇱 Poland

Slovenian directional signs have black text on yellow background.

Street Sign 🇸🇮 Slovenia

Slovakian road signs typically feature borders directly on the edge of the sign. In contrast, Czech signs more commonly have borders set apart from the edge by a strip matching the sign's background color.

Street Sign 🇸🇰 Slovakia

Montenegro’s directional road signs are often yellow with black lettering.

Street Sign 🇲🇪 Montenegro

Polish pedestrian signs are the only ones in Europe to have just one horizontal line behind the person.

Street Sign 🇵🇱 Poland

The font of Albanian street signs is uniquely bold with short, rounded corners.

Street Sign 🇦🇱 Albania

The Russian term for street is улица.

Street Sign 🇷🇺 Russia

Russian directional signs are blue with white lettering, most commonly displaying only Cyrillic words, though sometimes they include both Latin and Cyrillic.

Street Sign 🇷🇺 Russia

Town name signs in Slovakia have a thinner black outline around them compared to Czechia’s signs.

Street Sign 🇸🇰 Slovakia

In Hungary, signs are typically attached to posts using four bolts, arranged in a tall rectangular shape, passing through the sign.

Street Sign 🇭🇺 Hungary

In Poland, a unique type of warning sign can be found, characterized by a thin red outline and a yellow background.

Street Sign 🇵🇱 Poland

Montenegro also has many brown signs with white lettering.

Street Sign 🇲🇪 Montenegro

Bulgarian signs are written in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts, and they are typically colored blue or green.

Street Sign 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

Directional signs in Slovakia are rectangular with small white arrows. This contrasts directional signs in Czechia which have a large arrow that forms the shape of the sign.

Street Sign 🇸🇰 Slovakia

North Macedonia have some warning signs with yellow coloring.

Street Sign 🇲🇰 North Macedonia

Romanian directional signs have white text on blue background. Major roads are indicated by these distinctive red shields.

Street Sign 🇷🇴 Romania

Bulgarian settlement signs often feature names in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts, but sometimes they display only the Cyrillic name.

Street Sign 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

In Croatia, direction signs are characterized by a yellow background and black outline, often featuring a pencil-shaped tip.

Street Sign 🇭🇷 Croatia

Directional signs in Ukraine are blue with white lettering They typically feature Cyrillic on top and its Latin equivalent below, or just Cyrillic.

Street Sign 🇺🇦 Ukraine

Many Slovenian signs have a white or yellow sticker on the back of them.

Street Sign 🇸🇮 Slovenia

In Czechia, unique blue signs with white arrows indicate directions to the nearest towns.

Street Sign 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Slovenian settlement signs have black text on yellow background.

Street Sign 🇸🇮 Slovenia

Some warning signs in Serbia have a yellow background color.

Street Sign 🇷🇸 Serbia

Town name signs in Czechia have a thick black outline around them. This contrasts town name signs in Slovakia that have a thinner black outline around them.

Street Sign 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Serbian signs are often yellow with black lettering. They can feature Latin lettering, Cyrillic, or both.

Street Sign 🇷🇸 Serbia

Some Romanian signs have a yellow edge such as this pedestrian sign.

Street Sign 🇷🇴 Romania

Albania's directional signs have white text on blue background with an arrow forming the side of the sign.

Street Sign 🇦🇱 Albania

Directional signs in North Macedonia are yellow with black lettering, featuring the Cyrillic town name on top and its Latin translation beneath.

Street Sign 🇲🇰 North Macedonia

In Hungary, directional signs are mostly green with a white inner border and a green outer border. On M-numbered highways, these signs are blue with a white inner border and a blue outer border.

Street Sign 🇭🇺 Hungary

Ukraine uses white town entry signs.

Street Sign 🇺🇦 Ukraine

In Romania, the most common type of town entry sign features a yellow section displaying a speed limit and a city skyline, with a white sign below showing the town name. The upper part of the sign can also be white or completely absent.

Street Sign 🇷🇴 Romania

Russian Federal Highways have either an M, A or P/R prefixing the road number. M surrounds Moscow. Look for signs like this in Russia. This one says road M-7 in smallish writing.

Street Sign 🇷🇺 Russia

Czech road signs typically have borders set apart from the edge by a strip matching the sign's background color. In contrast, Slovakian signs more commonly feature borders directly on the edge of the sign.

Street Sign 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Poland has concrete utility poles with holes in them. Polish poles are distinct from the utility poles of Hungary and Romania as the holes don’t go all the way to the ground- they stop about half a metre above the ground.

Poles 🇵🇱 Poland

Many of Romania's holey poles have a white painted bottom and/or some sort of yellow marking on them.

Poles 🇷🇴 Romania

Many Ukrainian utility poles have their base section painted white.

Poles 🇺🇦 Ukraine

Concrete utility poles with large holes extending down to the ground are often found in Hungary. The Geoguessr community calls them "holey poles".

Poles 🇭🇺 Hungary

In North Macedonia, utility poles are often equipped with distinctive lamps.

Poles 🇲🇰 North Macedonia

Concrete utility poles with large holes extending down to the ground are often found in Romania. The Geoguessr community calls them "holey poles".

Poles 🇷🇴 Romania

Eiffel Tower-like poles are a common sight throughout Bulgaria.

Poles 🇧🇬 Bulgaria

Serbia uses the internet suffix '.rs', representing 'Republic of Serbia', one of the more unique and non-intuitive internet suffixes globally.

Other 🇷🇸 Serbia

In Croatia, narrow and distinctive blue fire hydrants are a common sight. Newer fire hydrants seen in Generation 4 have a smaller top but are still recognizable due to the blue paint.

Other 🇭🇷 Croatia

In Ukraine, many streetside objects, including fences, are often painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag: blue and yellow.

Other 🇺🇦 Ukraine

Hungary has unique red fire hydrants, which are prevalent throughout the country.

Other 🇭🇺 Hungary

In Ukraine, it's common to see the base of tree trunks painted white.

Flora 🇺🇦 Ukraine

Czechia uses a special type B guardrail that is wider in the middle section.

Guardrails 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Slovakia uses a special type B guardrail that is wider in the middle section.

Guardrails 🇸🇰 Slovakia

Slovenian kilometre markers have a distinct design, featuring the road number in a yellow rectangle at the top left.

Milestone Markers 🇸🇮 Slovenia

In Russia, small blue road markers indicate the distance a road has extended in kilometers.

Milestone Markers 🇷🇺 Russia

These green kilometre markers are commonly found along most roads in Hungary.

Milestone Markers 🇭🇺 Hungary

Roadside markers in Romania display road numbers and distances to the nearest towns, serving as useful identifiers for the country. These markers can also appear in blue, red, or white.

Milestone Markers 🇷🇴 Romania

Russian poles are often white with a distinctive black base, a feature rarely seen in other countries.

Sign Posts 🇷🇺 Russia