Europe contains how many countries

Europe is a unique continent, which is not surrounded by water from all directions and has an overland border with neighboring Asia. Physiographically, it occupies the northwestern part of the large landmass known as Eurasia and surrounded from the north by the Arctic Ocean, from the west by the Atlantic Ocean, from the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and from the southeast by the Black Sea. And it turns out sleeping in an ice hotel, while awesome for Insta shots, is in no way comfortable.

Because, well, it involves sleeping on ice. The coolest part about this small Balkan country is how weirdly tall everyone is — the average height is more than 6 feet. These places all seem to exist because of some long-standing feud that literally no one who presently lives there understands or cares about at all.

What could possibly go wrong? A lot, it turns out. The small islands that comprise Malta are overcrowded with tourists and residents. The beaches, the destination's main draw, are particularly swarmed with crowds. And worst of all, the food is generic and chain-heavy. It survived the last major war of the 20th century and has come a long way since then.

Plus the cities are vibrant and unafraid of their conflict-filled past. The problem is how incredibly difficult it is to get around, thanks to a dearth of major highways and poor road conditions.

Better brush up on those donkey-caravan-passing skills. If we were comparing European countries to jobs, the land of chocolate and snowsports would be the CPA. And the cleanliness and tidiness the country is known for can also make it feel a little sterile. How the heck did Ukraine end up here? Pretty much only because of its hatred for Russia, which is admirable under any circumstances.

In Bulgaria, you nod your head when you mean no and shake it for yes. Norway is fairly middling when it comes to Europe. We largely forgot Albania existed until about 5 minutes ago.

The country touts a fairly dramatic Adriatic coastline, gorgeous mountains and a bunch of cool old castles. But the most interesting thing about Albania is that, totally randomly, it has some of the best internet service in Europe. Who knew? Just kidding, this country is actually pretty interesting, thanks in large part to its abundance of caves and castles. Fun fact: It has more castles per person than anywhere else in the world.

This country is like the cool goth kid of Europe. And much of its identity is wrapped around a guy named Vlad the Impaler the original Dracula. The least populous country of Northern Europe is Iceland, with around just , residents.

Southern Europe is a region of 15 countries. Its total population is about million. The most populous country in the region is Italy, with a population of more than 60 million. The country with the least number of people in the region is Vatican City, which has less than a thousand people living in it, making it not just the least populous country in Southern Europe and Europe as a whole, but also the least populous in the world. As previously stated, transcontinental countries are countries with territory in both Europe and Asia.

The highest points are Mt. Between the mountainous Scandinavian peninsula in the north and the Alpine chain in the south lie the Central European Uplands surrounded by the great European plain, stretching from the Atlantic coast of France to the Urals.

A large part of this plain which is interrupted by minor mountain groups and hills has fertile agricultural soil; in the east and north there are vast steppe, forest, lake, and tundra regions. South of the Alpine chain extend the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas, which are largely mountainous. Click on a country for a more detailed map, or try our map index. Country Maps: Europe.