There are 193 United Nations Member States. This is a list of the 193 capitals.
Nomadic Backpacker in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda in 2023:
Beirut, capital of Lebanon, 2010:
As a traveller, I think it’s important to know your geography. There might be some surprises:
Dar es Salaam is not the capital of Tanzania, it’s Dodoma.
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, not Quebec City, not Vancouver or even Montreal.
Gitega is the capital of Burundi, the political capital. Bujumbura is the economic capital.
Back in 2023, when I was still drinking beer. Pic 1 at the Source du Nil Hotel, pic 2 at the Hotel Restaurant Tanganyika Lake View, both in Bujumbura, Burundi:
Yamoussoukro is the capital of the Ivory Coast. Abidjan is the economic capital. The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro in 2020:
Andorra la Vella 2024:
Nomadic Backpacker at the Shah Faisal Masjid in Islamabad in 2010:
Backpacking the Capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, in 2022:
South Africa: Pretoria is the administrative capital, while Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament, is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital. I backpacked Pretoria, got attacked in Cape Town and changed buses in Bloemfontein.
Freak Street, Kathmandu, Nepal 2011:
Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, Mbabane is the administrative capital,
Lobamba is the legislative and royal capital.
Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia, whilst La Paz is the seat of government.
Brasília is the capital of Brazil. Would have got that wrong in a pub quiz.
Damascus, Syria 2010:
Do you know your World Capitals?
This is just the 193 UN Member State Capitals as of 2025:
- Afghanistan – Kabul
- Albania – Tirana
- Algeria – Algiers
- Andorra – Andorra la Vella
- Angola – Luanda
- Antigua and Barbuda – Saint John’s
- Argentina – Buenos Aires
- Armenia – Yerevan
- Australia – Canberra
- Austria – Vienna
- Azerbaijan – Baku
- Bahamas – Nassau
- Bahrain – Manama
- Bangladesh – Dhaka
- Barbados – Bridgetown
- Belarus – Minsk
- Belgium – Brussels
- Belize – Belmopan
- Benin – Porto-Novo
- Bhutan – Thimphu
- Bolivia – Sucre
- Bosnia and Herzegovina – Sarajevo
- Botswana – Gaborone
- Brazil – Brasília
- Brunei – Bandar Seri Begawan
- Bulgaria – Sofia
- Burkina Faso – Ouagadougou
- Burundi – Gitega
- Cabo Verde – Praia
- Cambodia – Phnom Penh
- Cameroon – Yaounde
- Canada – Ottawa
- Central African Republic – Bangui
- Chad – N’Djamena
- Chile – Santiago
- China – Beijing
- Colombia – Bogotá
- Comoros – Moroni
- Congo Republic of the – Brazzaville
- Costa Rica – San Jose
- Cote d’Ivoire – Yamoussoukro
- Croatia – Zagreb
- Cuba – Havana
- Cyprus – Nicosia
- Czechia – Prague
- Denmark – Copenhagen
- Djibouti – Djibouti (city)
- Dominica – Roseau
- Dominican Republic – Santo Domingo
- DRC – Kinshasa
- Ecuador – Quito
- Egypt – Cairo
- El Salvador – San Salvador
- Equatorial Guinea – Malabo
- Eritrea – Asmara
- Estonia – Tallinn
- Eswatini – Mbabane
- Ethiopia – Addis Ababa
- Fiji – Suva
- Finland – Helsinki
- France – Paris
- Gabon – Libreville
- Gambia – Banjul
- Georgia – Tbilisi
- Germany – Berlin
- Ghana – Accra
- Greece – Athens
- Grenada – St. George’s
- Guatemala – Guatemala City
- Guinea – Conakry
- Guinea-Bissau – Bissau
- Guyana – Georgetown
- Haiti – Port-au-Prince
- Honduras – Tegucigalpa
- Hungary – Budapest
- Iceland – Reykjavik
- India – New Delhi
- Indonesia – Jakarta
- Iran – Tehran
- Iraq – Baghdad
- Ireland – Dublin
- Israel – Jerusalem
- Italy – Rome
- Jamaica – Kingston
- Japan – Tokyo
- Jordan – Amman
- Kazakhstan – Astana
- Kenya – Nairobi
- Kiribati – Tarawa
- Kuwait – Kuwait City
- Kyrgyzstan – Bishkek
- Laos – Vientiane
- Latvia – Riga
- Lebanon – Beirut
- Lesotho – Maseru
- Liberia – Monrovia
- Libya – Tripoli
- Liechtenstein – Vaduz
- Lithuania – Vilnius
- Luxembourg – Luxembourg (city)
- Madagascar – Antananarivo
- Malawi – Lilongwe
- Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur
- Maldives – Male
- Mali – Bamako
- Malta – Valletta
- Marshall Islands – Majuro
- Mauritania – Nouakchott
- Mauritius – Port Louis
- Mexico – Mexico City
- Micronesia – Palikir
- Moldova – Chisinau
- Monaco – Monaco
- Mongolia – Ulaanbaatar
- Montenegro – Podgorica
- Morocco – Rabat
- Mozambique – Maputo
- Myanmar – Naypyidaw
- Namibia – Windhoek
- Nauru – Yaren District (de facto)
- Nepal – Kathmandu
- Netherlands – Amsterdam
- New Zealand – Wellington
- Nicaragua – Managua
- Niger – Niamey
- Nigeria – Abuja
- North Korea – Pyongyang
- North Macedonia – Skopje
- Norway – Oslo
- Oman – Muscat
- Pakistan – Islamabad
- Palau – Ngerulmud
- Panama – Panama City
- Papua New Guinea – Port Moresby
- Paraguay – Asunción
- Peru – Lima
- Philippines – Manila
- Poland – Warsaw
- Portugal – Lisbon
- Qatar – Doha
- Romania – Bucharest
- Russia – Moscow
- Rwanda – Kigali
- Saint Kitts and Nevis – Basseterre
- Saint Lucia – Castries
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Kingstown
- Samoa – Apia
- San Marino – San Marino
- São Tomé e Príncipe – São Tomé
- Saudi Arabia – Riyadh
- Senegal – Dakar
- Serbia – Belgrade
- Seychelles – Victoria
- Sierra Leone – Freetown
- Singapore – Singapore
- Slovakia – Bratislava
- Slovenia – Ljubljana
- Solomon Islands – Honiara
- Somalia – Mogadishu
- South Africa – Pretoria
- South Korea – Seoul
- South Sudan – Juba
- Spain – Madrid
- Sri Lanka – Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
- Sudan – Khartoum
- Suriname – Paramaribo
- Sweden – Stockholm
- Switzerland – Bern
- Syria – Damascus
- Tajikistan – Dushanbe
- Tanzania – Dodoma
- Thailand – Bangkok
- Timor-Leste – Dili
- Togo – Lomé
- Tonga – Nukuʻalofa
- Trinidad and Tobago – Port of Spain
- Tunisia – Tunis
- Turkey – Ankara
- Turkmenistan – Ashgabat
- Tuvalu – Funafuti
- Uganda – Kampala
- Ukraine – Kyiv
- United Arab Emirates – Abu Dhabi
- United Kingdom – London
- United States of America – Washington, D.C.
- Uruguay – Montevideo
- Uzbekistan – Tashkent
- Vanuatu – Port Vila
- Venezuela – Caracas
- Vietnam – Hanoi
- Yemen – Sana’a
- Zambia – Lusaka
- Zimbabwe – Harare
Of the 115 UN Member States I have visited, I have missed 17 of the capital cities.
