Guess the 195 Capitals (Part 1)

[C] New Delhi | A leafy, planned metropolis where broad Raj-era avenues converge on the sandstone grandeur of India Gate and the Lotus Temple.

[B] Beijing | Imperial hutongs, soaring skyscrapers and the Forbidden City’s vermillion walls frame a capital that has ruled the Middle Kingdom for seven centuries.

[B] Washington, D.C. | Marble monuments and cherry-blossomed Tidal Basin ring a low-rise city of power, where policy is brewed inside neoclassical temples.

[A] Jakarta | A steamy megacity of 10 million, its skyline of glass mosques and colonial canals throbs 24/7 above Java’s restless tectonics.

[C] Islamabad | Wide, green boulevards and the Faisal Mosque’s prayer-calling minarets rise against the backdrop of the Margalla Hills.

[B] Abuja | Purpose-built granite monoliths and silver domes sprout from Nigeria’s savanna, a planned capital designed to unite a nation of 200 tongues.

[C] Brasília | Futuristic concrete wings and cathedral hyperboloids float above the red cerrado, Oscar Niemeyer’s mid-century dream carved into the plateau.

[A] Dhaka | Rickshaw-choked streets and Mughal-era riverfronts pulse along the Buriganga, where the world’s densest capital never sleeps.

[B] Moscow | Onion domes glint beside Stalinist skyscrapers along the Moskva; the Kremlin’s red walls guard a city that straddles Europe and Asia.

[A] Addis Ababa | Eucalyptus-scented hills cradle Africa Union headquarters, where coffee aromas drift through the continent’s diplomatic heart.

[B] Mexico City | Aztec ruins under glass towers, mariachi melodies in floating gardens, and smog-softened volcanoes frame one of the world’s highest capitals.

[B] Tokyo | Neon canyons, bullet-train precision and Shinto shrines coexist in a megalopolis that reinvents itself faster than cherry blossoms fall.

[B] Cairo | Minarets pierce the haze above the Nile, where pyramids watch a 20-million-strong city that has been the Arab world’s storyteller for millennia.

[A] Manila | Spanish walls, jeepney chaos and sunset bays blend into a bayside capital that never stops texting across 7,000 islands.

[A] Kinshasa | Congo River’s roar and soukous rhythms energise a megacity whose skyline is still written in equatorial green.

[B] Hanoi | Colonial bougainvillea, thousand-year-old lakes and steaming phở stalls weave history into a capital that wakes at dawn to tai-chi bells.

[A] Tehran | Snow-capped Alborz peaks loom over traffic-jammed Valiasr Street, where Persian cafés debate poetry and politics under murals.

[B] Ankara | Atatürk’s mausoleum crowns a plateau city of wide avenues and Ankara cats, bridging Anatolian steppe and republican ambition.

[A] Berlin | Graffiti-scarred remnants of the Wall, glass Reichstag dome and techno clubs echo a capital that keeps reinventing freedom.

[A] Bangkok | Golden temples, tuk-tuk anarchy and skytrain loops float above Chao Phraya’s muddy pulse, a city that never stops sizzling.

[A] London | Thames-side palaces, black-cab wit and Shard glass rise above 2,000 years of empire, still setting global time.

[B] Dodoma | A planned, calmer heartbeat on Tanzania’s central plateau, slowly growing out of baobab-lined boulevards.

[A] Paris | Haussmann rooftops, Seine bridges and midnight baguettes define the City of Light where revolutions and fashion are born.

[C] Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein | Jacaranda-lined Pretoria administers, Parliament perches on Cape Town’s Table Bay, and Bloemfontein’s appeal court sits in the judicial heart.

[A] Rome | Colosseum shadows meet Vespa traffic in a living museum where every cobblestone whispers empire and espresso.

[B] Nairobi | Giraffes graze beside glass towers, matatus blaze colour through streets framed by the distant Ngong Hills.

[C] Naypyidaw | Vast, empty boulevards and golden pagodas rise from scrubland, a purpose-built capital of grand scale and quiet roads.

[A] Bogotá | Andean air cools a city of muralled walls and cable-car barrios, where cafés serve the world’s best beans at 2,600 m.

[A] Seoul | Neon hanbok selfies meet 5-G speed; palace gates and K-pop beats co-exist under mountain-ringed horizons.

[A] Khartoum | Where the Blue and White Niles marry, desert winds swirl around mud-brick souks and modern minarets.

[A] Kampala | Seven hills roll above Lake Victoria, crowned by red-tiled cathedrals and the drumbeats of East African nightlife.

[A] Madrid | Grand boulevards and midnight tapas echo through a high-plateau capital that parties until sunrise.

[A] Algiers | White-washed casbah tumbles down to a blue Mediterranean bay, where French boulevards fade into Ottoman alleys.

[A] Baghdad | Tigris-side minarets and book markets rise amid palm groves, a city rewriting epics after centuries of conquest.

[A] Buenos Aires | Parisian avenues, tango bars and steakhouses stretch along the Río de la Plata, the Paris of the South with Latin soul.

[A] Kabul | Ringed by snow-capped Hindu Kush, the city rebuilds amid bazaar scents and the call to prayer echoing from blue-tiled mosques.

[A] Sana'a | Towering gingerbread houses and 1,000-year-old souqs rise in a highland capital where qat-scented sunsets paint ancient stone.

[B] Ottawa | Gothic parliament spires frame a canal that becomes the world’s longest skating rink each winter.

[A] Warsaw | Phoenix-city rebuilt from rubble, its Old Town squares and neon riverside bars pulse with resilient Polish spirit.

[B] Rabat | Hassan Tower and Andalusian gardens overlook the Atlantic, a calm royal capital of white walls and orange groves.

[A] Luanda | Atlantic waves crash beneath glass high-rises and colonial pastel, where kuduro rhythms fuel a post-war boomtown.

[A] Kyiv | Golden-domed monasteries line the Dnieper, while cafés brew revolution and resilience in Europe’s eastern gateway.

[A] Tashkent | Blue-tiled metro stations and plane-tree boulevards blend Silk Road heritage with Soviet grids and modern glass.

[A] Kuala Lumpur | Petronas Towers flash above night markets and jungle pockets, a humid capital where laksa and skyscrapers share the skyline.

[A] Maputo | Indian Ocean breezes rustle jacaranda-lined avenues, where Afro-Latin rhythms spill from colonial cafés.

[A] Accra | Golden beaches and red-capped kente markets hum beside Independence Arch in West Africa’s upbeat gateway.

[A] Lima | Fog-draped cliffs, ceviche counters and pre-Inca pyramids overlook the Pacific in South America’s culinary capital.

[A] Riyadh | Glass skyscrapers rise from desert dust around mud-brick Masmak Fort, a city where tradition and vision meet in mirrored heat.

[A] Antananarivo | Red-earth hills and rice-terrace suburbs surround royal palaces where lemurs call from nearby eucalyptus groves.

[B] Yamoussoukro | Basilica domes gleam above bougainvillea-lined boulevards, a quiet political capital anchored by the world’s largest church in West Africa.