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European Capitals with the Least Sunshine

Can you guess the 10 capital cities in Europe with the fewest hours of sunshine per year?
Source: Wikipedia
Quiz by georgekotz
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Last updated: October 19, 2017
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First submittedJune 27, 2017
Times taken43,352
Average score70.0%
Rating4.47
1:45
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hours/year
capital
1,323
Reykjavik
1,447
Dublin
1,516
Vaduz
1,546
Brussels
1,588
Vilnius
hours/year
capital
1,619
Warsaw
1,626
Berlin
1,633
London
1,662
Amsterdam
1,662
Paris
+12
Level 76
Oct 19, 2017
All the ones near Luxembourg make the list but maybe there is no data for Luxembourg?
+5
Level 77
Oct 19, 2017
It's way more inland than the others on the list though. And there's some foothills in between there and the sea, Apennines, isn't there? So that would explain the difference. I'd expect there to be data for that one as it's not all about big cities.
+18
Level 66
Feb 6, 2018
Ardennes – the Apennines are on the Italian peninsula.
+1
Level 44
Feb 6, 2018
luxemburg ist just by the alpes, not the apennines.
+3
Level 66
Oct 6, 2023
It is not close to the alpes.
+6
Level 67
Oct 8, 2020
Roteswasser you're probably thinking about Liechtenstein, not Luxembourg.
+6
Level 87
Oct 20, 2017
Luxembourg is not more inland than Vaduz, and there aren't any mountains to stop clouds over Brussels or Amsterdam from getting to Luxembourg..
+8
Level 76
Oct 20, 2017
Indeed, but Vaduz is located in the mountains, which are a factor for cloud formation and maybe even block sunlight themselves.
+1
Level 82
Oct 20, 2017
Microclimate depends on many things, as pointed out in sillie's and georgekotz's comments.
+1
Level 76
Oct 20, 2017
According to Wikipedia, Luxembourg has 1725 hours of sunshine per year. Not much lower than the nearby capitals that made the list, but, as sillie points out, the inland location behind the Ardennes probably makes the difference!
+1
Level 65
Oct 8, 2023
Luxembourg gets 1,634 and should be on the list.
+1
Level 76
Oct 8, 2023
1803 hours now according to Wikipedia, up from 1725 when the quiz was made, probably due to more recent data (1991-2020). It may be worth updating the quiz soon for the new reference periods, but Luxembourg isn't getting any closer to inclusion.
+20
Level 86
Oct 26, 2017
Tried Tallinn and Riga, no go, so didn't bother with Vilnius. When will I learn?
+10
Level 72
Feb 6, 2018
I tried Riga, Tallinn, Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo and started wondering if there's a bug with the quiz or if I have problems with my laptop / internet connection since none of these worked. I was expecting that Scandinavia will have much fewer sunshine hours than, let's say, Paris. I still got them all in the end, but it was more challenging than I was expecting.
+3
Level 71
Feb 6, 2018
Same here Qikiq. And I also can't believe that Paris gets less sun than Stockholm or Helsinki.
+12
Level 63
Feb 8, 2018
Nordic capitals may get less sunshine in the winter, but midnight sun at the rate of 20 hours / day in the summer makes up for that deficit nicely
+2
Level 61
Aug 3, 2018
The polar nights are balanced out by the midnight sun. I tried them too, after I used the gulf-stream capitals up, but nope, the 16+ hour days in summer seem to balance the 6 hour winter days quite well....
+1
Level 58
Oct 6, 2023
Nordic coastal cities have a lot more sunshine than people think.
+2
Level 76
Feb 6, 2018
Vilniu(0:00)..fuuuu....
+1
Level 29
Feb 15, 2020
Same
+2
Level 71
Feb 6, 2018
Good quiz, like capitals?....... try my Double Trouble Capitals 4 quiz.....here it is
+5
Level 75
Feb 6, 2018
Coming from one of the sunniest capitals (Athens) and now living in London, it's really killing me...
+2
Level 48
Feb 6, 2018
feeling you...lived in Nicosia and then moved to the Netherlands ...I almost died
+1
Level 77
Jan 17, 2020
I moved from UK to Gibraltar. Far better plan. Much more sunshine.
+5
Level 90
Feb 6, 2018
Definitely helps to read the directions. Kept typing in Iceland, Ireland, UK and was about to throw my laptop.
+2
Level 51
Feb 7, 2018
Or maybe even to read the title of the quiz?
+1
Level 60
Oct 8, 2023
I assumed it meant the countries that had those capitals.
+4
Level 67
Feb 9, 2018
I wonder where Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast would rank on this list if they were included?

Very surprised that Paris was there yet no Scandinavian Countries. Vilnius only one that I missed.

+2
Level 57
Nov 20, 2018
No Scandinavians really baffles me!
+2
Level 82
Sep 23, 2019
Lots of darkness in the winter, but lots of sunshine in the summer.
+2
Level 68
Oct 6, 2020
Also, the number of hours of sunshine doesn't tell you how hot it gets. I'm pretty sure that one hour of sunshine doesn't feel the same in Dublin in January as it does in Nicosia, or other Southern European capitals, in July.
+1
Level 65
Oct 8, 2023
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Europe_by_sunshine_duration

Try this site

+4
Level 71
Sep 13, 2020
Fun Fact: Pittsburgh (which happens to be the closest major city to where I live) is widely considered the least sunny city in America. According to Wikipedia, it still gets 2,021 hours of sunlight--way more than even the "sunniest" city on this list.
+1
Level 56
Oct 6, 2020
Was going to guess Reykjavik, but forgot how to spell it.
+1
Level 22
Oct 8, 2020
Exactly. I kept trying different combinations hoping to be close enough.
+1
Level 54
Oct 6, 2020
Oh no! I think that it is Countries and typed several countriesಠ︵ಠ
+1
Level 49
Apr 29, 2022
No Moscow??
+1
Level 66
Nov 5, 2022
Moscno
+1
Level 49
Oct 6, 2023
Got Vilnius literally as it changed to 0 seconds. I'd already done Tallinn, Helsinki, Moscow, Minsk etc and they were wrong so I had just skipped over it.
+1
Level 43
Oct 6, 2023
Basically if you're a plant you wanna avoid these capitals at all costs...

(If you are a plant, i'd be very surprised)

+1
Level 51
Oct 6, 2023
Remind me to never live in these places.
+1
Level 65
Oct 8, 2023
This looked incorrect as more northenr cities are excluded. Here is the only Wiki page I could find: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Europe_by_sunshine_duration
+1
Level 76
Oct 8, 2023
This list does agree with the quiz though, doesn't it? Most northern capitals don't make the cut, for reasons already discussed in the comments. I generally got the data from the individual wiki pages for national capitals, which mostly give the same numbers as the linked page.