Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation spans some 41,293 square km in west-central Europe. Bounding Switzerland are Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to the south, and Liechtenstein and Austria to the east. Around 70% of Switzerland’s terrain is mountainous, much of its land rippling along the Bernese, Rhaetian, and Pennine Alps. The mighty Rhine River drains 68% of the land here, and some 60% is either pastureland or forest.

Flag(53x35): 

Sweden is made up of 25 different provinces (landskap). There are also 21 counties (län) but provinces are generally applied when talking about geographical sections of the country. Counties are more like political divisions. This is the largest of the three Scandinavian countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and the fifth-largest in Europe with 450,000 square km (175,500 square miles); only Russia, the Ukraine, France and Spain are bigger.

Flag(53x35): 

Puerto Rico

Flag(53x35): 

Peru

Flag(53x35): 

Author Graham Greene, drawn to return again and again to Panamá, called it a bizarre and beautiful little country. And it is. It runs east to west rather than north to south, confounding one’s sense of direction. Because of Panamá’s “sideways” geographic position, the sun appears to rise over the Pacific and set over the Atlantic.

Flag(53x35): 

Nicaragua is the largest Central American country yet also one of the least visited. It does not have the archaeological ruins or the national parks that attract visitors to other parts of Central America; rather, its strongest assets are its vibrant, unpretentious way of life and its natural beauty that remains largely untouched. This is not to say that Nicaragua is without its attractions: the country lays claim to Central America’s largest lake, Lago de Nicaragua, and the oldest Spanish city in the continental Americas, Granada.

Flag(53x35): 

Mexico is the southernmost and least developed of the three North American countries. It is unique in its location since it shares a long, porous border with the United States, the richest nation in the world, that is partly described by the Rio Grande. It also boasts more than 6,000 miles of coastline and a varied geography that ranges from lofty mountain ranges to seaside beach resorts with aquamarine waters, to arid deserts, to ancient, long-forgotten Mayan habitats.

Flag(53x35): 

Martinique is a French island lying between the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea in an archipelago known as the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.

Martinique is 417 square miles of hilly, volcanic land surrounded by magnificent beaches. The east coast receives much more rain and, consequently, is greener than the west side.

While the independent English-speaking island of Dominica separates Martinique from Guadeloupe, distances are short, and it’s quite possible to combine Martinique and Guadeloupe into one vacation.

Flag(53x35): 

Measuring only 25 km long and six km wide, Liechtenstein squeezes itself between Switzerland to the west and Austria to the east. Half of the principality’s territory is mountainous; the other half, pasturelands reclaimed with dikes from the once-unruly Rhine. The principality is divided into two sectors, the Unterland to the south and the Oberland to the north, and a total of 11 communities. The largest communities – Vaduz, Triesen, Schaan, and Balzers – line the Rhine at the foot of the mountains toward the south end of the small country.

Flag(53x35): 

Japan

Flag(53x35):