Places · Largest Countries by Area
Largest Countries by Area
Ten countries cover 49% of the world's land area. Traveling them means continental distances. Flights, not day-drives. Each has huge internal variety: climate zones, languages, cuisines, and subcultures that feel like different countries.
12 countries in this list
Algeria
Africa
Algeria is the largest country in Africa, and most of it is Sahara. Roman ruins at Timgad and Djemila rival anything in Italy, the Casbah of Algiers stacks above the Mediterranean, and the Hoggar mountains around Tamanrasset reward desert expeditions.
Argentina
South America
Argentina is Buenos Aires tango nights, Mendoza wine country, Patagonia (Perito Moreno, El Chaltén, Ushuaia), Iguazu's other side, and some of the world's best beef.
Australia
Oceania
Australia is continental travel. Sydney Harbour, Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, Great Ocean Road, Tasmania's wilderness, and wine country at Margaret River. Distances are American-scale.
Brazil
South America
Brazil is Rio's beaches and Carnival, the Amazon, Iguazu Falls, Salvador's Afro-Brazilian culture, Chapada Diamantina's canyons, and football everywhere. Distances are continental; pick three regions.
Canada
North America
Canada is wilderness travel. Banff and Jasper in the Rockies, Tofino on Vancouver Island, Quebec City's old-world feel, Newfoundland's icebergs and puffins, and Yukon for the aurora.
China
Asia
China is continent-sized travel. The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Xi'an's Terracotta Army, Chengdu pandas, Guilin karst rivers, and Shanghai's skyline. With high-speed rail linking most of it.
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Africa
The Democratic Republic of the Congo contains Virunga, Africa's oldest national park, mountain gorillas, and Nyiragongo's lava-lake volcano. Security in the east fluctuates sharply and access opens and closes accordingly.
India
Asia
India is as much a rite of passage as a destination. Taj Mahal and Jaipur palaces, Varanasi ghats, Kerala backwaters, Goa beaches, Himalayan Ladakh. One trip can only sample one region.
Kazakhstan
Asia
Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country: the Charyn Canyon, Big Almaty Lake, singing dunes in Altyn-Emel, and Almaty's leafy, mountain-backed boulevards. Winter adds cheap, empty skiing at Shymbulak.
Russia
Europe
Russia is vast: Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Golden Ring, the Trans-Siberian railway, Lake Baikal, Arctic north, and Caucasus mountains. Current access and travel conditions vary sharply, so treat planning as a separate step.
Saudi Arabia
Asia
Saudi Arabia opened to tourism in 2019. AlUla's Nabataean tombs at Hegra, the carved rocks of the Edge of the World near Riyadh, Jeddah's coral-house old town, and Red Sea reefs that diving has barely touched.
United States
North America
The United States is 50 separate countries in one. New York and New Orleans, national parks at Yellowstone and Zion, California coast, Texas barbecue, and the Pacific Northwest. Pick a region; don't try the whole thing.
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