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Actual Size

I get a lot of questions about Switzerland's size. So, I put together a spreadsheet showing Switzerland's size relative to each US State. You can view the full spreadsheet on Google Sheets, but here are some highlights:
  • The two states that are closest in size to Switzerland are Maryland and West Virginia.
  • Maryland is 61% (about 2/3x) of the size of Switzerland.
  • West Virginia is 151% (about 1 and 1/2x) of the size of Switzerland.
  • Pennsylvania is 281% (about 3x) of the size of Switzerland.
One of the nice things about living in a small country is the short distance to the borders. I can be in Germany in an hour. France, Lichtenstein, or Austria in 2 hours, or Italy in 4 hours (less when full service through the Gotthard Tunnel opens later this year).

This weekend, we're going to visit... somewhere, and "do you want to go to Milan or Munich" is about as difficult as "Do you want to go to Columbus or Buffalo?"

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Comments

  1. Maralyn GableTuesday, September 20, 2016 at 1:36:00 PM GMT+2

    That is interesting. It is a small country. This sounds silly, but it looks so big on Google maps. Have fun traveling.

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    Replies
    1. MeTuesday, September 20, 2016 at 6:38:00 PM GMT+2

      Since you're in Michigan, I took a closer look. Switzerland is nearly the same size as the Michigan Upper Peninsula. Switzerland is 41,285 km² and the U.P. is 42,610 km².

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