12 Weirdest Borders in the World That’ll Make You Question Geography

People have created borders for centuries to help organize the world, separate countries, and define continents. This is how we explain the globe and define geopolitical concepts. When it comes to travel, they are pretty important. We must cross them to reach another country, and we often meet certain requirements to pass through one.

Luckily, most borders are clear-cut, so they’re easy to navigate. However, some are complicated, tense, and downright bizarre. To learn more, we’ve compiled a list of 12 of the weirdest borders in the world. We’ve selected these because they are strange, unique, confusing, and even ridiculous. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Vatican City-Rome

The Vatican City border, or the lack of one with Rome, is worth mentioning. For those who don’t know, Vatican City is the world’s smallest country. The entire country only spans approximately 121 acres (49 hectares). So, what makes this country’s border so strange?

Well, Vatican City is entirely encircled by Italy’s capital, Rome. Therefore, to get there, you must go through the city first. To make things even weirder, there are no clear indicators that you’ve left Rome and entered Vatican City. This is because Vatican City has an open border with Italy. It’s even treated as part of the Schengen Area.

Lesotho-South Africa

Lesotho is another country that is entirely landlocked by another. South Africa surrounds this beautiful country. There are over ten functional road borders between the two nations, all of which have border control. To reach the paradise of Lesotho by ground, all travelers must have their passports stamped by Lesotho border control.

Then, when you leave Lesotho, you must also have your passport stamped by South African border control. Upon entry, visitors are usually allowed to stay in Lesotho for at least 30 days. According to I Debate, Lesotho isn’t part of South Africa because it decided to remain separate after gaining independence from the British in 1966.

Spain-Portugal

It’s fair to say that passing border control is tedious, tiring, and often super dull, but what would you say if we told you that crossing one can be fun? In Sanlúcar de Guadiana, Spain, at the border with Portugal, Limite Zero offers an exhilarating border crossing like no other.

Here, you’ll find the only cross-border zip line in the world. Along the 2,362-foot (720-meter) zip line, you’ll reach 50 mph (80 kph) speeds and cross the Guadiana River into Portugal. It only takes 30 seconds to cross the border between Spain and Portugal by zip line. Interestingly, you can’t take the zip line back from Portugal to Spain.

Haiti-Dominican Republic

The Haiti-Dominican Republic border is an international border on the island of Hispaniola. It separates the Dominican Republic and Haiti, spanning 242 miles (391 kilometers) from the Caribbean Sea in the south to the Atlantic Ocean in the North. What makes this border so unique is its fascinating landscape.

While the entire border length isn’t marked with a wall, the divide between the two countries is evident in both nations’ landscapes. On the Haitian side, much of the landscape has been cleared through deforestation, with large parts looking barren. Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic side is still covered in lush green forest. Therefore, it is clear for everyone to see.

North Korea-South Korea

The North Korea-South Korea border, famously known as the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), is one of the world’s weirdest and most dangerous international borders. The DMZ is a 150-mile (240-kilometer) strip of land on the Korean Peninsula, serving as a buffer zone between North and South Korea.

Tensions there are extremely high, with armed security guarding the border at all times. To make matters worse, the land between the border is littered with barbed wire and land mines. The DMZ was created in 1953 as part of the Korean Armistice Agreement between North Korea, China, and the United Nations to end the Korean War.

China-Nepal

The international borders between Nepal and China are both weird and fascinating. They are also some of the highest border crossings in the world, as they meet in the Himalayan Mountain Range, home to the world-famous Mount Everest.

The China-Nepal boundary extends approximately 670 miles (1,078 kilometers) along the crest of the Himalayan Mountains. As such, you can glimpse both countries from high in the Himalayas when you cross. Some sections of the China-Nepal border incredibly sit 16,000 feet (4,877 meters) above sea level.

Save this

We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.

Slovakia-Austria-Hungary

If you’re anything like us, you’ll have a slight obsession with anywhere that allows you to be in two places simultaneously. For example, you can technically touch North America and Europe simultaneously in Iceland. However, one of the world’s weirdest borders in mainland Europe allows you to be in three places simultaneously.

Szoborpark, or sculpture park in Hungary, is located at the border of Slovakia, Austria, and Hungary. A picnic table fabulously marks this unique tripoint, so you can sit at the picnic table and eat your lunch in three different countries. While walls and checkpoints remind us of the division between nations, locations like this are a good reminder that people aren’t so different.

US-Mexico

In the last decade, the US-Mexico border has been the topic of conversation worldwide, mainly because President Donald Trump started to expand the US’s barrier along the Mexican border. As such, it has been the subject of great debates ever since. The US-Mexico border spans 1,954 miles (3,145 kilometers), and walls line most of it.

Along the border, you’ll find many strange goings on. For example, an annual tradition in Naco, Arizona, and Naco, Sonora, Mexico, is to play wallyball, a unique version of volleyball, over the border wall. Other quirky games occur between San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico.

Belgium-Netherlands

There are towns worldwide where houses, streets, and entire areas move from one country to another when the border moves, but none of them are as weird as the situation in Baarle on the Belgium-Netherlands border. Home to the weirdest border situation in the world, Baarle has many enclaves and exclaves with borders crisscrossing everything.

As a result, people could have a bedroom in one country and a bathroom in another. This situation became an administrative nightmare, so it was decided that a house on the border belongs to whichever country its front door sits in. However, this solution isn’t ideal as one house is simultaneously at Loveren 19 in Baarle-Nassau and Loveren 2 in Baarle-Hertog because its front door sits at the border.

Switzerland-France

Another weird occurrence lies at the international border between Switzerland and France. Hotel Arbez, also called l’Arbézie or Hôtel Arbez Franco-Suisse, is a hotel in the small village of La Cure, which is divided by both countries. Until 1862, the village was located entirely in France. However, a dispute over Vallee des Dappes saw part of La Cure transferred to the Swiss.

Therefore, various rooms, the dining room, and the kitchen of Hotel Arbez are bisected by the boundary. Quite brilliantly, the hotel has laid out the hotel so that the master bed in the honeymoon suite is perfectly divided between France and Switzerland. Another room has a bedroom in France and a bathroom in Switzerland.

United States-Canada

The international border between the United States and Canada is famous for many reasons. Firstly, it’s the longest border in the world. It stretches 5,525 miles (8,891 kilometers) from Maine to Alaska, encompassing land, sea, and wilderness.

Secondly, the United States-Canada border has a unique feature called ‘the Slash.’ While you might assume most of this colossal border is hidden and simply marked on a map, large sections of it are deforested by humans to make it visible. Approximately 20 feet (6 meters) wide and roughly 1,349 miles (2,171 kilometers) long, the Slash spans hillsides, forests, and even isolated islands.

Morocco-Spain

The border between Morocco and Spain, despite being on the African continent, Penon de Velez de la Gomera, a Spanish enclave and rocky tidal island in the Mediterranean Sea, belongs to Spain. It’s connected to Morocco by a slight stretch of sandy land.

On the Moroccan side, the international border is connected to the town of Badis. At just 279 feet (85 meters) long, this is the shortest international border. The island is currently under the protection of the Spanish military and is usually only accessed via helicopter. All things considered, Penon de Velez de la Gomera might be the world’s most unnecessary border.