Portugal to North Korea: the shortest border chain

You can get from Portugal to North Korea crossing only land borders — the shortest chain passes through 5 countries.

Fewest countries

1. StartPortugal
2. 1Spain
3. 2France
4. 3Germany
5. 4Poland
6. 5Russia
7. FinishNorth Korea

The fewest-countries route is also the shortest by distance: about 10,341 km measured between country centers.

The rules behind the route

These routes come from Bordlr's border graph: strict land borders plus three permanent fixed crossings (Øresund Bridge, King Fahd Causeway, Johor–Singapore Causeway). Ferry routes don’t count. Distances are great-circle measurements between country centers, so they rank routes fairly without pretending to be driving distances.