Antipode Cities Worldwide

Have you ever wondered what’s exactly on the other side of the Earth from where you are? If you could dig a tunnel straight through the planet, where would you come out? Those paired points are called antipodes. And while most locations have antipodes in the middle of an ocean, a handful of cities around the world are very close to being true opposites. On this page you’ll find a curated overview of antipode city pairs — from Madrid and Weber to Hong Kong and La Quiaca — plus an interactive way to jump straight to each place on the map and see its opposite point in seconds.

What Are Antipodes?

Antipodes are two points on Earth’s surface that lie diametrically opposite one another. If you picture Earth as a sphere, the line connecting them passes through the planet’s center. In practice, computing an antipode is simple: negate the latitude and add 180° to the longitude, then normalize the result to the −180…+180 range. What makes things tricky is geography: because oceans cover about 71% of Earth, the “other side” of a city is usually open water. Only a few percent of the world’s land area has land as its opposite. That’s why true land-to-land antipodes are rare and clustered in certain regions — especially between Spain and New Zealand and between East Asia and South America.

Near-Exact Antipode City Pairs

The table below lists well-known city pairs that are exact or very close to exact antipodes. Click a city name to auto-fill the search bar in the map at the top; the shortcode will pan the map and show both the start point and its opposite.

Notable Capitals and Big Cities with Near-Antipodal Matches

Besides the “classic” pairs above, many well-known cities have antipodes just a few hundred kilometers from land. They aren’t perfect opposites, but they’re close — and they highlight how Earth’s land and ocean patterns mirror each other.

Note: Coordinates and matches are approximate and rounded for readability. Earth isn’t a perfect sphere, coastlines are irregular, and “city center” coordinates vary — so expect small offsets. The map above uses reverse geocoding to label the antipodal point (e.g., island group, ocean area, nearest town) when available.

Patterns You’ll Notice

When you scan the pairs, a clear pattern emerges. Many European locations — especially in Spain and Portugal — oppose the southwestern Pacific near New Zealand. Likewise, large parts of China and Mongolia have antipodes in Argentina and Chile. This is because the Northern Hemisphere’s major landmasses align with the Southern Hemisphere’s oceans, and vice versa. In other words, Earth’s geography is “anti-symmetric” at global scale. That’s why most European cities point into blue ocean, while many South American locations point toward East or Southeast Asia.

Did You Know?

• Only a small fraction of Earth’s land has land as its antipode — estimates hover around the low single digits.
• Antipodes Islands, southeast of New Zealand, were named because they lie almost opposite Great Britain.
• Seismologists study antipodal regions to analyze how waves travel through Earth’s mantle and core; under certain conditions, wave energy can focus near an antipode.

Curious what’s directly on the other side of the Earth? Try our interactive Antipodes Map and discover your opposite point in seconds.

Conclusion

Antipode city pairs are a captivating window into how continents and oceans “balance” each other across the globe. With modern web maps and precise geocoding, you can explore these mirror relationships in seconds. Use the table to jump to any city, let the map compute the opposite point automatically, and see for yourself what’s truly on the other side of the world.