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If you're in a foreign country, going to the country's highest and lowest points may not always be on your to-go list. Mount Everest, Mount Blanc or the Dead Sea may be the most well known ones, but not all of them are easily accessible.

In some countries like the United Kingdom or Australia, excluding claims south of the 60°S line, the highest peak may not actually be located on the mainland or even in nearby offshore islands but on islands far flung out in the midst of nowhere. In other countries like Bhutan, it may even be illegal to reach the country's highest point (and the lowest is of little interest anyway).

Whilst many may be a difficult challenge, some located in reasonably-sized countries like Death Valley, Mount Kosciuszko or the Dead Sea might be no more than a trivial challenge and are huge tourist spots.

Understand

External territories

Often a country's external territories can significantly affect a country's extreme elevations. For this reason, each external territory as classified per Wikipedia along with France's overseas departments are treated on a case-by-case basis. Antarctic claims south of the 60°S line don't count, but may be mentioned briefly if an Antarctic claim does affect a country's extreme elevation.

• Australia – all external territories (minus the Australian Antarctic Territory) are covered under § Australia.
• China – the two Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau are covered separately.
• Denmark – only includes Denmark Proper. The Faroe Islands and Greenland which are under the Danish Realm are covered separately under § Special Administrative Regions.
• Finland – the autonomous Åland is covered under Finland.
• France – this gets a little complicated. The five overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion are covered under § Overseas departments, even though they are a fully-fledged part of the Republic of France. Other territoires d'outre-mer and New Caledonia are covered separately, but Saint Martin is combined with the Dutch half of the island called Sint Maarten. Adélie Land, which is France's Antarctic claim, is not included anywhere as this article does not cover anything south of the 60°S line.
• Netherlands – the Netherlands' few Caribbean countries plus the Caribbean Netherlands are covered under § Caribbean Netherlands
• New Zealand – § New Zealand covers North Island, South Island, the Chatham Islands, Stewart Island and the uninhabited Subantarctic and Kermadec Islands. The Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau are covered in their own sections.
• Norway – Svalbard and Jan Mayen are included as part of Norway. Bouvet Island is in the midst of nowhere and irrelevant for the most part to be included.
• United Kingdom – the Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey are covered under § United Kingdom, but all overseas territories are covered separately
• United States – the fully-fledged states of Alaska and Hawaii are covered under § United States, but its organized territories are covered separately.

As a key, all markers in red represent the highest point whilst markers in orange represent the lowest.

Africa

Nigeria

Climbing Nigeria's highest peak can be a challenge

Nigeria isn't really well-known for its mountains but within Gashaka Gumti National Park in Taraba State lies 1 Chappal Waddi (also spelled Chabbal Waade) with an elevation of 2,419 m (7,936 ft). It's also known as Plateau of Death, though there is little online information available as to why Nigeria's highest peak is considered the Plateau of Death.

Nigeria's lowest point, like most other countries is not very interesting, but well visited – a small portion of 1 Lagos Island lies around 200 metres below sea level which is at least more interesting than 0 metres. Unfortunately, due to climate change, the island is prone to flooding.

Asia

Afghanistan

Whilst the Af is often associated by most with the Afghanistan War, it's got some pretty spectacular mountains, including some of the world's highest. 2 Noshaq at 7,492 m (24,580 ft) is the highest, but due to political instability, climbing the mountain isn't an easy talk. The lowest point is 2 Amu Darya at 258 m (846 ft) which is a major river that runs through the country.

Bahrain

The tiny island-state in the Gulf isn't really known for anything natural, and as you probably guessed, it doesn't have high mountains either. Its tallest peak, 3 Mountain of Smoke only has an elevation of 134 m (440 ft), and its lowest point is the Persian Gulf.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh is generally a low-lying country so it doesn't really have many tall mountain peaks. Its highest mountain peak, 4 Saka Haphong lies along the border with Myanmar but with an elevation of only 1,052 m (3,451 ft). Its lowest is the sea.

China

This globe marks China's lowest point

China has the largest elevation span between its highest and lowest points at 9,002 m (29,534 ft), making it the only country to have an elevation span of over 9,000 m. You'd probably already know China's highest point, Mount Everest but you'd probably associate it with Nepal more than China.

The lowest point of China, 3 Ayding Lake , Xinjiang, is 154 m (505 ft) below sea level, almost two times lower than Death Valley is.

Special Administrative Regions

Whilst China's elevation extremities may be fascinating, this isn't really the case with the PRC's two SARs of Hong Kong and Macau. The lowest point of both SARs is the South China Sea, and the highest point of Macau, 5 Alto de Coloane in Coloane only has an elevation of 172 m (564 ft), but the highest of Hong Kong will certainly be a surprise – 6 Tai Mo Shan in the New Territories has an elevation of 957 metres! Yep, a tiny city state with very high coastal mountains.

India

Once thought to be the world's highest peak (now it's the third), India's highest peak, 7 Kangchenjunga at a staggering 8,586 m (28,169 ft) with a 3,922-m prominence. Getting to Khangchendzonga is a real challenge though, but that's why it's hard to complete all 14 eight-thousanders.

The lowest point of India might not be as interesting, but 4 Kuttanad in the Central Travancore region of Kerala only 2.7 metres below sea level. Whilst its elevation might not be that interesting, it is one of the few places where farming is done below sea level.

Europe

Azerbaijan

Nestled between the border of Russia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan's highest peak is 8 Mount Bazardüzü , perched at 4,466 m (14,652 ft). The lowest point, as with many other countries, is the Caspian Sea at -28 m.

Finland

Three of the five Nordic countries have peaks over 2000 metres (excluding the Danish Realm) but Finland is not one of the three. Its highest peak, 9 Halti at 1,365 m (4,478 ft) is near the north along the Norwegian border, and whilst in Finland, more accessible from Kåfjorddalen in Norway. The lowest point of Finland, like many other countries, is the sea.

The highest peak of the autonomous Åland is 10 Orrdalsklint , but it's only 129 m above sea level and like Finland proper, its lowest is the sea.

Norway

A cabin on top of Galdhøpiggen, Norway's highest peak

Norway's highest peak is 11 Galdhøpiggen at 2,469 m (8,100 ft) in the Innlandet county of East Norway, which albeit relatively easy, requires a guide to cross glaciers. The lowest point of Norway is just sea level.

If you consider Svalbard and Jan Mayen as separate territories, then the highest point of Jan Mayen is 12 Beerenberg . At 2,277 m (7,470 ft), it is Norway's only active volcano and arguably the only real point of interest in the desolate Jan Mayen. In Svalbard, the highest point, 13 Newtontoppen is slightly lower at 1,713 m (5,620 ft), but can be hiked from Indre Wijdefjorden National Park.

North America

Greenland

Greenland's highest peak, 14 Gunnbjørn Fjeld in Eastern Greenland, may not as high as you might think. It's seldom climbed and the main way to access the peak is by helicopter. Currently, it's believed that Greenland's lowest peak is at sea level, but who knows what's hiding under Greenland's metres-high thick ice?

Oceania

Australia

The 2745-metre Mawson Peak may be the tallest mountain in Australia, or at least, it is on Australian soil

Technically, Australia's highest point of elevation is 15 Mawson Peak at 2,745 m (9,006 ft), but this is on Heard Island, an external territory 4000 km southwest of the mainland and you can only visit the Heard Island and McDonald Islands if you've got special permission from the Australian Government. As it's an external territory, the most widely regarded answer to "what's Australia's highest peak" is 16 Mount Kosciuszko in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales at 2,228 m (7,310 ft) and can be reached by doing a 13-km return hike (or more like a "walk") from Thredbo Top Station.

The lowest point of Australia is 5 Lake Eyre in Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park, South Australia at −15 m (−49 ft), but getting here is a real challenge, as it's in the midst of nowhere and the nearest reasonably-sized settlement, Coober Pedy is hundreds of kilometres away.

If you don't consider the inhabited external territories of Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands to be a part of Australia, the highest peaks on the three territories are 17 Mount Bates (319 m), 18 Murray Hill (357 m) for Norfolk Island and Christmas Island respectively, whilst the highest point of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands is at an unnamed location only 5 metres in elevation. The lowest for all three is the ocean.

New Zealand

Aoraki / Mt Cook from Hooker Lake

NZ's highest peak is the 3,724-metre 19 Aoraki / Mount Cook , making it a popular challenge for the adventurous, so no, it's not a Saturday afternoon stroll unlike Kosciuszko.

Its lowest isn't as interesting as you might expect, but that really should be no surprise given that New Zealand is mostly a mountainous country. Somewhere around 6 Momona at the very end of the Dunedin Southern Motorway lies a plain that's –2 metres in elevation.

See also

• Extreme points