Most of continental Europe runs on a family of round-pin plugs that look interchangeable and mostly are — with exceptions that catch people out in France, Italy, Switzerland and Denmark.
Type C: the Europlug
Two round pins, 4 mm across, 19 mm apart, no earth. It is the plug moulded onto phone chargers, laptop bricks and shavers. Rated 2.5 A / 250 V, so it is only meant for low-power devices. Its pins are slightly sprung and tapered, which lets it fit sockets built to wider spacings.
Type F: Schuko
The German standard: two 4.8 mm round pins plus two earth clips that grip the rim of the socket. Rated 16 A. Used in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia, Poland, Russia, Korea and much of Africa and Central Asia. It is symmetrical, so the plug goes in either way round.
Type E: the French socket
Same two pins as Schuko, but the earth is a pin sticking out of the socket rather than clips on the plug. Used in France, Belgium, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Morocco and Tunisia. A Schuko plug fits a French socket and still earths through the rim; a French plug fits a Schuko socket through the hole in its body.
What that means in practice
| Plugs you have | Fits in France (E) | Fits in Germany (F) | Fits in UK (G) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Europlug (C) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Schuko (F) | Yes | Yes | No |
| French (E) | Yes | Usually | No |
| British (G) | No | No | Yes |
So a single Type C-to-G adapter covers a British traveller in most of Europe, and a European traveller to Britain needs the reverse. The exceptions are worth knowing:
- Italy (Type L) — three pins in a line, in 10 A and 16 A sizes. Most modern Italian sockets are "bipasso" and also take a Europlug.
- Switzerland (Type J) — Europlug fits, Schuko does not, because the Swiss recess is narrower.
- Denmark (Type K) — Europlug fits, Schuko does not.
Buying advice
A "Europe adapter" sold in the US or UK is almost always a Type C/E/F plug on one side and your local plug on the other. That is all you need for France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and the Low Countries. If your itinerary includes Switzerland or Denmark, check that the adapter's pins are slim rather than Schuko-thick.