One of the recurring topics at our Forum is the question “When can I count a WHS as visited?”. See for example #1 , #2 and the nagging doubts in #3 . Some WH travellers are straight-forward about it: they consider a WHS as visited when they have seen at least one monument or protected feature in the site's core zone. Others see it more from an esoteric perspective, ticking it off when they 'feel' like having visited a site.

A clear clue that you have arrived is always welcome

I plan to visit the Coa Valley and Siega Verde WHS next week, and this is a good example of the difficulties in determining what constitutes a ‘visit’. First of all, it’s a transboundary WHS. So do I have to visit both the Spanish and Portuguese parts? Second, the WHS is made up of 17 different locations. Do I have to visit 1, >50% or all of these locations? And have I ‘visited’ the WHS when I have set foot in the inscribed area, learned about it nearby (for example in the Coa …

The Longobards took over a town called Forum Iulii from the Byzantines in the year 568. They established their first ‘Italian’ capital here and named it ‘Civitas Austriae’ or ‘City of the East’ (later italianized into 'Cividale'). Like their Roman predecessors, they went on to erect prestigious religious and private buildings to assert their power. This early medieval city has ended up as one of the seven locations comprising the Longobards in Italy WHS. Four of the other inscribed locations I have visited in previous years: intriguing buildings that made me curious for probably the prime example among the Longobard WHS locations: Cividale dei Friuli.

Very fine stucco in Cividale's Tempietto Longobardo

Cividale lies in the far northeast of Italy, just south of the Alps. It seems somewhat hard to reach by public transport. But a private railway company called ‘Ferrovie Udine Cividale’ runs an hourly train between Udine and Cividale. Its schedule will not show up at the Trenitalia website & is missing too from the Google Maps directions. One of the first things that I noticed upon arrival was a road sign pointing …

Right after Christmas I spent 3 weeks travelling around Rwanda, DR of Congo and Uganda. It was a great and well-balanced trip, that covered 2 TWHS and 4 WHS. 2 out of the latter had not been reviewed before on this website, so this is some real undiscovered territory. Find below my Top Tips for Travelling to Rwanda, Congo and Uganda as a World Heritage Traveller.

Want to see the hippos of the Ugandan Kazinga Channel?
40 US dollar entrance fee + 28 US dollar boat ride

1. Go there when you can afford it

In preparation I read trip reports from people who travelled in this region without entering any of the major National Parks. They only had the money to sustain their daily travel costs of food, public transport and lodging. I’d say: be prepared that these are expensive destinations, and that you’ll enjoy them more if you have saved up a bit. You’ll easily be asked to hand over 50 to 100 US dollar for any activity on top of entrance fees (the Ugandan Wildlife Service provides a handy leaflet with pricing ). And you’ll also have to pay for mostly private transport getting into the parks …