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It has been a long time since the last review of Leptis Magna. This is not too surprising given that it has been on the In Danger list for almost a decade and even before the civil war, Libya was not an easy country to visit. I was able to visit Leptis Magna in May 2025 on a standard 4-day Libya tour with a couple of friends using the company Rozaria. At the time of my visit Libyan tourism seemed to be expanding after a couple years of relative stability, the evisa system had been successfully rolled out and mostly debugged and a number of new tour operators had appeared on the scene to compete for business.

Leptis Magna needs very little introduction, the average WHS or Roman Empire enthusiast will most likely have heard of it and descriptions of the site are typically filled with superlatives. It had been on my wish list for a long time and I was excited to finally visit after 2 previous failed attempts to secure a visa (in 2007 and 2023). Having visited many other roman ruins over the intervening years the question became would Leptis Magna still live up to the hype? In short, the answer is yes. The longer answer is a little more nuanced. There are no unique elements specific to Leptis Magna itself. Colonnaded streets, forum, baths, theatre, arches, market area, port, mosaics, hippodrome, amphitheatre, etc are all present and in all honesty more outstanding examples of each of …

Visited December 2024

The easiest way to visit this site is to have an organized one-day tour from Addis Ababa that takes you to Gombore component of <Melka Kunture and Balchit> and Tiya, another site on WHL. (You can combine it with the visit to Adadi Maryam church, the only rock-hewn church south of Addis.) Many Ethiopian guides and tour operators can organize it for you, you can find them on different social media; check some of them before making the final decision or ask people from this world heritage travellers’ community for some advice. Our (I travelled with a friend) guides to Melka Kunture and Tiya were very helpful and experienced.

The guide with a car and the driver took us from the airport and we… off to the south. We visited MK after Tiya. We started at a small museum located in the middle of the forest. By the bridge over Awash River there is a small handmade sign showing the way to the museum. No UNESCO plaque yet. The museum – they called this way – consists of three African style huts. We were lucky ‘cos there was a museum director at the site, and he was very, very happy to welcome us and show around the museum and the area. We did not pay any entrance fee, at the end of the tour we simply tipped him. There was not electricity in the museum, we used our torches to have a close view of the artefacts …

Erebuni Fortress was founded in 782 BCE by King Argishti I and is considered the birthplace of Yerevan. This ancient Urartian citadel once stood as a powerful military and administrative center overlooking the Ararat plain.

Today, the site offers only a modest glimpse into its former glory. The Erebuni museum building appears impressive from the outside, with wide steps leading up to the entrance — but inside, there’s surprisingly little to see, apart from a handful of interesting artifacts.

From the museum, a staircase leads up to the reconstructed fortress. The outer walls have been rebuilt all around, giving a sense of the original scale. At the entrance, a replica(?) of an inscription stone marks the foundation of the fortress by King Argishti I.

Within the ruins, you can see the outlines of the palace, various rooms, storage areas, and other structures, all surrounded by reconstructed perimeter walls. We also came across traces of ancient wall paintings. 

Much of the signage is outdated and barely readable, with only a few newer panels added. The site is somewhat overgrown, and, overall, feels a bit neglected. We were almost alone at the site and used about an hour. 

A visit is worthwhile for the historical significance, but don’t expect something extraordinary. 

Entrance fee was 1500 dram (covers both museum and fortress), as all the other state museums in Armenia. The site is closed Mondays. 

Getting there by public transport is virtually impossible, but Manchester has the best options of getting there as close as possible.

This really is a great achievement for mankind. Other than walking around the impressive telescope itself, the site offers videos, events and some great explanations on the history of the site, astronomy, physics, and everything related, catering to each level of interest, from children to adults. If the topic doesn't really peak your interest, then this might get a little boring after a while, but I spent a full day reading all texts, doing all experiments and watching each and every video. Sadly, some of the interactive things were broken. Some of the texts and videos lack explanation and context to the laymen, which might leave some visitors with more questions than answers.

Strangely enough the only available tickets are yearly memberships coming in at 14.85 GBP (2025). There are additionally priced ticketed events all year round.

As the parliament visits were completely booked out already I decided to focus on the Westminster Cathedral. I have been lucky to have visited quite a decent number of English cathedrals and other big churches already, and given the quite steep entrance fee (30 GBP in 2025), I approached this one a bit differently. I attended a mass in the church. This is only possible on Sundays, but the entrance fee is 0 GBP. No photos or videos allowed, but it is a great way to get a glimpse of how the Abbey is still used today.

As this site stretches more than 150 km (96 miles), only true completionists will cover the whole track. I took two buses from Exeter to get to Weymouth enjoying the ride along the way, and to walk around the beach town that is Weymouth a little. It's full of touristy things for families. Then got on the train to Bournemouth where I spent the night. The next day I got on the Jurrassic Coast bus and got off at Studland to start my hike to Harry Old Rocks, which is just a short walk. Continuing along the cliffs, the sites are amazing, but care should be taken not to get too close to the edge, especially on windy days. I walked up to Svanage and had lunch there, walked around town a bit to later return to Bournemouth on the same bus.

The Pontcysyllte aqueduct is visually impressive and walking on top as well as underneath it is an amazing experience. Having said that, the surrounding area shouldn't be missed.

Getting there by public transport

As this site is quite big, there are several options.

If you just want to see the aqueduct: Get off at Ruabon train station and take the bus to Trevor.

If you want to do a decent hike: Get off at Chirk train station and start walking from there.

By boat

Several different canal boat trips can be made. Kayaks can be rented.

Hiking

Once outside Chirk train station, walk southwards to the Chirk aqueduct and viaduct, and the Chirk Tunnel. Go down and start walking northwards along the Canal. Be sure to use your phone light to light your path in this and upcoming tunnels. Some are quite long and could be claustrophobic. As not many people do it this way, some of the paths might be a bit overgrown, but rest assured it's a very peaceful part of the trail with amazing sights and other than a handful of other hikers and the occasional local you won't encounter many people. Once you get closer to the actual aqueduct, it gets crowded. Facilities at the aqueduct are limited and the site itself isn't that big either. Half an hour is probably more than enough to walk around, and observe, take pictures. One could take the bus from here (from Trevor) to Ruabon train station, but it's …

Regardless the fact that the entrance fee is 35.80 GBP (July 2025) this site is full of tourists, so there's no way you can visit this in all peace. If you don't like long queues get there early and do the popular things first: The Crown Jewels and the Royal Armouries and then the adjacent sites.

This really can't be missed. There is a ticket sale booth outside the site itself on the west side of the site, but online booking is probably a good idea, especially in high season. They are time slotted, but I was allowed to get in 10 minutes before my half hour window, so they might not (always) keep you to it.

The Crown Jewels are impressive and amazing. The Royal Armouries are equally impressive. There is a lot of text to be read. You can easily spend over an hour there. The wall walk gives you great explanations about the past and present of the site and all its different parts.

The site is very versatile, diving into different topics like war, history, archaeology, coin minting, culture, and whatnot. The poppy artwork representing war victims is another one of these.

Certainly a major achievement by mankind, this bridge is important, but only impressive if you consider when it was built: Construction began in 1779, and the bridge opened on New Year's Day 1781.

There isn't much to see, but you can walk across and underneath it, making it easy to observe and take some shots of the bridge. There is a tourist information desk at one end of the bridge. There's a site museum, too, which was already closed when I got there. The bridge is said to be open until sun set.

Getting there

This can easily be reached by public transport from Birmingham and other places in the area. There are some buses going from other places near, but I got off at Telford train station and took the bus to Telford bus station. Direct buses depart from there. Make sure to check the return schedule as they don't run frequently in the evening.

When in London, this one can't be missed. Slightly out of the center, it is reached easily by public transport. Depending on where you're based, the Kew Gardens and the Richmond train stations are probably your best stops. From there it's a short walk with signs directing you to the nearest entrance (yes there are multiple).

The site itself is huge. Climbing the pagoda was fun, especially the short explanation on how the gardens were used to test smoke curtains in Second World War was impressive. If you really want to see, read and do all things, you probably won't be able to do that in one day. On 'good days' some of the places can get a little crowded. At 25 GBP the entrance fee is a little steep, but this is kind of the norm in England.

The value for humanity is explained throughout the site, with many plant, seed, fungus and other signs and descriptions explaining why their work on them is important for our understanding and their survival.

We visited Brno on a sweltering day in July 2025 to catch up with a friend and as a pitstop between Prague and Vienna. Of course, it'd be sacrilegious not to visit Villa Tugendhat. However, as this was a last minute trip decision, we didn’t have the foresight to book one of the interior tours in advance, so we opted for The Villa from the Outside tour. While it was a more modest experience, we thought it was still a worthwhile one. It was also a nice change of pace from all the palace and church hopping we’d been doing.

The tour

We started the tour with the guide huddling us in front of the villa’s main door. She began with a bit of background on Fritz Tugendhat and Greta Löw-Beer, their families, and the villa itself—mostly within the context of their status as a wealthy Jewish family and their practical and aesthetic vision for a home. The guide then talked about the villa's architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and how he was given the freedom to design not just the building but also the furniture. That creative liberty allowed our boy Mies van der Rohe to craft something that, in my opinion, was ahead of its time—something that could’ve been built last year rather than nearly a century ago.

The tour, which lasted about 40 minutes, took us through the terraces and gardens of the villa. The upper terrace offered an outstanding view of the city. Our guide …

Sorry I’m typing on my phone but will try to update an edited version later.

There is little information on this sacred forest site and the only other two visitors who shared their experience here either hired a tour guide or had their own vehicles. I decided to take public transport because of my tight budget.

My journey started from Mwembe Tayari road where I took a matatu (public bus) to Mazeras. The journey was smooth and only cost 150 Ksh. From Mazeras I took another bodaboda/motobike, which is only supposed to be 50ksh. Obviously as a foreigner I got overcharged for twice the price even after my bargaining. I arrived at the Dr Krapf memorial museum at Rabai where the first Christian church in East Africa is located. The museum staff helped to contact the forest staff and led me there. We walked about 40 mins but only arrived at Kaya Mudzimuvya, a fenced forest restoration site, which seems to be within the boundary of Kaya Rabai based on the official map at WHC website. According to the museum staff, he took many primary school students here every year to learn about Mijikenda culture. The site turned out to be a bit disappointing. I didn’t see an WH signs indicating this is part of the World Heritage site, and I was not allowed to enter the deep forest where the elderly council meet every Monday. The boss of the site, took my 2000 Ksh offer but seemed to be …

Moçambique seems calmer now from the civil war and everlasting conflict, so we made room in our itinerary to come here.We flew AirLink from Johannesburg to Nampula. At arrival there was an administration fee for us at the immigration (650 MZN around €10 pp) and the process took about an hour.We had prearranged transport with B&B Jardim dos Aloés (it’s on booking.com) on the island. It was a three hour drive - nearly 200 km - to the island (6500 MZN - around €100 for both of us) - and the return is the same). The B&B resides in the core zone of Stone Town - the colonial part, it has only three very charming rooms and the very nice Italian host Bruno. He served a very nice breakfast where he tended and shared all his knowledge of the island, and he had taught his chef to bake Italian bread 🥯 The Island is connected to the mainland Ia a 3 1/2 km long single line bridge and it has distinct meeting spots so you can pass. It’s a necessity. It was built in 1967 by the Portuguese.Bruno organised every guided tour for us with the Amisse (+258 875107143). He had a kind of african-mohican appearance (shaved hair in both sides) and was very charming and nice.

The last thing we organised directly with him was a sunset cruise with a dhow (4000 MZN for the boat - around €65). It was late July (winter in this area) and he …

Visit July 2025

Once a grand city — today, there’s almost nothing left.

A visit doesn’t take long. Not much has changed at this site since the last review.

There is still no tourist infrastructure, although the gate is open and an information board provides a brief description of the site in several languages. A tiled pathway has been laid out, but it’s already neglected.

There’s little to see apart from a couple of columns, the reconstructed layout of what was once a magnificent church, and some remnants of water pipes.

Hard to imagine this as World Heritage material.

Visit July 2025. 

Although listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991, Ilha de Moçambique, just a few handful of members from the community have made it here. 

We flew into Nampula from Johannesburg and made our way to the island. We stayed at Jardim dos Aloés, a beautifully restored 17th-century Portuguese house, now a charming guesthouse, owned by Bruno, an Italian. With its high ceilings, vintage details, and leafy courtyard, it was the perfect base for our time on the island.

The island itself is 3 km long and 500 m wide. The whole island make up the core zone. The island is roughly split in two: Stone Town, the historic colonial core, where the Portuguese elites once lived; and Macuti Town, where most of the local population still live today.

Stone Town

On our first day, we explored Stone Town with our guide, Amisse, who gave us a deeper understanding of the island. A highlight was the former Governor’s House, now a museum with a preserved collection of colonial-era furniture. Originally built by Jesuits and later taken over by the Portuguese, the building served as the capital’s governor’s residence. One room was even furnished for the King of Portugal — though he never came. The only person who ever slept in the royal bed was Mozambique’s first president, during a national tour. He later declared the building a museum — likely saving it from being looted during the civil war. The church’s altar …

I visited in June 2025 the roças of Sundy, Água-Izé and Monte Café that are part of this nomination.

The first visit was at the Roça Sundy on the island of Príncipe. Sundy is now owned by the HBD Príncipe hotel group and the roça's main buildings have been renovated to cater as luxury hotel facilities. For this reason this was the most pleasant visit of all the roças. We stayed at one of the HBD's hotels on the island so visit to Roça Sundy was easy to organize (there are basically no public transportation or taxis on Príncipe). Sundy is the biggest roça on Príncipe. The roça originally produced coffee but these days its only product is chocolate, and the production is very small scale. The main building, that used to be the owner's house, has a beautiful entrance hall with a restaurant at the back which is open for anyone. From the restaurant's balcony opens amazing view to the sea and over the lush forests as the roça is located quite high up on a hill. Next to the main building is a small monument to the British astronomer Arthur Eddington who proved here in 1919 that Einstein's theory of relativity to be correct. Bit further away from the main building there is a massive wall that looks like a fortress. This wall is the only thing left of the horse stables of the roça. Next to the wall is the former chapel of the roça. The chapel …

This little gem of a place is tucked away in the southwestern corner of Hungary, a bit of a lonely island away from other UNESCO sites so a dedicated day trip to visit was required. We visited on Thursday 23 July 2025, after hiring a car from Subotica (Serbia) and driving the 153klms to Pecs to explore this site for the day.

A visit to the OUV sites of the Cella Septichora Visitor Centre and the Early Christian Mausoleum (100 metres across the road) which the underground component to the public is now open, having been closed in 2022 for renovations. The cost of a ticket to visit both sites is 3600 HUF (Aus $16). Other tickets can be purchased to view other historical parts of Pecs at reduced rates as well.

Give yourself about 2 - 3 hours to explore both sites. The main visitor centre is much larger and provides access and viewings of 7 Burial Chambers. The Wine Pitcher Bural Chamber, Burial Chambers III, IV, V, XIX, XX and Peter & Paul Burial Chamber. Good signage and information is available including a variety of printed documents, multi-media visual and audio.

We enjoyed the sites, and the visitor experiences provided in each of the locations as they were very informative, so the use of a guide is not specifically needed or warranted. Although different civilisations, having recently visited the Etruscan Necropolis site in Tarquinia in March 2025, we found the painted burial chambers in Tarquinia more interesting. That …

Mount Kumgang is not an easy WHS to visit as it's located in the very closed country of North Korea. I visited in summer 2019 on a rainy day. Quite happy I did, as since 2020 North Korea is kind of closed for tourists completely. It was my second time in North Korea, again on a private itinerary (with my son this time though). Of course, 2 guides and a driver joined, but no group tour as I had specific wishes to see places. Things are possible. Mount Kumgang is not on many itineraries, and I didn't see a single other tourist throughout that day trip from Wonsan. The nomination file says the area can receive up to 1300 tourist with an average of 700 normally. Not sure about that; probably North Korean numbers.

The first stop was at Lagoon Samil Area in Sea Kumgang, which, at that time I didn't know, is part of the core zone as well. It's a beautiful lagoon with tiny islands and some shrines. Very peaceful. We stopped at a couple of lookout points and walked along the wooden walkways along the shore. It wasn't raining (yet).

Looking at the current WHS maps with inscribed area, I did not visit the area at the actual sea. It was offlimits probably due to sensitive area. I did ask at that time about Sea Kumgang, and the guides said I will see it. I think they simply meant the Lagoon Samil, which is part of it. …

The best way to see the Baltic Klint according to my research would be to follow the Saka-Ontika-Toila road to see the Ontika Landscape Reserve. The Klint goes along the sea there and is clearly visible.

As I was restricted in time and had a car with limited miles, I settled for a closer proposed component: the Tsitre Muuksi. And boy, this was not easy to find. First I drove to the Tsitre vaatetorn, a watch tower close to the beach. The beach is nice, with forest right behind it, but no klint visible. I did some internet research on spot (coverage is really good in Estonia) and found a map on a local website, that marked the beach as "Cambrian Blue Clay Terrace" with the Cambrian Terrace a bit further inland. On Google Maps I found the Muuksi linnamägi (hill fort). I figured hill equals klint and went there. Sure enough I found the klint. After the monument for the hill fort (image 3 on maps) there is a small path leading you into the forest. YOu actually walk along the top part of the Klint. With some climbing and getting stung by a million moscitoes I managed to snap some pictures of the Klint.

Was it worth the effort? Probably not. If this ever gets inscribed, I would likely go back and visit the Ontika landscape. At least I got in some beach and some hiking in the forest, which is never a bad thing to do.

Visited June 2025

I do not know what I was expecting before coming to this WHS, but I must admit that I was a bit disappointed because the causeway itself is not so giant (picture, seen from the cliff) , is not so long that the real Irish warrior and hero Fionn mac Cumhaill could use it to cross straight to the Scottland and back. Well, sorry, I should remember that the causeway was destroyed by his Scottish rival… Although not so big, this place is amazing – thousands of basalt columns leading into the sea like magical stairs and the stepping stones disappear under the water. Most of the columns are hexagonal, but you can see some with less or more sides… And the only trace of the giants is the petrified shoe that looks like throne…

During the high tide it can be dangerous to approach to the end of this natural bridge/road. I witnessed an accident – two people were not very careful, lost their balance and fell into the water, hurting and injuring their heads. The ambulance arrived just in couple of minutes.

I visited the site using public transportation. From Belfast International Airport I took a bus to Antrim and then the train to Coleraine where you change to the bus going to Giant’s Causeway Visitor Centre (at least one bus every hour); I skipped the centre and went to the lower path which goes all the way to its end at the lower part …