All our reviews

To sum it up right at the beginning: There is not much to see at the Danube Limes. Most of the remains are hidden under fields and meadows or have been overbuilt by later settlements and newly founded towns. There are hardly any larger visible structures. Often only some foundation walls are visible or the original remains are preserved as components of later buildings.On several trips in the last years, since the Danube Limes appeared on the tentative list in 2015, I have visited most of the locations with visible remains. The nomination files provide detailed descriptions of each site and what you can see there. For those who don't want to go through more than a thousand pages, I will summarise my visits in this review. I will focus on the most rewarding locations and those that can easily be combined with other visits because they are within the core zone of other World Heritage Sites (Regensburg, Vienna, Wachau) or close to them.

The numbering of the multiple locations is confusing: the Unesco website lists 77 locations with consecutive IDs. In the nomination documents, locations within the same buffer zone are grouped together and listed as sublocations (a, b, c...). I specified both IDs in brackets (ID Unesco website/ID nom file).

Germany

The Danube Limes WHS starts with the remains of a thermal baths in Bad Gögging (1/1), about 50 kilometres southwest of Regensburg. Only a small part of the baths has been excavated and can …

No matter what your reason to come down to the southwest of the island, either for the resorts, or Beqa shark diving (highly recommended as one of THE top dives you will ever do in your life) or on your way to the east, you will pass the dunes on the lone road going around the island.

Even though the main attraction is the natural aspect of the park, the sand dunes, the place actually wants to be inscribed for the cultural relics found here. At first it didn't seem like there is much but I've seen sites inscribed for less. The site inside the park is off-limits and you can only enjoy the sand dune hikes. The hikes are pretty good though. It starts with hikes through lowgrass fields and eventually turns into tall dunes at the side of the beach, deep drop off and excellent views. By that time I had already lost the path though as I think it's not clearly signed once you get to the dunes. What's worse is that it started a downpour right as I reached the top and that can be pretty harsh in the Pacific islands.

After reaching the beach I finally found the signs again and could return to the museum. After it rained you don't really want to hike this park but you can just wait a couple of hours of sunshine and it's all good again. My visit was in March 2018 and they were just …

I have been to all but one of the UNESCO sites in South Korea. This is my favorite UNESCO site. And not just in Korea, but in the world.

Rome would be tied but Gyeongju represents (to me) what the World Heritage Site status should be doing - bringing incredible sites people otherwise wouldn't hear about into the foreground. Most people who do not live in Korea have never heard of it, and those who visit Korea typically stick to Seoul or Busan. Korea, perhaps surprisingly in an age with Korean music, food, cinema, and fashion sweeping the globe, doesn't advertise most of its amazing sites. The Jeju Lava Tubes are unlike anything I've seen before, and the dolmen sites at Gochang seem to go on forever. 

Gyeongju is ripe for the kind of mystique and reverence we place on pyramids - not because they're as old or as complicated to build, but because there's something enchanting about it. Six kings and queens beneath massive mounds of slumbering earth, each with a towering crown of golden antlers. A treasure trove of beautiful artwork and wealth, items from around the world finding themselves here. 

And yet the people of Gyeongju can sometimes live stunningly close to these ancient mounds. Enjoying daily life, having picnics. But the UNESCO site doesn't stop at the mounds. It includes the oldest observatory in the world, palaces, temples, monuments - all scattered throughout the countryside. There is still a ton of excavation going …

My initial plan was to drive the Ruta Puuc and visit the sites Labna, Xlapak, Sayil, Kabah, Uxmal in 2 days.

Starting my drive from Merida in the morning, I drove to Muna, and then Oxkutzcab. Soon after, on my way to Labna, the road became beautiful. It was narrow with a lot of vegetation, sometimes covering the road, and I was alone on that road. With the right music, in the end of afternoon, with the sun rays playing with the trees, the drive became magical and I enjoyed every second of it (except the sudden potholes).

The enchantment was slightly attenuated when I arrived in Labna only to discover that the site is still closed due to Covid. Coming from Chichen Itza a few days earlier it was a bit strange to me as clearly there would not be as many visitors here! I continued the drive to Xlapak with little hope to see it open. And indeed, all sites on the Ruta Puuc were still closed due to Covid, with the exception of Uxmal.

So I arrived early at my hotel for the night in Santa Elena. The owner confirmed the sites have not re-opened and it’s not clear exactly why. She also told me that Uxmal was not busy. Therefore. The next morning, I didn't feel the need to be the first at the entrance. And indeed, there were very few people compared to other sites. Apparently still due to Covid, the areas …

Ningaloo Coast is a marvel of nature but it's a hard to visit. You COULD just drive the National Route 1 and step into the land areas, off-roading isn't allowed but I'm sure it stretches far enough for road access somewhere. As you can see in my picture you won't really see much. It's pretty much a deserted place with little vegetation although it could be slightly more bushy as it goes further in. The picture shows Cape Range National Park by the way. You can also fly into Learmonth Airport from Perth and you don't have to go far but if you want to visit Shark Bay it's still quite a drive back and forth and I remember checking rental cars - none offered enough mileage to make it worth it and besides: the drive up the Highway 1 is quite nice and one should think about going further north as well.

I have visited the Ningaloo Coast twice and the first one was not very good that I didn't even want to count it.

The first visit was when I was quite new to scuba diving and (I wanna say "like me" but not really) most tourists were college partiers staying at the biggest hostel in Coral Bay that comes with a bar and stays open until late night. In the morning they were quiet but they also weren't the best divers which brought another annoyance. The scuba trips are mainly catered for unprofessional divers that …

[Visited Oct 2021]

Planning a trip to Hoh Xil is really a challenge for foreigners. The pandemic made it even harder. As a devout WHS traveller, I was determined more than ever to complete China this year, having been trapped inside the Covid bubble.

Planning

It would make sense to combine Hoh Xil with Lhasa/Tibet to minimize cost and maximize the experience. After all, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway already traverses the core zone.

It seemed straightforward at first. But not really. Even if I would consider a “pass by” as a WHS visit, it had to be during the day. I could not find information online about which train would do it. I had to calculate the predict the course based on the scheduled departure from the closest stop. Visiting in October, I also had to account for the shortened day length when the sun rises late and sets early.

The best chance would be the Z165 train departing from Lanzhou at 18:37 and arriving at Lhasa close to 25 hours later. This train would be in Hoh Xil core zone before sunset the next day.

Like most of us here, I would not be contented with just passing by. I want to actually be in Hoh Xil. Stand on its soil. Have an immersive experience with just me, the mountains and the sky.

It was not easy looking for an organized tour. Most of the agencies that offer tours for Tibet and Qinghai …

Visited just recently (November, 2021). Since the site was carefully decribed by other travellers I will focus on transportation warning so you may avoid problems while trying to get there without your own car.

Arrived in the afternoon (21.11.2021) at Xpujil and immediately started to organize a transport for the next day to Calakmul ruins. As there are no public transport directly to the archeological site you have to arrange something on your own. There are several options. The easiest seem to be tour agencies offering full day package (transport, food, guide) for 1500 (or more) peso per person. Taxis goes there for similar amount of money (or if you negotiate hard for a bit less) – this include 3 hours waiting time on the place. This option is paid by trip so if there are 3 -4 persons it might be the best solution. Other option is to go by bus from Xpujil ADO bus station to entrance of Calakmul National Park (some 60 km from Xpujil, Entronque a Calakmul) and try to organize transport from there (additional 60 km to Zona Arqueologica).

As realized the options I tried to find an agency and ask them for transport. Just opposite my hotel in Xpujil (Becan Hotel) I found an agency - Tour In Calakmul By Abel, google coordinates: 18.50806987416214, -89.39426131904403. It looked as normal agency, the person inside was very helpful and communicative (he spoke very good English). After short negotiations he reveled that next day he …

While the Silk roads are of very important cultural significant I find the areas included not always of high value. Most people will auto-tick this with a visit of Xi'an, a magnificent city and well worth a 3 day trip, or some WHS enthusiasts will tick this off by going to Luoyang to visit the grottoes. While I've also done both there are many reviews about them already and as it's been over 4 years since the last review I thought I can focus on a less visited part of the Chinese section.

A visit to Turpan, Xinjiang (well, if you want to call it China is debatable but I'm not political) gives you several highlights of the area to fill a good 3 day trip. There are the Karez Wells, the hot 70 degree Celcius desert, Grape Valley, and there is a the silk road. There are two spots actually, but only Yar City is an easy reach by taxi without leaving the city limits. There are no police checks but there is no public bus, and taxi apps aren't used until further notice. It's best to get contacts from a driver who either waits or you can ask the reception or security guards to call you a taxi. Sometimes they will also show up randomly.

The entrance cost is typically steep for China's sites and you don't even get a proper museum. There are a few halls about the history and then you need to take …

Generally, I find it hard to prepare for sites within my own region with the same level of detail as I do for more exotic WHS. For example the City of Luxembourg: I had been there in 1984 and 2001, but couldn’t tell you more than I liked the panoramas. Most of the other reviews to date are also fairly superficial. A breakthrough in the knowledge of this WHS came when Jurre recently suggested some 25 new connections for it. During a 3 night revisit right after Christmas 2021, I further discovered that from a WH perspective it has at least 3 remarkable features: its boundaries, a list of 20 notable monuments, and controversy before inscription.

The boundaries

Although Luxemburg’s city centre is only small already, the core zone of this WHS covers an even smaller part. There is a hugely detailed official map available, but on the ground, the borders between core and buffer zones are hard to distinguish. Unfortunately, not everything that looks like an old rampart is included, neither is every 19th-century public building. Previous reviewers mentioned Fort Thüngen, Place Guillaume, and Place d'Armes but these are all outside of the core zone, as are most of the bridges and parts of the Wenzel Circular Walk.

I found the WH plaque at a viewpoint in the Chemin de la Corniche, directly below St. Michael’s Church. The WH certificate is in a drawer in the City Museum. The museum includes a "UNESCO visitor center" too, …

Time of visit: July 2016

Duration of visit: 2 days

Mode of transportation: by propeller plane flight from Dar es Salaam (sit in the co-pilot seat if you can!)

Review and experience

I visited Zanzibar almost by pure chance - I had come to central Tanzania with a small group for a volunteer project. However, before I could board the return flight on Turkish Airlines, a military coup erupted in Turkey and Istanbul closed its airport. So when life gives me a lemon, I ended up making lemonade and extended my stay in Tanzania with a few days in Zanzibar. 

My initial reaction arriving at Stone Town was, "Wow, this is a totally different side of Tanzania". It's interesting that Tanzania gets half of its name from the tiny island of Zanzibar, and to me that goes to show the historical significance that Zanzibar carried at the time of its union with Tanganyika (main land Tanzania) in the 1960s. Zanzibar is a true melting point of cultures, and perhaps most reminiscent of time I had spent in Singapore. Stone Town's architectural style is stunning - most beautiful of which were the large, intricate doors, featuring distinct Arabic, Indian, and Swahili styles. It was so easy to get lost in the narrow, winding alleyways, and I loved that each turn I made was another pleasant surprise of colors and building styles. From the shore, the European influence on Zanzibar also immediately became clear with the Portuguese …

Site visited in August, 2021. Rundāle Palace Ensemble is probably the best example of baroque style residence in whole Latvia (together with the palace in Jelgava). Maybe it cannot be compared to palaces of Versailles, Schonbrunn or residences around St Petersburg but other entities that are already on the list, like Worlitz, Wurzburg, Kromeriz or Drottningholm are for me of the same quality.

Palace in Rundale (or Pilsrundale as current name of the village – Pils in Latvian means castle) is a residence of Kurland Duke - Ernst Johann von Biron, built on a place of Livonian Castle. He started to construct his palace in 1735 (simultaneously with the main seat in Jelgava / Mitawa) according to the project of Italian architect, Bartolomeo Rastrelli. In the meantime Ernst Johann became one of the most powerful person in Russian Empire (as a favorite of Empress Anna Iwanowna). It lasted only to to November, 1740, when palace revolution in St. Petersburg brought an end to Biron’s reign and duke was arrested, exiled and the building was stopped without finishing interiors. After several years Duke Ernst Johann von Biron received mercy and finally he finished palace construction (1764-1770). Interiors are designed by Johann Gottfried Seidel, Johann Michael Graff (sculptures) as well as Francesco Martini and Carlo Zucchi (painters).

Over the years the palace changed its owners but as it was never fully destroyed (although sometimes, during several wars, partly damaged) it remained its initial design and interiors. Several rooms were carefully …

I stayed for 3 nights in Pythagoreio start of December 2021. The weather was rather unstable. I walked the 6 kilometers from Pythagoreio to The Heraion along the sea. The road runs along the back of the airport and is very quiet, later there is a bicycle track all the way to The Heraion which is more pleasant to walk than the pebble beach.

Entrance in winter is 3€ (€6 in summer) and I was accompanied by three kind stray dogs on my visit. There is not so much left but the explanations are good and with some attention the stones started to 'live'. There is just one pillar standing but to imagine the full temple consisted of 155 columns twice as high as the current one, one could imagine the awe Herodotus must have felt when he first saw this temple.

I got soaked on the way back and after changing clothes I went to the archeology museum in Pythagoreio, just a few hundred meters from my apartment. It is a modern museum (2005), full with objects found in Pythagoreio, and the exhibitions are well organized. Part of the museum are open air excavations with the remains of the Roman settlement and the start of the Sacred Way which led all the way to The Heraion. Even walking back from the museum for a few hunderd meters, I got soaked again and got wet shoes from wading through the water running through the streets. But of course, …

Tianshan is a huge mountain range stretching across Xinjiang. You cannot miss it when you visit the main areas around Urumqi, Tulpan and Hami. The mountain range brings water to these towns, a la oasis, for the famous Hami Melons, super juicy grapes and whatever Urumqi has - because that's the least interesting of all towns in all of Xinjiang. Basically Urumqi exists because it's got the water supply and is this whole hub where people go to find jobs, snowball effects kick in and suddenly you have a huge city. But anyhow, while not related to much to the mountains these all wouldn't exit if not for the water they supply.

The northwestern areas of Tianshan are pretty hard to reach on your own. Seeing that foreigners, even with residence permits will have a hard time accessing the place you may want to forget renting a car. Getting out there will be on a long tour, sanitation facilities aren't exactly great and while I wouldn't call it unsafe it just doesn't seem worth going unless you are hardcore hiker. There aren't any hiking trails so you'd be backcountry hiking like Canadians which...is GREAT but maybe not in Xinjiang in my opinion So unfortunately the best way to see it is to visit Tianchi just west of Urumqi. It's more or less Lake Louise of Tianshan but it's nowhere near as gorgeous. I wouldn't call it crappy like Pirin National Park (Google is for the lousy pictures) and a …

I visited this WHS in Spring 2021. I'm glad I had done some research where to safely park my rental car upon arrival as Bursa is a very busy city all year round. The Yesil Katli indoor parking was not only safe but extremely close to the Green Tomb so I was more than happy to park there.

All of Bursa's components (except Cumalikizik and maybe those in Cekirge) are best explored on foot. Although Bursa is a very busy urban city, even during a pandemic, there are whole pedestrian areas which felt like a modern Fez or Meknes bazaar area. Most of Bursa's highlights were free of charge when I visited. I started with the great Yesil Cami and Kulliye (social and religious complex) also known as the Green Mosque and Tomb (a tall turquoise structure with more turquoise and green tiling inside) built in 1421 for Sultan Mehmet I. Almost every location has a UNESCO marker next to it and there even is a whole "square" dedicated to Bursa's inscription on the WH list (Ian's photo). Next I headed towards the Yildirim Mosque which is part of the Bayezid Yildirim Kulliye and was completed in 1395. 

After that I focused on the Khans Area with the Orhan Ghazi Kulliye and Tombs as well as the splendid Ulu Mosque with its incredible Islamic calligraphy. This can be described as the heart of historic, cultural, architectural and religious Bursa, but also its commercial and social centre with the …

Time of visit: November 2021

Duration of visit: 2 hours

Mode of transportation: by rental car, en route from Puebla to Oaxaca

Review and experience

Tehuacan-Cuicatlan Valley features beautiful landscape full of cacti, particularly the unique single column cacti that reminded us of garden eels in an aquarium. We visited the Zapotitlán-Cuicatlán portion of the site and were so glad we made the relatively last minute decision to make this detour happen. Along the main highway connecting Puebla and Oaxaca, we really didn't see many cacti, even as we were approaching the site (driving south from Puebla). However, a few minutes into our turn into the valley, it's as if the landscape just exploded. There were so many. Despite being a desert, it's truly a forest. 

Due to COVID, the specific site mentioned in several other prior reviews - Helia Bravo Hollis Garden - was closed. Instead, we visited the nearby Las Salinas Grandes salt mine. It's directly off the road, and as we arrived during the day, there was a worker there who gave us a lovely tour of the facilities (for a very reasonable fee). We learned that this particular salt farm has been continuously functioning for the past 600 years, and it was interest to walk on the pond, taste the salt water (don't recommend... it was gross and putrid) and finished salt (recommend tasting!). We left the tour grateful to have had a brief taste of the cultural aspect of this …

We visited this world heritage site over a period of 8 days. One recommendation (based on your own resources), spend a bit more with established tour companies to get a more full experience of the major components that make this enormous natural WHS unique. We primarily used "Cabo Adventures" and they are professional and offer basics like sunset tours to more serious excursions to places like Cabo Pulmo National Park. It is also possible to rent your own vehicle, but it's not an absolute requirement, since there is a bus system that connects Cabo San Lucas, La Paz, Loretto, and pretty much the whole Baja Peninsula for reasonable prices. I will return to other components of this WHS in the future, it's so expansive and vast that it will be rewarding to return.

Cabo Pulmo - "The coral reef at Cabo Pulmo is one of the most important in the Gulf of California and in the eastern Pacific." UNESCO Description

In our experience Cabo Pulmo National Park was exceptional and worth the time and effort to get there. In fact, from Cabo San Lucas or La Paz it's about 2.5 hours by chartered van. The last 10 kilometers (approximate) of the journey is on a dirt road that is pretty bumpy and passenger cars are sometimes known to have issues passing this final stretch. The small village of a couple hundred people has no running water or electricity, everything they might have is via generator, solar panels, or …

I visited this WHS in Spring 2021. The vast majority of this site are ruins and foundations of old buildings. There are no "iconic" buildings here, in fact the only "iconic" aspect of the site is the modern Trojan Horse just after the entrance which seems like a playground for children and adults alike (the one used for the film starring Brad Pitt is along the Canakkale waterfront). That said, the highlight of this site are its superimposed strata marked as Troy I-IX.

Why does Troy have so many superimposed strata? The settlement mound of Hisarlik comes into being through a combination of circumstances. First of all its favourable position caused it to be reoccupied time and again over more than 3,000 years. Secondly, sundried mudbrick was largely used for building the walls of houses. Mudbricks, scarcely known in Europe, are the normal building material in the Near East. When rebuilding took place, the earlier mudbricks were of no value and buildings of the preceding phase were always levelled. Thus the succession of settlements gradually formed an enormous mound.

Within this mound archaeologists could distinguish finds and structures that are most recent (in the higher strata) from those that are earlier (in the lower strata). The many layers of settlement and the associated finds can be grouped in broad chronological periods or phases. Halfway through the very well organised audio tour (if you want to skip the audio tour there are several information boards in English) on the …

Time of visit: November 2021

Duration of visit: 2 hours

Mode of transportation: by rental car, day trip from CDMX

Review and experience

My initial expectation of Xochicalco was just "a little known Mesoamerican pyramid site," especially after damaging our rental car en route in Cuernavaca and feeling grumpy because of the very dumb mistake I made, but I left impressed and with a new understanding and appreciation of the Epiclassical Period that I hadn't previous read about (unless I fell asleep during this section of the lecture in university). 

The UNESCO OUV text provides a great summary of the significance of Xochicalco, and I whole-heartedly agree with its OUV and basis of inscription. Its uniqueness lies in that Xochicalco is a well-preserved site from an interesting and messy period of Mesoamerican history. During this period, the Epiclassical Period, large Classical Period cities of Teotihuacan, Monte Alban, Tikal, Palenque, and Calakmul had begun to collapse. Furthermore, despite its proximity to Teotihuacan, the strong presence of Mayan influence so far north fascinated me. Its position on top of a hill was refreshing, both from a militaristic history that carried significance to the site but also for the beautiful perspectives of the valleys below. I didn't get a chance to visit Monte Alban, but from the layout shown in the National Museum of Anthropology, I'd imagine it's somewhat akin to that site. 

Given our expectation for the site was low, we were continually impressed on our …

Time of visit: November 2021

Duration of visit: 3 hours

Mode of transportation: by rental car, from San Miguel de Allende en route to Puebla

Review and experience

Lovely historic centre and definitely one of the cleanest city cores we visited in our 3-week stays in central Mexico. To our surprise, having done very little research ahead of time, the overall city of Queretaro was surprisingly large and modern, with many skyscrapers in scattered around the city. The city core was a pleasant contrast to the modernity of the broader city. It was calm, quaint, and not particularly packed with foreign tourists that we had otherwise experienced in San Miguel de Allende. 

That said, I completely agree with other reviewers perspective that this is among the weaker colonial towns in Mexico. Of 7 that I've visited to-date (Campeche, CDMX, SMA, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Queretaro), Campeche and Queretaro were my least favorite. That said, I don't think it necessarily should be de-listed. For Queretaro, I imagine its OUV lies in the city's origin and the peaceful cohabitation of the Spanish and the indigenous. I'm taking this at face value, as I'm sure there was still lots of persecution of the indigenous population that took place here. While the architecture didn't feel different on the two sides, the layout of the urban core on Google Maps was very distinct. Furthermore, the convent at the Regional Museum was one of the most beautiful ones I had seen …

I cannot see that much difference in the Dunhuang Yardangs and the ones IN THE SAME DESERT over at the Hami Basement, and I think this still IS the Hami basement once you drive into the desert anyway. The main difference being: a) you are not in Xinjiang until you drive too far west and b) the Xinjiang Yardangs are also in different parts of Xinjiang and not just in the Hami Basement / west of Dunhuang. There is also one more difference in logistics: there is a nice long road from Dunhuang taking you into the desert before you need a 4x4 to continue. Over at the Hami basement you can potentially visit some touristy parts with a regular car.

The rock formations look pretty identical - with less impressive "odd looking rocks" than over at Hami maybe. The shapes are more or less just eroded and while still pretty, especially under the stars, they didn't call for drone action by any of the group members joining this 4x4 trip. After all, without a proper vehicle you won't get far into the desert. You can potentially hire a driver in Dunhuang for this which seems more accommodating than Hami's strict rules.

Unlike the Xinjiang trip, as you aren't technically allowed to cross over the province line into Xinjiang, you are limited to what you can visit on the Gansu side and how far you drive in the desert. You can overnight camp but that's about for this …