All our reviews

We visited the Citadelles at Namur and Dinant over the last couple of days. Whilst both do warrant a visit, they offer quite different experiences.

The citadelle in Namur is undoubtedly impressive and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring it over a couple of hours. We were unsure beforehand how much of the citadelle we would be able to see without paying the entrance fee, so we started our walk from the street level in town, walking up the steps past the fabulous artwork called 'Searching for Utopia' (the turtle). As it happens, we just kept going up and up, admiring the views from the edges down over the town, rivers and the river confluence. Eventually we reached the visitor centre, but we still had access to the citadelle without paying anything, so kept going until we exited at the top. I believe that the entrance fee is payable only if you wish to join a guided tour of the site, or a tour of the underground passageways, meaning the rest of the site is free to explore.

There is a lot of work going on in Namur currently, both to restore the citadelle walls and within the town itself, especially around the river confluence area where new buildings are going up and a new, modern, pedestrian bridge is being built. Therefore it was hard to think of the town as being particularly scenic or pretty, however a grey, wet day in February is probably not the best time of …

In February 2020, I made my second visit to the small cloud forest reserves, about two hours northwest of Mexico City, where each year hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies from southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States spend the period between mid-November and mid-March. I took a bus from Terminal Observatorio in Mexico City to Zitacuaro, and then a taxi to JM Butterfly B&B in nearby Macheros (both the bus and the taxi cost MXN300, around US$15). JM Butterfly B&B arranged trips to Cerro Pelon (not very crowded and just a few minutes from the hotel) and El Rosario, the largest sanctuary, about 90 minutes from the hotel, but very crowded with visitors, although the most monarchs.

I only had time for two nights in Ethiopia as a layover at the end of my Rwanda-Uganda safari trip, and the first of those had to be in Addis Ababa because my flight got in fairly late. I decided to take an early morning flight to Lalibela and spend about 28 hours there. I am so glad I did because it was very impressive. I was a little rushed (the churches being closed from 12-2:00 didn't help), but I got to see all the in-town rock cut churches and just barely had time to get up to Asheton Maryam, another rock cut church at a monastery on a mountain overlooking Lalibela. My photo here is of one of the churches, Bet Amanuel, which is thought to have possibly been the chapel for the royal family in Lalibela. Seeing all these churches cut out of the solid rock, and to learn that they did it all in 23 years, starting back in the 12th century is really astounding. Yes, I heard the legend a couple times that angels helped with the work at night. The way they are cut from the rock reminded me a little bit of Petra. (The two sites really have nothing to do with one another, just the construction technique.) Since I was there on a Sunday morning, I got up early to see a little of the church services. Hearing the chanting echoing across the town was pretty interesting. The best worship service I got …

I visited this WHS as part of a trip to Rotterdam today. Like others, I had explored the option of taking a guided tour of the building, but unfortunately this didn't work out. At this time of year (February), and maybe at other times too, the guided tours only take place at the weekend, by which point I would have already left the city.

However for those interested, there is an alternative to booking an expensive tour with Urban Guides. Obviously, having not experienced either option myself, I cannot vouch for how good it is, but the Chabot Museum offers tours too. From the Chabot Museum website there are booking options for several tours per day (on Saturday and Sunday), each with a cost of EUR15 per person. Included in the cost (from 9th February onwards) is a shuttle bus service from Chabot Museum to the Van Nellefabriek site and entrance to the Museum itself.

If like me, you have to visit without a guide, I was quite surprised at how much I got to see. It is possible to reach the site with public transport from Rotterdam Centraal train station, either with the Number 38 bus, or via the Number 8 tram (alight at the last stop). I took the tram, and from the last stop it is a 0.7 mile walk to the factory site.

There is a security hut at the entrance but there was nothing stopping us from walking in, so we did. …

Guatemala hasn't inscribed any WHS since 1981, and their tentative list hardly gets updated. Almost all 2002 documentation is rubbish yet one of these, The Mayan-Olmecan Encounter (hereafter the M-O-E), had been resubmitted as Tak'alik Ab'aj National Park with an excellent description. I inquired if Tak’alik Ab’aj is the only site for the M-O-E and while technically not true it is the only touristy place, accessible place, "good" place to see the mix-up of the cultures.

First off, this is a bit far from the usual places in Guatemala. Me and my BFF took a road trip to the Fuentes Georginas hot springs (come very early if you want to go there it fills up fast!) and continued south to the park and ended up at the coast from where you can easily get back to Antigua - something I would recommend as itinerary. The road is pretty good, all paved and just the usual annoying road bump madness.

Second, do NOT expect Tikal, Calakmul, Chichen Itza or anything that grand. Most places here are in ruins. There is one set of grassy stairs that lead to what must have been a grande pyramid but it is just a grassy hill now. All other "highlights" are basically dig holes for carvings - and not very interesting ones for tourists to look at. Work seems to be ongoing. What you do see is unique, that's for sure, because the M-O-E is two cultures merging their architecture and starting out …

Idrija is full of surprises: We drove there as a day trip from Ljubljana. It is about a one-hour drive through gorges and on curvy streets and then you arrive in a modern, not very appealing industrial town at the confluence of the rivers Idrijca and Nikova. Since the site was in a working state up to the 90s of the last century not much of the 500-year-old industrial history is visible on first sight. Most prominent is the miners church on a hill (mostly closed) and adjacent to it a tiny “sacred mountain” with equally tiny chapels. But there are quite many things to see and it turned out that a day trip is fare too short to cover it all. I found it very hard to figure out opening times beforehand so it was not easy to figure out the best way and order to explore the different sites: There are two big museum and at least two small ones, that have opening times: The town museum in the “castle” and the rather new museum in the 20th century smelting plant, further the old Antony mine and the Kamst/pump. Since the town museum had longer opening hours we went first to the Smelting plant: The modern reception building seemed abandoned but there was big hall with an exhibition about mercury and we started looking at the displays. What seemed first a bit dry and complex turned out to be very fascinating: Nobody of us was aware what important …

When you would have asked me 15-20 years ago what my favorite country was, I certainly would have answered: “Nepal”. I loved its mountainous setting, its chaotic but colorful towns, the sense of adventure in the air. In 2001 I spent a month backpacking all across the country, after having made an inaugural visit in 1993. One of the stops on that one month trip was the town of Tansen: little visited by foreigners at the time and still off the beaten track in 2020. It has been lingering on Nepal’s Tentative List since 2008 under the title of ‘The Medieval Town of Tansen’ and has since been unreviewed.

Tansen was the capital of the medieval kingdom of Palpa, an important place during a period when Nepal was not unified yet and its current territory was covered by separate kingdoms. Later on, in the 18th century, it became an important Newari bazaar town on the trade route between India and Tibet. It was only incorporated into the unified Nepali kingdom in 1806.

It lies in southwestern Nepal and in 2001 I reached it by public bus from Lumbini (via Butwal or Bhairawa?). The bus ride was the best one of that trip. And the one with the worst road conditions. The road slowly gains height, passing steep cliffs: that was a very different view from what I had experienced the week before in the lowlands of the Terai.

The town is built on a slope. I found …

I'm going to be really selfish and champion Frida's "home-study" as worthy to be WHS. The architecture is not that special if you have been to places designed by Le Corbusier but might find a niche with the committee, yet I think the empowering large windows that let the sun into the massive studio makes me feel it is worthy alone. The other buildings I find only kinda interesting and it is mainly a museum with pictures and explanations so I was done quickly. Instead I was relaxing on the benches just across the main facade and imagine Frida's life here (well, also Diego Rivera but I kind of always have to think about Alfred Molina). Definitely something you should include on your Ciudad de México itinerary.

The entrance ticket also includes her home which doesn't have the best access via public transportation so I recommend a taxi ride.

Vichy

As a Japanese who grew up taking a hot bath every evening (like everybody else does in Japan even today), I have a predilection for spas, although, living in Europe, I hardly get to soak in "hot" water. 

11 spa towns from 7 countries in Europe are joining forces to become one WHS, and Vichy is solely representing France. I was staying for 2 nights in Clermont-Ferrand in February 2020, and one afternoon I took a train for 30 min. to visit Vichy. 

I first walked to the Hall des Sources in the Parc des Sources for "tasting" of the spa waters. The hall is not attended, but you can taste several different kinds of water as much as you want for free, and the most locals bring their own bottles. The water called "Celectine," with the least taste, had the best taste. 

Then I walked around the Parc that included a quite beautiful former casino / current congress hall and a working opera house. 

Then headed to the grandiose Thermes Les Dômes (Photo). This is where you can actually soak in water in a historic (but somewhat dilapidated) setting for 15 Euros. But at 15:00 I was told that the facility was full and was not taking in anymore guests that day. They suggested that I go to the nearby Celestins Thermal Spa. 

There I went to find out that it was a modern facility where you can enter for 30 Euros. …

I think "Bwindi Impenetrable Forest" is my favorite park name in the world -- the most evocative of adventure. It lived up to its name and feeling for us with our gorilla trek. We visited to seek gorillas, of course, and had an amazing time. We chose to trek from Buhoma and were assigned to the Mubare group, which has one of the 3 biggest silverbacks in the forest. At around 195 kg, he is very impressive and looks even bigger in person. We hiked about two hours to reach our gorilla group. We started on a trail up one steep ridge past some farms and eventually diving into the forest full of very tall trees. The last part of the hike we had to leave any trail and the rangers were hacking through the thick (and thorny) underbrush with machetes to make a trail for us. The total hike was probably about two hours to reach the gorillas. Our group included the big silverback and 3 mother-baby pairs. As they were all pretty well-secreted in the bush, the rangers had to pull back vines in order for us to see them, and we also got much closer than the usual 7 meters in order to see them in the undergrowth. Our hour with them passed very quickly, but, as a treat, just before our time was up, we got to witness the silverback mating with one of the females. We were just astounded that this happened while we were …

Volcanoes bring tremendous change to their environments, and fittingly the 16th-century monasteries established around the active volcano Popocatépetl, southeast of Mexico city, effected tremendous cultural change on the peoples of Mesoamerica. Here missionaries settled in concert with Spanish colonists, helping to establish the Catholic church as a dominant force in Mexican life.

I'm afraid I am not much more original than other visitors to this World Heritage Site, as I chose to visit the Cuernavaca Cathedral en route to Xochicalco, and hoped to visit the Convent of the Nativity in Tepoztlán before returning to Mexico City. I arrived early in the morning and was able to walk around the grounds of the cathedral complex before many other tourists arrived. The church was simply furnished, with walls decorated with murals, some of which depict Christianity coming to East Asia. The outdoor patio was beautifully landscaped, and the chapels around the church were brightly painted and well maintained. Cuernavaca is a fascinating city on its own, and unfortunately I spent too much time there before my visit to Xochicalco, so that I had no time left in the afternoon to visit Tepoztlán before an early January sunset. However, paired with my earlier visit to the Museum of the Viceroyalty of New Spain at Tepotzotlán, part of the Camino Real north of Mexico City, I felt like I had a better understanding at how the Catholic church began its evangelization of Mexico.

Logistics: The Cuernavaca Cathedral is a short walk from …

As we were driving past Brussels today, we diverted in to take a look at Stoclet House. There is nothing more really to say about this place that others haven't already said, and I am of the view that it is incredibly disappointing that this house cannot be opened to the public. I thought the outside was spectacular but a little ugly.

However I just wanted to mention that for those of you planning to visit with your own vehicle, please be aware that the house falls within the Brussels LEZ. So if your vehicle is eligible to enter the LEZ, then you must register it on the systems within 24 hours of entering the zone. There are simulation tools and a registration form to complete online. For foreign registered vehicles, it is also necessary to upload an electronic copy of your vehicle registration document.

Highly popular, highly recommended, highly religious (bleh) but I didn't like it very much, what went wrong?

For one when you go you need to go on a market day, Thursday and Sunday. On any other day you will find this place on par with any generic town in Guatemala. The location is nice and the drive was good but most viewpoints where towards the lake and volcanoes.

Alright so market day is interesting to stroll through the markets but isn't that similar to the market in Antigua? Yes, for sure, so I don't see how it was worth it coming for the market day, maybe it used to be more interesting but vendors selling cloths and trinkets are not special at all. The churches were closed and don't strike me as unique.

As others have already said, this listing covers a large area, so choosing how to visit is a bit of a challenge. I agree with the view that this would have been a stronger listing had a smaller number of sites, with a clear link to the criteria, been chosen, as per the other serial listings such as wooden churches etc.

In the end we chose the area around Lens as it seemed to offer a variety of different types of site which are included in the listing, such as the company town, old pit heads and workings, slag heaps etc. I will admit to being disappointed though, which is a shame as I generally enjoy industrial sites.

Initially we walked from the train station around the town itself looking at the various memorials, housing areas and company buildings included in the listing. The walk was not that interesting though and at no time did I get a feel for Lens being a 'company town' which is what I had been expecting. There was no cohesion between the sites we looked at, and due to the lack of information boards, no way of interpreting what we saw in the context of the 'mining town'.

After this we walked over to the Louvre Lens, something the town seems (rightly) very proud of. The new building for the gallery is built on top of an old pit, and the surroundings here do include a few boards explaining the landscape …

Having little idea of what I will encounter I took a bus from Salto, Uruguay to Fray Bentos which I planned as a stop on the way to Montevideo. After 4,5 hours I arrived in Fray Bentos at about 10 in the morning. I took my whole backpack to the street corner opposite of bus terminal as there are no lockers in the terminal. After 45 minutes, at about quarter to 11 a.m., a public bus full of pensioners arrived and took me in a huge detour in 35 minutes to Barrio Anglo which is named after the factory and equals the WHS. Near to the former factory gate there is a newly built air conditioned visitor center with clean lavatory, small lockers, fancy information tablets, timelines and screens and some helpful employees that informed me nicely about what to see and later also called me a taxi back to the terminal. I placed my backpack on top of the lockers trusting the employees that it was safe and made my way to the Museum of the Industrial Revolution which is located in an old factory building next to the landmark fridge storage building. Despite the name the museum covers only the history and background information about the factory and not so much about anything else. I found the museum really interesting and together with my good friend Google Translator I managed to understand a lot of the Spanish on the signs. Most interesting I found the fact that the …

Siwa Oasis is 740kms from Cairo and sits very close to the border of Libya. 

There isn't much information on when the site would be up for nomination, and whether it would be "packaged" as a mixed site . Its archaeological treasures include the Shali Fortress (see attached photo) in the heart of the town, and the temple complex of Amun. In terms of natural heritage, Siwa possesses beautiful desertscapes - majestic sand dunes, lakes and pools. 

Packaging the site as Siwa Oasis Cultural Landscape will not only boost its chances of inscription, but also highlight the Siwa farmers' adaptability in a desert environment. Already, Siwa Oasis is declared a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS) by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and is known to exhibit sustainable farming practices (dates and palm), water management and biodiversity conservation.

I had the plan to visit both Loreto and San Ignacio Miní from Posadas including the light show in the evening and afterwards return to Posadas. I will highlight upfront: It worked out fine with public transportation!

Taking the bus from Posadas bus terminal which is about 5 km south of town center- easily reached by public buses- in the direction of Puerto Iguazù, I jumped off the bus in the middle of the highway 12 at a junction leading towards the really small village of Loreto. It´s about 45 minutes walk on the laterite dirt road until you reach the entrance gate of Loreto mission. I was almost the only one there at 3 p.m. on a sunny Wednesday. There is a visitor center with a 3D map of the mission where a female guide caught me and started introducing me to the mission. First of all I highlighted that I would like to go afterwards to San Igancio Miní which made her suggest that there is a 4 p.m. public bus that takes me from Loreto via Santa Ana (wrong direction) towards San Ignacio in about 45 minutes. 

In that sense she was speeding up a little her presentation but she did it really well. Only speaking Spanish with some English words we managed really fine with my Spanish and Jesuit knowledge at that stage. Most interesting for me was the motivation of the Guaraní to go into a Christian Mission. Without knowledge I would have …

March 2017 - after visiting Granada we drove along the Sierra Nevada and turned north to the two Renaissance Towns. Ubeda we visited for lunch tapas and Baeza for the night. Ubeda is quite nice and definitely authentic in its Renaissance appearance. We were lucky since the weather was just perfect. We wandered a bit around and took some photos, finally we had nice tapas. Then we drove further to Baeza, where we found a hotel in an old prison. We managed to visit also this town and eventually at evening we went to a Sports bar, with only locals around. With every "Dos Cañas per favor", we got free Tapas, and they were big and delicious. A truly authentic experience. The best part about this visit.

As a Westerner, China tends to be a footnote in the school curriculum, even more so Chinese prehistory. Prehistory in my school meant Egypt and Mesopotamia, ... but very little is said and written about China. I probably learnt more on Chinese history in Kung Fu movies than in school.

So, it was a welcome stop to visit a prehistoric site in China, Liangzhu. To this day, the greater Yangtze River Delta to which Liangzhu belongs is a huge economic and population center. And it was so already 5000 years ago as evidenced by the immense size of the archeological site. The Chinese have done a good job of presenting the site with plenty sign posts (some in English) and small expositions scattered around the site. Most memorable parts to me were the palace hill, the pillars, and the cemetery.

Getting There

Liangzhu (the modern town) is a suburb of Hangzhou and you can get there by metro. However, from the subway station it's another 8km to the actual site, so you need to catch a bus. The bus station is well signposted in the metro station (Southern exit, I think Exit D). When I arrived, there was only one bus waiting and it was the right one. topchinatravel.com lists provides a comprehensive list of all bus lines that go to the site.

The bus will first pass the Liangzhu Museum (not part of the site). You have to stay on the bus till you see …

After two weeks of passing through the south of Paraguay of course I could not miss the only world heritage site in the country before re-entering Argentina via Encarnación/ Posadas. Paraguay is really not the place of the top sights but what will be kept in mind is that every Paraguayan I have met in the two weeks was very kind and that the country is fantastically cheap to travel.

Getting to Trinidad from Encarnación is easily possible from the Terminal of Encarnación by asking one of the many people for a bus to Trinidad. Usually you will end up sitting in a bus to Ciudad del Este that can drop you off at Trinidad bus station, a little laterite hut at the side of the Ruta (highway) in front of a gateway marking the entrance of the city when asking the driver or his/her assistant ahead. It costs about 5 USD when I remember it right.

After a 15 minute walk you arrive at the visitor center of Trinidad, where there is a small exhibition about the map of the time of South America (Trinidad was founded in 1706), some paintings showing the situation or interpretation of it and some carvings. Additionally a movie is shown for you which style reminded me of some of the 80´s documentation that I had to watch in biology in school. However it was even available in German and gave some interesting information about the mission and the general situation with …