All our reviews

We visited Lacock in July 2018 from Avebury. Lacock is a very nice well-kept village that has been used in many films and series including Harry Potter. When you walk into the main street from the parking lot it is a bit disappointing that it is tarred and full of parked cares. In a way it is good the village is still lived in but it ruins a bit the feeling of time traveling. The village is nice for a stroll and a visit to the church. I loved the praying cushions! Equally nice is the Lacock Abbey, a former nunnery changed into a Mansion. Nice painting and a beautiful great hall. I think you find similar villages and mansions in the UK. Therefore it is hard to see OUV despite the pleasurable visit.

I agree with some of the other reviews here - the setting is very picturesque, but there isn't much information or context given for what makes this site special.

I made it here by public transport from Ružomberok, following advice from the helpful tourist information office there. As of August 2018, there are two buses per day, one at 8:25 and one in the evening that arrive then turn round and come back. I tried to get the 8:25 one, but it hadn't arrived by 9:00 so I gave up. Instead, buses to Banka Bystrica stop at Biely Potok. This is only a half hour walk (up a steep hill) to Vlkolínec. Apparently the bus I'd intended to get arrived at 9:05.

The village is very small, so it wouldn't be worth waiting around for the evening bus. Instead, I took the 2-3 hour 'red' trail to the top of the Sidorova hill. From here there are great views across the valley and down to the village, and then a pleasant stroll through the forest back into Ružomberok. Climbing the hill is also very steep, with some steep downhill sections after that too.

This was a fantastic site visit for us. It's home to the famous Chauvet Cave, only discovered in 1994 and home to paintings dating back almost 30,000 years. It's amazing to see what proper conservation from the modern era can do (as opposed to conservation efforts on earlier-discovered caves like Lascaux or Altamira in Spain). You can't visit the original cave, naturally, but the replica cave is actually really well done. The guided tour is in French, but non-French speakers can use an audioguide instead which we were fairly happy with. The art in the cave is pretty mind-blowing, with a variety of techniques used to paint mostly predatory animals. I was reminded as well that there's a Werner Herzog documentary featuring the cave, known as "Cave of Forgotten Dreams", so I'd highly recommend checking that out if you'd like more info.

Probably our shortest World Heritage site visit so far, even shorter than the plague column in Olomouc! The tower itself is very impressive, though most of what you can see isn't the original Roman construction. We had hoped to climb the lighthouse and have a nice view back across to La Coruna and the harbour, but as you'll see in the video below it was unbelievably windy and the tower was closed! All there was for it was to walk around the tower a couple of times, admire it from each direction, and then depart.

I was quite taken by the Dorset Coast. We spent there two days and could have easily spent more. Our first walk was to Old Harry Rock. Beautiful white cliffs (chalk is the youngest layer of the Jurassic coast's time line), not as high as Dover but purer white. We parked the car in Studland, walk east along the north shore of the peninsula and returned over the ridge. It is not clearly indicated and your have to enter a fenced meadow but you have a nice view in both bays and can easily descend over the fields downhill when you are on the hight of Studland. 

Our next stop was the famous Lulworth cave. There are two possible walks from there to Durdle Door. One over the hills which is a bit steep but easy and one along the beach which is officially closed due to land slide. It is doable nonetheless though not well marked: You can walk up Britwell Drive, descend from there to the shore. You walk a while along a stony beach (good shoes) and then comes a short section where you have to walk partly on the rocks and partly in the water, a bit adventurous but fun. Don't do it if you are not secure on your feet or with small children. After that comes the landslide part which is really easy when it is dry but possibly difficult after rain. From there we took the hill path back. 

Lime Regis …

This was our first World Heritage site on the Canary Islands, and proved to be quite interesting. It was one of Spain's first overseas colonies, and the city's layout was subsequently reused in many other colonies in the Americans including Havana, Cartagena and San Juan de Puerto Rico among others. Although there's plenty of modern buildings scattered around, we spent a nice afternoon wandering around and looking at the various buildings. The cathedral was especially interesting, along with the Church de la Concepcion with its tower. The House of the Captains-General was also quite impressive.

On the whole, this is probably the least impressive of the three sites in Las Canarias, but well worth checking out on your way to Teide and Garajonay!

In what was dubbed by some a mini meetup me and Philipp ventured into the Sardona Tectonic Area. It was a mostly sunny July day when we set out from Flims to cross the mountain range at the Pass dil Segnas and descent on the other side to Elm.

It all started with a bit of a misunderstanding. Philipp had send me a trail map of the 6th day of the world heritage trail. I took it to mean he wanted to do the full trail when his original intention was to do only a part of it. He didn't see the need to correct me on my misunderstanding. Or put in any effort to clarify what the Swiss mean when they categorize a trail as hard. So we did the full trail.

We met in Chur in the morning and took the bus to Flims. In Flims you can start the trail or catch a lift up into the mountains. There are multiple stops on different alitutde levels. We decided to go up to the first stop, Focca, from where we started our 8h, 19km, 1500m altitude difference (up and down) hike.

On the Flims side it's a fairly steady climb on good trails in a beautiful landscape. For parts of it we followed a mountain river. When we reached the upper plateau at Camona de Segnas it started to rain. Philipp hadn't bothered to bring a rain coat. And I noticed that I …

This site is hard to grasp since it is so wide spread, perhaps too wide. When I was traveling SW England this summer I wanted to see a representable part of it and decided to visit the two nearest areas: The Tamar Valley and the Cartoon Mining District. The Tamar Valley has a lot to offer: The lively town of Tavistock has evolved architectonically nicely from medival origin to its peak time in the 19th century. It has a impressive church where as often in England friendly elderly people drank and offered tea! You can walk along the quite natural river Tavi and parallel along the historically important straight Tavistock Canal. Have also a short look at the neogothic Mount Kelly College and if you like English cemeteries (as I do) there is a beautiful one right south of Dolvin Road. I can recommend the B&B The Cornish Arms, also for great Dinner and Breakfast. The nearby Tamar Valley is a lovely lush river valley, taken back by nature. There is a the interesting and historically important industrial site of Morwellam Quay. Also in this area are the Calstock Aqueduct and the estate of Cotehele: This is the mansion of a family that was closely linked with the industrialization of the area and includes an old mill and an industrial site at the river. I felt that this combination of nearby sites gave me quite a good overview of this WHS but I wanted to see at least one of …

It's nearly impossible to visit Bagan and not find at least one temple or vista awe-inspiring. I traveled with a Burmese family doing an annual pilgrimage to Bagan, and it was interesting to see how their trip differed from some of the more classic ways that tourists tour it: via bicycle and in just a day. We started before dawn, when it was still dark and headed to Mount Popa, where we trucked it up the mountain and began what would be two days of temple hopping. After each visit, we would pile back into the bed of the pickup truck and head with our incense, flowers, and gold leaf to the next spot. 

And of course, we watched sunset at a temple—that's a must do. The stupas change color throughout the day, and some vary by composition. So you have rose-pink temples in the early morning light, dull brick by the harsh light of mid-day, and a brilliant ochre when lit by the setting sun. Make sure that you are out early on the day(s) you visit so you can see the full range.   

One of the things I loved about going via the truck is some of the more rural areas that we passed. Locals from the region sell jaggery candies and sour plum treats a bit outside the tourist center, and they're tasty! Make sure that you keep an eye out for these small round purple balls — they are hand-rolled sour plum paste dipped …

I only had half a day to visit the inscribed sites in Thessaloniki so I had to carefully plan my visit. First I picked the churches I wanted to visit most (7 out of 14) and planned a route which went through them. They are all not far from each other and the route can be perfectly done by foot. The problem is finding out the opening times. From the ones I wanted to visit (Rotunda, Acheiropoietos, Hagia Sophia, Panagia Chalkeon, Hagios Demetrios, Hosios David and Nikloaus Orfanos) only the Rotunda now serves as a museum. All the others are functioning churches and it is practically impossible to find out whether they are open to visitors or not before you head there unless you can call them before and talk to the priests in Greek. I was lucky though. In a summer Friday morning all the churches were open, although there were services taking place in three of them. Despite processes of secularisation, Greece is still a deeply religious country. Even morning masses in a working day proved to be well visited. It was impossible to visit the churches during service, but I could still stand at the door, listen to the liturgy and catch a glimpse of the interior, which is way better that standing in front of a closed church.

I will try to summarise my impressions:

1) The Rotunda surprised me as a very impressive massive Roman building. It was the second largest Roman building …

After just one visit to Chiang Mai, I knew that it was easily one of my favorite places in the entire country. I spent a year in living in there and it truly is the “Rose of the North,” as they like to say. Chiang Mai holds the heartbeat of Lanna Thai culture, which is actually quite different from the culture and food of southern Thailand.

One of the key reasons to visit is for the well-preserved culinary history present that represent all of the influences neighboring regions and countries have had on Thailand over the centuries. In the streets of Chiang Mai, it was easy to sample both traditional Northern Thai food, Issan dishes, and cuisine from neighboring Burma (Northern Thailand has a large population of Burmese refugees, and this presence is evident in the food selection and the Burmese markets taking place all of the Chiang Mai region. 

The food is what attracts, but it's the fascinating range of cultural groups and ethnic minorities that keep it interesting for those keen to really explore the nuances of the Lanna Thai Kingdom. Head to a market on the outskirts of town and you are likely to find a bustling place where food, flavors, and cultures combine. One of my favorite parts of living there was undertaking a coffee journey that operated as a Thai social enterprise in the city, and strove to help tourists culturally engage and understand the unique culture. 

Then there are the sheer …

Swiss Rail is known by many for its proverbial punctuality. Having travelled a bit by train in Switzerland, though, to me another feature is the most striking one: It's reach. Swiss trains climb most mountain chains to reach even small rural valleys and remote towns in the backwaters.

Where in most countries trains and public transport in general are a travel option for the less affluent, Swiss Rail to this day seems to be the national mode of travel for all strata of society. Just check out how many Swiss own a GA (General Abonnement), a full year rail pass, costing 3800 CHF in 2nd class.

In a country so infatuated with railways I think the inclusion of the single most iconic railway of the country is a worthwhile addition.

How to Visit

I have to concur with previous reviewers' statements: It's a bit hard to appreciate the site from the train window. While you get nice views of the scenery, you don't see much of the engineering feats. However, you can hop on and off the train and hike from one station to another. There is yet another Swiss heritage trail running from Thussis to Tirano that you can join at any station.

I only covered a small portion of it at Filisur but it included the famed Landwasser Viaduct. If you have some time (I didn't) I would probably hike from the Viaduct to Bergün where the Albula Train Museum …

Along with Toledo, Segovia is routinely ranked as one of Spain's best world heritage cities. There is so much to explore here, it would be a mistake to not allocate enough time. The Aqueduct, Alcazar, and Cathedral make up the main coordinates you navigate toward, while exploring small medieval streets, ruined monasteries, and the city wall which surrounds you.

The cathedral's upper stories require an additional ticket fee. For some this may not be worth it, the tour takes about an hour. However, the last 15 minutes of the tour are particularly rewarding as you get expansive views of Segovia.

In addition, Segovia's Alcazar also provides different options for the visitor. One allows the visitor to explore the palace and artillery museum, while the others gives access the Tower of Juan II (you can choose full entry). After viewing the cityscape from the cathedral, I opted out of the another vista and just visited the lower section.

The aqueduct is truly magnificent. I found it best in the evening before sunset. The swallows are a bit less active and the light more photogenic. 

There is far more to explore in Segovia than these 3 sites, but it would be a shame to miss any of these highlights. 

Visited 20JUL 2018

This lovely town is exemplary of how good planning can create beauty. There are so many great old buildings that have been preserved in this fishing village. 

In 1753, the British founded Lunenburg as their first colonial outpost in Nova Scotia beyond Halifax. The first settlers arrived in June 1753. Mostly Protestant German, Swiss and French colonists, the settlers participated in a formal lottery, choosing cards to determine the plots of land upon which they would settle and build.

The settlers soon discovered that the land was poorly suited to farming. European farmers, faced with rocks, stumps and stubborn soil, became rugged North Atlantic seafarers within two generations.

Through the nineteenth and well into the twentieth centuries, Lunenburg became famous for the quality of its schooners, which fishermen sailed to the fish-rich Grand Banks off Newfoundland and the Western Bank off Sable Island.

The queen of the schooner era was the famous Bluenose, launched at Lunenburg in 1921, and it is still displayed prominently on the Canadian 10 cent coin!

It is a pleasure to see the different styles and colours and a photographer’s wonderland. Many of the homes have little signs telling the name and job of its historical owners. This is a relaxing and easy site to do, with the hills giving a good chance for exercise, and good restaurants, shops and hotels in close proximity, making it a traveller’s delight. It was difficult to leave this area.

Visited 20JUL 2018

This site is in a marshland area on the south shore of the Bay of Fundy, close to Wolfeville, being pleasant and historic and would be a good place to stay nearby. 

 The Visitor Centre at Grand Pré is impressive, especially its multimedia exhibits of the brilliant diking systems of the Acadians and in-depth explanations of their cruel expulsion by the British from the lands they worked so hard to tame from the sea. 

Caught between French and British power struggles, around 10,000 Acadians were eventually put on ships and taken to other colonies, many winding up in Louisiana in the US, but some of whom found their way back to their cherished homeland. The visitor centre also depicts the way Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made this shameful part of history well known by penning his epic poem “Evangeline.” 

There is a pleasant walk along beautiful grounds to see the Statue of Evangeline, a re-built church dedicated to the memory of the Acadians, and a rustic blacksmith shop. Atop a hill, overlooking the Sea is a panoramic vista of the Acadian farmlands. The UNESCO plaque is also to be found there. 

Inside the church were some paintings with lines from the poem, “Evangeline”, which were moving. In fact, this whole site was touching and brought to mind one of the many examples of man’s inhumanity in our sad history. 

UNique – 2/10

Sometimes, a UNESCO site collector has to make a difficult choice of seeing one site while missing others due to time pressure. Such was the case, as we were waking up in our hotel room in Madrid and brainstorming about which of the three sites to visit on our last day before flying out. We settled on Alcala de Henares, a town outside of Madrid, which prides itself on being the first planned university city in the world. Originally founded in the 16th century, the university’s urban planning aspired to approach the ideal of Civitas Dei (“the city of God”). Within a few centuries, Alcala grew to become one of the most significant universities in Europe.

ESsential – 1/10

The highlight of the city for me was the pedestrian avenue of Calle Mayor, connecting the Cathedral to the University’s Plaza de Cervantes. The street is characterized by the rows of precariously crumbling columns which support the overhanging second floors of the buildings, thus providing a porticoed space for the shops and cafes below. Even if the street has probably seen better days, it still provides a charming walk through town. It is on this street that the birth house of Miguel de Cervantes can be found, right next to the medieval hospital where his father used to work. As for the university itself, while it boasts an impressive facade and an interesting cloister, there are very few buildings that stand out. In fact, the …

Hamiguitan is a good 3½h by jeepney from the nearest town Davao. It is not an easy journey and you also need to ensure the driver drops you off at the junction to the visitor center and then still take a tricycle for the rest of the way. As accommodation is limited I recommend doing this really early morning and going back to Davao in the afternoon already. I can see why this is not of the more visited places as Mindanao is still considered somewhat unsafe in the southwest and tourism has almost nothing going on here. I also looked into renting a car but there is nothing.

Once you finally make it to the visitor center you can pay a puny entrance fee for a pretty good museum. The core zones of the national park are offlimit to regular visitors. No permit - no hike. No guide - no hike. You can do some small hikes around the sanctuary to see something but the good stuff will stay hidden from us tourists. If you want to see the Philippine Eagle you need to go to the Eagle Center north of Davao which I used as a picture.

I also wonder what happened to the proposal to add Mt. Apo into this inscription as this is another fine destination around Davao.

South of Manchester, looming over golden fields and wind-tossed oaks, the superstructure of Jodrell Bank’s Lovell radio telescope dazzled in the July sun. A local landmark, it is visible from motorway and train-line yet always looks out of place in such a resolutely rural part of Cheshire, like a clunking tripod from War of the Worlds. But it is from here that Britain’s scientists turn their faces to the farthest reaches of the cosmos.

Jodrell Bank itself is owned by the University of Manchester, a legacy of that brief moment after the second world war when Manchester was at the cutting edge of technology in a way not seen since the height of the Industrial Revolution saw the city sucking in workers to feed its ever-thrumming textile looms. Alan Turing, a code-breaker during the war, experimented with programmable and stored memory computers at the university. And Bernard Lovell, fresh from his war-time research on radar, persuaded the Botany department to let him set up an experimental radio telescope on its Cheshire site with the idea that sound could reach further into space than mere sight.

Lovell’s dream was to build the Mk I radio telescope, later renamed in his honour. The Mk I is a 250-foot-diameter dish, fully steerable around a central axis, designed to suck in ‘cosmic rays’ and bounce them up to a central receiver suspended above the bowl. Construction began in 1952 and soon ran over budget. It was saved, by all people, by the …

I know everyone uses the term 'fairy tale' to describe Cesky Krumlov - but it really is apt! It's such a beautiful place and looking down from the viewpoints and walking through the streets is so charming. I really enjoyed my visit here.

I only went as a day trip (from nearby Ceske Budejovice, which is a good alternative for accommodation). A day trip was easily enough time to see everything, including the castle. But I do suspect it would be quite nice to spend the night in Cesky Krumlov and explore a bit more when the tour groups all leave. I also saw people kayaking on the river and that would be a lovely way to spend an afternoon, if you had a bit more time.

Other than Prague, this would have to be the most-visited of the World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic - but for good reason. I would definitely recommend visiting Cesky Krumlov and spending at least the day, if not overnight as well.

Visited in July 2018 after Kharkhorin (Orkhon Valley WHS) in Mongolia, so I can compare and have a continuity in the history of Mongol Empire. 

First of all, there's no public transport connecting the site to the nearest city ZhengLanQi. The best option is to negotiate price with the taxis frequently parked in front of the bus terminal. The distance is about 20 minutes drive on good paved road. I talked to the taxi driver and found out that most of the artifacts and graves were looted openly before there were any laws to protect in 1990s. So do prepare yourself with some readings or hire a guide, or else you will just see a vast field with mounds, walls and ruins. 

The entrance fee is quite cheap at CNY40 compare to other major tourist sites or WHS in China. Then you have to choose to take a buggy, rent a bicycle or walk to the core zone like I did. At the time I visited in July, there are a lot of beautiful flowers along the way so I just walked and imagined the ancient life in the city. 

There are two gates in straight line after you walk pass the vast steppe. Imagine how the Mongols on horses enter the city after each victory in war. There is a platform in the middle of the city where the ceremonial temple used to be. And finally the elevated place where Kublai Khan's palace used to be …