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Perfume Pagoda, as it is better known to foreigners, is really popular with Vietnamese tourists in March and April when they have religious festivals. The rest of the year it is dead quiet. To get here you need to join a tour or hire a driver. The tours are cheap compared to the other attractions around Hanoi.

When you get there you will see a crappy wharf with tiny metal row boats. Surely this can't be it? Yes it is! Those metal boats are hard on your ass so bring something to pad your butt for the 45 min boat ride along the canal. The boats are also uncovered so if the sun is glaring down you better have a hat. You later have to take the same route back with the rower asking you for a tip. Tipping is a difficult subject but she basically just rowed and waited, and then rowed back. You pay for that in a ticket already...besides that they tell you the boat needs 6 people so you need to pay extra if you don't want to wait which in my opinion is a bit of scam already.

When you get to the temple area you will see many restaurants. Shortly afterwards you get to see a big temple complex. This is actually not the Perfume Pagoda even though you see it on many pictures online. It is not a bad temple although aside from the main gate there are generally just new …

Devil's Horns + Devil's Pool = Devil's Town!

I don't know if these rock formations, called devil's horns for a good reason, are unique in the world but I sure found them amazing. The entire site is called Devil's Town due to these horns cropping out of the area. Getting here is a bit more tricky because you need to drive all the way. Only someone as crazy as me would actually come here in winter but the view with the snow caps was stunning too and even better was that it was all closed up for the season. Basically looking back I think it was crazy to wade around 30cm of snow to get to the top of the lookout but at the time I sure didn't want to just drive back (actually the drive for the last couple km was scarier even with the winter tires). The sign recommends chains to continue...

The area is not that big so you can walk around it within a couple of hours and see most of it. Usually they have stalls for selling crafts or snacks but it was all empty. There is a decent map picture at the beginning of the area so you can find the hot water pools (devil's pool) on the way but as it was the only spot on the path not covered by snow it was easy to find anyway.

White Crane Ridge calls itself the First Hydrological Station in the world. It served as gauged for measuring low flow years at the river by placing a statue of a fish (or that one single crane it is apparently named after). It is of cultural value.

The best and probably only place to see the stones are that the Baiheliang Underwater Museum in Fuling town, directly at the river. Fuling is a short train ride away from Chongqing which makes this quite convenient to visit. The taxi driver from the station to the hotel says a lot of people come here just for the museum, and indeed the morning already had a lot of people waiting outside but I think most were from one big bus tour.

The museum is visited by only via tour only in Chinese, only has Chinese panel. The start of the museum has a big rock replicate of one of the fish stones below the water (see picture). After a short tour of the floor you can descend an escalator (which only gets switched on when a tour is coming so you cannot go ahead plus a guard will stop you) below the river. On a good day you can actually see the rocks below. Unforunately with pollution rampaging the rivers in China there were no visible rocks when I visited. Everyone basically just walked by the port holes or just took selfies with murky water. The escalator takes you back up and the tour …

Despite most of the people that took a tour to the site, I did it the local way by public bus from Baku. It's really recommended to go to the museum first to have a better understanding of the site archaeological findings and visualize what it was in the past.

It's a bit of walking uphill if you don't have a transportation, but the view along the way is rewarding. Especially you can see the village and the Caspian Sea on a sunny day.

There are a lot of carvings along the path, some of them occurring a big area while some you might just missed if you don't look clearly. They are all sided by numbers so you can basically follow so you won't miss it. The carvings are in good condition with most of the symbols of human and animals.

Some of the carvings are high up on the walls, sometimes wondering how they managed to get up at that level with limited tools available at that time. Some of the carvings are interesting too. Let your imagination flies and try to think in the Paleolithic mindset what the carvings are meant for.

The rock art can be combined with the mud volcano trip which is not far away. These two are considered extraordinary visit sites in the region. Definitely worth the visit.

You have to join a tour to get into the mines of Cerro Rico. When I got to the assembly point I was told that the other tourists that were supposed to join the group didn't show up (heard that they were drunk, LOL) so it left only me in the tour. Even it's only me but the tour still kept on, so I was like a VIP. We got into a small van and went to a place to suit up. We were provided with a helmet with a torchlight, hand gloves, boots, a thin jacket and pants. Then we went to the miners' market. As the 3rd generation miner and an ex-miner, my guide Antonio explained well to me about the history of Cerro Rico and the real miner story of himself on the way to the market.

When we arrived at the miners' market, we bought some water and coca leaf for the miners. Since it's one on one, Antonio told me a lot of extra things about the usage of coca leaf for the miners, like how they could work whole day with just eating coca leaf and how to heal themselves with coca leaf.

We went to see the city of Potosi and Cerro Rico as background at the mirador (lookout point) Then the journey into the mine tunnel started. Since I was the only one, Antonio brought me to his former working place Minas de San Miguel. It's a bit different from the touristic …

There are less information of how to get there, so I'm sharing the one I did and hope it helps anyone who intend to go. First, there's no direct bus from Santiago and you're permitted to get in on your one car. The easiest way is to book a tour with Fundación Sewell online (fundacionsewell@gmail.com). This is a non profit organization that's related to Sewell and it's way cheaper than those tours offered online.

But then you have to know that you have to go to the meeting point. Here's what I did. Take a bus from Santiago and specified that you have to drop at Terminal O'Higgins Rancagua (cos there are TWO terminals). Then walk from the terminal to the meeting point at their office, it's about 10-15 mins walk if you googled the route. After the safety video we departed with tourist bus around 10am. The journey takes around 1 hour.

I was lucky to have a good English speaking guide Anitza. Though she explained most of the time in Spanish to the Chilenos but she would explain to me in English for things that I don't understand. We started at the El Teniente Club with a video regarding history of Sewell, then the guide explained a bit of the surrounding and itinerary.

We went to see the living quarters of the miners. At lunch time you can have the pre booked lunch or your can bring your own and have it at the miners restaurant. I was …

I visited the Aguas Livres Aqueduct, namely its most famous arches over the Alcântara Valley in Lisbon. It is an impressiv structure that crosses a large valley Full of streets an modern buildings. For WHS freaks it is a nice enough walk. Here a few Infos that might help: You can walk this part of the aqueduct only from the southern end, the Museu de Agua in Calçada de Quintinha. There is no entrance or exit on the other side. Therefore you walk the same way twice. Theoretically there is a path on both sides of the aqueduct but there is only on opening that allows you to change sides. You start on the left side. I decided to change to the other side to be on the inner side of the bend to enjoy a better view. Both ways it is more then half an hour to walk but of course you can turn back whenever you choose. Beside this most prominent section the whole aqueduct extends over 18 miles. It starts supposedly at the Mae d’Agua Velha in Belas near Sintra. I couldn’t find an address of this though you can see long sections of an aqueduct crisscrossing Belas. The nomination includes also the endpoint within Lisbon, the Mae d’Agua Nova, another branch of the Museu d’Agua, which I did not visit this time. While my walk on the aqueduct was impressiv it is austere and there are no signs or explanations at all, only a brochure at …

Sanchi is a pleasant site to visit and going there is convenient too from Bhopal. I went to this WHS via train, and came back on a bus, both took less than an hour. The Great Stupa is surprisingly the most well-preserved structure there and it could, in my opinion, easily have been a WHS on its own as a single monument for its history and high level or artistry. The elevated site is relatively large with various ruins of other Buddhist temples and shrines. I enjoyed some good 2 hours on site, absorbing all the details, of which some date back to 300BC -- it is after all the oldest standing stone structure in the subcontinent. The museum at the base is also interesting, most especially the stone pillars with erotic scenes displayed in the garden.

The Sanchi stupa is similar to other great stupas in a way that it was built on top of a hill. It might even have been the precedent for such planning and layout, which was applied to the much younger Borobudur, Wat Mahathat in southern Thailand, and even Dambulla. 

Asuka just screams "rent a bike". Arrive at the appropriately named Asuka railway station and there will be a bike rental place just on the side. This is the best way to see the area because it is a little far to walk but if you have the time it is also possible. There is an excellent tourist map for the area with many features you are trying to find such as stone sculptures and the burial rocks. If you arrive a little late in the day you can also get the bike cheaper (it was offered by the guy, Japan isn't a place to bargain on prices). Once you cross the main road to the east the paths are too small for cars and you will mainly come across other bikes and pedestrians.

The major place to visit is the Ishibutai Tumulus. There are surprisingly many tourists for something that isn't exactly attractive, has much to look at or is even going to take you more than 5 minutes to explore. I suppose it has a lot to do with the cherry blossom season which makes the area around it beautiful.

Overall you can spend a day here if an event takes place at the nearby multi-purpose rest area but half day is enough especially if you take the bike.

Ibiza, Biodiversity and Culture is one of the most eclectic WHS on the list. It includes seagrass beds, salt lakes, Phoenician ruins and 16th-century military fortifications. As far as I am aware, there is no common link between these features besides their geographical proximity. Previous visitors rated this WHS a meager 2.08 out of 5 stars on average, so my expectations were not high when I flew out to Ibiza for a weekend in late February. But at least I would enjoy 2 days in the sun while it was freezing severely at home.

Saturday I spent on Formentera, Ibiza’s small sister island that lies half an hour away by ferry. It is much more unspoiled and features 32 ‘green routes’ of hiking and bike paths. The northern tip of Formentera is also part of the core zone of this WHS. It is known for two things: the salt flats, where flamingos and other birds nestle in winter. And for the ecosystem of the Posidonia seagrass – possibly the most unknown part of the site’s OUV.

By following trails #1, #19 and #2 from the harbour of Formentera, I created a nice 14km hike through Parque Natural de Ses Salines. I was looking out mostly for the seagrass and was expecting to see long, flat strips of green leaves underwater near the shoreline. I had no luck until I entered the beach of Ses Illetes (‘the best beach in Europe’, and a nudist beach too!). It is renowned …

The hurricane season in the fall of 2017 was awful in the eastern Caribbean, and unfortunately devastated the island of Barbuda; in better news, however, the neighboring island of Antigua was not heavily damaged by the storms. I visited the Antigua Naval Dockyard (also known as Nelson's Dockyard)during a Caribbean cruise in the fall of 2016, and was pleased to hear in 2017 the dockyard made it through the storms. The first stop I made was to the Dow's Hill Interpretation Centre, located above the harbor. The center did not yet have a World Heritage Site plaque erected, but they did provide a film showing the history of the English Navy in the Caribbean. The views of the harbor from both the center and nearby Shirley Heights were incredible. After descending to the dockyard, I took in the serviceable dockyard museum and then walked around the restored buildings, of which the ruins of the old boat house were the most interesting. I also enjoyed the short hike out to Fort Berkeley, one of two forts guarding the entrance to the harbor. When on Antigua, this World Heritage Site is definitely worth visiting.

Logistics: Antigua Naval Dockyard is located in English Harbour, on the south side of Antigua, and can be reached via private transportation or by tour.

Do you know the feeling that when you visit sites and they aren't so special but have World Heritage status? You get this "meh" feeling of disappointment. Then you get to one of those places that are not listed and you do not expect to see much because, hey, those guys are ICOMOS must have checked it out already and immediately recommended for inclusion, but it turns out to be really amazing? Unjusa is one of those places.

Unjusa Temple might be one of Korea's most amazing cultural tourist spot. Yes, I know everyone goes to the temples in Seoul which I personally found mediocre but they are easily accessed and have English tours so I understand they are popular. Unjusa is far away from the nearest towns you could even try to get to with public transportation and then from there taking the bus is going to be even harder. Thus the best solution is unfortunately a rental car or finding a tour group that goes there.

From the description they used to have a thousand Buddha statues and pagodas in the temple area. Now you only get to see 94 statues and 21 pagodas. What happened to them is unclear because I can't see them being moved to other temples. Maybe the 1,000 never really existed and the records are wrong. They do not explain it on the signs.

Nevertheless what you see how is so great. Take a stroll through the entrance gate and after a few …

Mount Hua is really close to the famous city of Xi'an. For several years there is already a high-speed train that goes here within 30-40 minutes, amazing really. The northern high-speed train station is also in a great location without any extra bus or taxi required to get to the entrance. This makes this an easy day-trip from Xi'an which you are probably wanting to see for the city walls and those terracotta warriors ;)

The mountain is mostly famous for the Daoist temples but the scenery is also beautiful. From the pictures you might relate to Mount Huang and they are not so different. The entrance ticket is a little steep but I am used to that from other sites in China which charge a bit too much in my opinion. You can take a cable car (extra costs) up to two locations, one which is a little off the main entrance. You can also hike up to the first peak which will take a fit person around 3-4 hours, the hotel owner claimed it would be 5h. The beginning is not too bad but inconveniently place outhouses smell up the path which would otherwise be very relaxing along the creek. It gets a little steeper towards and end as you wind around to the top. If you hike up in the morning there will be no sun on the ascending side and even in summer it should be kind of cool.

On the way you will already see …

I visited this WHS in December 2017. Of the several locations that make up this WHS, I visited Lamington National Park and Springbrook National Park, focusing mostly on the Green Mountains area of Lamington National Park.

I drove away from Brisbane before sunrise and I got to the winding roads up the inscribed area of Lamington National Park very early in the morning. We saw several wallabies, koalas and birds along the way. Due to roadworks, we drove through Canungra and parked our rental car near the National Park Visitor Centre which has a very small 'World Heritage Room' downstairs with some information boards on the inscribed areas, wildlife and geological features of this WHS. Here we used the boot cleaning brushes to keep out any potential pathogens from the rainforest.

After a short 1.8km walk on the Centenary Track, we hiked for about an hour to the Python Rock Lookout (5km) and for about an hour and a half to the Moran Falls Lookout (6.2km) into the rainforest. Here we saw lots of birds such as the Southern logrunner, the paradise riflebird, the grey and rufous fantails, the golden whistler, the Eastern yellow robin, the yellow-throated and white-browed scrubwrens, the Wonga pigeon and two of the noisiest birds in the rainforest canopy: the Eastern whipbird and the green catbird. Their mating calls and displays were unmistakeable and a fond memory I'll surely cherish for a long time.

We also hiked towards the Border Track which has very interesting information …

Sado Island is a short ferry ride away from Niigata, which has good connections from Tokyo naturally, but also others such as Sapporo, Fukuoka. The main destination for Niigata is usually to see tehe golden leaf season which is in late autumn. Another reason would be the mines on Sado island, but Sado itself has several places to visit such as the Toki Forest Park.

The mines are unfortunately quite far away from the towns. There is a bus to the west coast and you would have to change again to reach the mines but that second bus time schedule is quite infrequent. So it is doable by public transport but I highly suggest you get that International Driving Permit for renting a car from the ferry port. If you are more than one person it is already worth it and the distances are not far. The locals drive very slowly here so you need to get used to that. The tourist information center at the ferry port also has an excellent map for all the attractions which can easily be stretched to a two day visit. 

Once you get to the west coast the scenery becomes really green and beautiful. It would be worth driving along the coast north and back towards the ferry port from there if you have the time on hand. The hills really look like you just landed on a different island in comparison to the flat areas of east Sado. The Sado gold mines …

I visited this WHS in December 2017. As can be seen my the UNESCO map of the inscribed property, this WHS is actually made up of 3 main locations: Fels Cave on Lelepa Island, Roi Mata's graveyard on Artok (Hat) Island and Roi Mata's Domain, Mangaas, on Efate.

Since I wanted to make sure I could visit the paintings inside Fels Cave and cover all locations easily, I organised a WHS day trip with Atmosphere Tours. After picking me up at my hotel, we headed towards the rather rudimental museum in Port Vila. The most interesting section apart from the masks and chief roi mata sections, was the sand drawing UNESCO intangible world heritage with a live drawing.

Next we headed to Mangaas near Mangaliliu down a steep unpaved road to Roi Mata's domain. From there we crossed over to Roi Mata's graveyard on Artok (Hat) Island with a local guide where we actually walked to the few burial stones and shells. After that, we went to Lelepa Island. After a number of steep stairs, we reached Fels Cave which is only open if you book in advance. The cave is literally disintegrating and eroding at a quick pace. We could actually see constant dust falling from the cave's entrance which already suffered a major collapse during one of the last earthquakes. The rock paintings are immediately visible just after the pile of rocks from the recent collapse. Make sure to bring your own torch with you as everything is …

UNique - 7/10

The first building of the complex, the Trinity Cathedral, was built in 1422, in honour of the St. Sergius, a revered monk who founded a lot of monasteries across the country and blessed the Russian Grand Prince before the battles against the Tatars. The site of the original cathedral grew over centuries with various rulers adding churches and belfries to the complex. Nowadays, Lavra is the centre of Russian Orthodox religious life, with numerous holy water wells dotting the area and services being held around the clock. Long lines of devotees and curious tourists line up to pay respects to the famous Holy Trinity icon by Andrei Rublev.

ESsential - 6/10

Although intended for religious purposes, the monastery played an important part in the political developments of the country. The six-meter-tall walls came in very useful during the famous sixteen-month siege by the Polish-Lithuanian troops in 1608. In 1689, young Peter the Great took refuge at the monastery during the attempted military coup in Moscow. As a token of gratitude, he ordered to build several smaller churches which completed the architectural appearance of the Lavra complex.

COst-effective - 9/10

Like with other Russian churches, there is a sign for an entrance fee for foreign tourists. However, unless you are a part of a guided tour, you can save yourself 450 rubles, as the entrance to the entire Lavra complex is free. Do resist taking pictures inside the churches, as it is a very intimate and holy experience …

I use to study in Utrecht and walked/biked a lot in the area around the Hollandse Waterlinie. So i thought i might share with fellow travelers what they can best do in case they are ever in the area and want to see the nearby fortresses.

The fastest and easiest way to go there from Utrecht Central Station is by taking the bus to Wijk Bij Duurstede and to then get of at the busstop Oud Amelisweerd. When you step out of the bus you will see an old mansion on your left and railwaytracks/highway on your right. You want to cross the railway and go through the tunnel underneath the highway and you will see Fort Bij Vechten.

Fort bij Vechten is possibly one of the most accesible fortresses on the linie. You can freelly walk into the inner courtyard and climb on top of the walls of the fortress. Inside the fortress you can find the waterliniemuseum. Which is quite pricey (5 euro per person) but gives a clear explenation what the waterlinie was build for and how it was used for through it's history. Which might be a nice introduction.

If you walk around the fortress you will find west of it another Dutch tentative sight, the remains of the frontiers of the Roman empire. Fort bij Vechten was build on top of an old Roman castellum and they show there, through a large floorplan made out of diiferent colored bricks, how the Roman armycamp would have …

I am usually not a big fan of modern architecture, but somehow really enjoyed this site. Like Frederik I left the Metro station on the wrong side of the street and my first challenge was to cross the street. The house itself is rather ugly from the outside (as you can see on the pictures of the other reviews). The entry ticket and especially the photo permit are ridiculously expensive. On the other hand it would have been completely unsatisfying to leave the house with only pictures from the (boring) façade and due to the small rooms and group size it would be hard to take pictures without a permit. The tour was interesting. The guide spoke fast and with strong accent, but as I am used to Spanglish, unlike most of the group, I had no problems to follow. What I enjoyed about the visit were the many small details, between genius and freaky, that were hidden between these walls. Not a place that I intend to revisit, but definitely not the worst place I visited.

Inspired by the other reviewers I chose El Rosario to tick off this site. Google Maps does not know it, but once you are within the region it’s signposted, there are not too many roads and people are happy to point you into the right direction. I started my trip from Morelia at around 09:15, arriving on site just before 12. The roads are not great and it felt like there was a speed bump every 100 meters, but the site itself provided such a great experience that I would do it again. Do to my rather late arrival it was already quite warm and the butterflies were very active. Thousands of butterflies flew around me and made me feel like I was in a cheesy romantic movie. The area where the butterflies actually are is rather small, so the time you will spend on site is almost nothing compared to the time you need to go there and back. But still an unforgettable experience and among my favorite sites in Mexico so far.