All our reviews

The scenic landscape of Hallstatt, the lake and the surrounding mountains is really marvellous. The architecture of the town with its boathouses can be viewed best from the lake, either with a boat trip or from the ferry to the train station on the opposite shore of the lake. The ascent to the Rudolf tower is also rewarding: You have a wonderful view over Hallstatt, the lake and to the Dachstein massif. You can walk or ride up with a funicular. Not far from the Rudolf tower is the entrance to the salt mine, the oldest salt mine in the world. The highlights here (not only for children!) are the miners' slides, one is 64 meters long. And of course, do not miss the Beinhaus (ossuary) next to the parish church Maria am Berg.

The beauty of the town and its spectacular location at the lakeside was extensively described by the previous reviews. But the WHS also includes the Dachstein massif and the large cave system. Three caves can be visited, each is of a different type: the Ice Cave with fascinating ice formations, the Mammut Cave with rock formations in different colours and the Koppenbrüller Cave in the valley, a stalactite cave. Especially the Ice Cave is worth a visit, the tour lasts 50 minutes.

If you stay a few days in Hallstatt, you should make a trip to the Dachstein massif. A cable car runs in three sections to the Dachstein mountain plateau. At the upper station of …

On our previous visit to Panama way back in 1991 neither the ruined Panama Viejo nor the Casco Viejo historic district of Panama City had yet been inscribed. Nevertheless we paid reasonable attention to the former because of its obvious historic interest but the latter seemed to pass us by without us having fully appreciated its possible merits! It had seemed just another colonial centre among many in Latin America and, after a quick perusal, we had moved on to the Canal and to Portobelo in our rentacar! So, in 2012, when we did a transit of the Canal by ship and then had a day at the Balboa end we determined to try to fill in on what we might have missed!

Casco Viejo is set well apart from modern bustling Panama City on a small peninsula surrounded by some of the less salubrious parts of the city. I am not normally one to worry overmuch about “safety warnings” in cities (though I have, possibly as a result, have been mugged twice in my travelling career!) but the district of El Chorillo just to the west of the Casco has a particularly tough reputation as does that of nearby Santa Ana . The former was Noriega’s boyhood neighbourhood, the location of his HQ, the heartland of his populist support and the location of much of the bombing during the US invasion. Our taxi driver emphasized the “peligroso” of the area and had us lock our doors as we passed …

It is an unfortunate fact that long-anticipated visits to “iconic” WHS can often disappoint, but ours to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) most certainly did not! This, despite the fact that we had but a mere 7 hours ashore during a trans-Pacific cruise which took us on the “Heyerdal” sea route from the Peruvian coast taking 5 days on our cruise ship and then onward into “Polynesia proper”.

However you get there, Easter Island is an expensive and logistically awkward destination – most visitors will either fly through Papeete or do Santiago return. It certainly justifies more than the short day we gave it, but we were able to take in the main sites with reasonable free time. It would of course have been nice to return at different times of day for optimal photographic conditions and to have explored the less famous locations. On arrival you have the choice of minibus tours, private taxi, rent-a-car, bicycle or walking. We took the former in the morning and then a taxi in the afternoon. As regards walking and bicycle – well, it may look a mere “speck” on the World map, but it is a bit bigger “on the ground”! The main “town” of Hanga Roa is actually a very spread out village now full of restaurants, guest houses and the accoutrements of a tourist centre – just walking around it from your guest house could take a while but there are nearby walkable sites which could be very pleasant to reach …

After almost 2 hours on the train from Stockholm, I was in the town of Ängelsberg next to the idyllic Åmänningen Lake, this small town was very pretty with many cute wooden houses, hard to believe that I did not came for summer vacation, but to see industrial site – the Engelsbergs Ironworks. From the train station, it was a really nice 1.5 Kilometers Walk to the complex, passed cute sculpture park and a big tree house along the small lake. The complex of former ironwork mill, the World Heritage Sites, was located well in the middle of the forest, so lovely that may misunderstand to typical farming village.

Almost every building was painted in red or black, a great contrast to very bright green forest under the blue sky of spring. The biggest building was the former iron smelting building; from outside it was looked like a big farmhouse for livestock, a good example of early industrial architectural style which still based on agricultural building type. Behind the Smelting building was the large complex of worker village built in the different styles depend on construction periods. The village was lovely with great surroundings, I was not sure that the beauty landscape was an original or not, if it was, this place may be one of the most beautiful factories I’ve see. The complex had everything for workers including brewery! My friend whose great grandfather, migrated from Wallonia, was once worked in Engelsberg even said that he hard to …

I visited Penang this March. My best impression actually is about two Buddhist temples within the urban area but probably even outside the buffer zone -- the Burmese and Thai Buddhist temples just facing each other across a narrow street. They especially endear me because their presence in Penang add significant claims to this place being a crossroad, not just for the main ethnic groups in today's Malaysia and the country's former colonial rulers, but show Penang as the meeting point of continental and archipelago South East Asia, as where the majority Buddhist and majority Islam zones touch.

The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas is, with UNAM (Mexico), one of 2 inscribed mid 20th Century Latin American University campuses – is this either a surprising coincidence or evidence of some genuine value in unexpected locations?

It is situated in the South East of this narrow east/west oriented city and is accessible by metro to the eponymous station. We had driven through it quickly on a previous visit to Caracas many years ago but, on our second visit, gave it more time on foot in the hope that it would yield more “value”. The place is not set up for tourists (or WHS enthusiasts!) and our greatest disappointment was that we couldn’t get into the “Aula Magna” – the University’s main hall for concerts etc. This building is “famed” for the acoustic “clouds” (also dubbed “flying saucers”) by Alexander Calder, the “inventor” of mobile sculptures. As the other reviewers have noted, a particular aspect of the campus is the presence of long concrete covered walkways between the various buildings. We also visited the botanical gardens which are situated to the right of the northern entrance. We did so originally solely to have a pleasant walk through tropical plants away from the city bustle and hadn’t realized that they are a fully WHS-Inscribed part of the university and hold the botany faculty. We were “royally” welcomed by the staff when our Taxi driver who had brought us up from the port city of La Guaira rather warmed to the idea of …

Nelson’s Dockyard is Antigua’s main historic “attraction” (excluding its now sadly decaying old cricket ground!) so inevitably we visited it during a stopover there in Jan 2012 even though it didn’t then appear on either UNESCO’s Inscribed or T List. Somehow we had the feeling that it could be “fattened up” to become Antigua’s first WHS nomination – so it was a pleasant surprise just a few days later to discover that it had indeed been made Antigua’s sole T List entry!

Looked at objectively, it is an amazing relic from the days of sail dating back to the later 18th Century. A superb natural and easily defendable double harbour (“English Harbour”) was turned, under the management of Nelson in his pre Napoleonic War days, into the most significant “state of the art” forward shipping base in the Caribbean. It gave the British Navy an enormous advantage over the other colonial powers who, lacking such a facility for ship servicing, careening, revictualling etc were even less able to compete. It continued in this role through the 19th century and even acquired a minor “palace”, Clarence House, for one of Queen Victoria’s sons who mad a career in the navy and was in charge in Antigua – and through to late colonial days this house was used as a “hideaway” by UK royalty. Later however the complex was gradually decommissioned as wooden sailing ships gave way to iron hulled steam and coal bunkering etc became far more important. Thus many of …

My assessment of Willemstad passed through a number of phases during our 2012 visit and certainly finished “higher” than it stood at some stages during the day we were there! However the initial view from the sea as we entered by ship was perhaps the highlight – it is certainly memorable and seemed to augur better for things to come. The Queen Emma pontoon bridge quirkily “opened up” to let our boat enter a narrow waterway (around 150 metres wide?), lined on both sides by brightly painted houses of vaguely Dutch design – the entire view is framed beyond by the slim high level Queen Juliana bridge linking the 2 sides. Beyond however lies a large and ugly oil refinery and freight shipping terminal.

The inscribed old town is in 3 sections, divided first by the main N/S waterway, with another smaller “canal” at right angles creating a third sector on the main (eastern) side. All 3 are walkable within half a day. Our ship moored at “Otrabanda” ( = “the other side”) and we started there. This is the less “showy” and busy side and has a few pleasant buildings and quiet courtyards, but also has some undistinguished areas and an elevated road from the new bridge running through it, together with a large modern resort development at one end. The old Riffort which adjoins this has been turned into a restaurant and shopping arcade within the shell of its walls. The hotel has nice a/c and free …

Similar to other reviews, my visit to Skogskyrkogården or the Woodland Cemetery in Southern Stockholm was surprisingly enjoyable. When I reached the T-Bana station I also surprised the pronunciation of this place similar to Ian Cade did, and when I arrived the main entrance, I really surprised again for the landscape design that totally different with other cemeteries. The entrance pathway dictates every eye sight to the big granite cross and the crematorium. And when my eye at the crematorium I saw smoke come up, a sign of cremation took place. Since I saw smoke, I decided to change my intention to the mediation grove which was located on the right hill of the whole landscape. As I visit in early springtime, all trees were leafless and quite spooky; however, the grove was really amazing. I was really admired the architect for this genius landscape design, simple but easily inspired for spiritual meditation. After the meditation grove I went to see some part of the real cemetery, all the grave sites were well organized in the pine forest.

Actually, I planned to visit the famous Woodland Chapel, but I saw some ceremony in the area, so I decided to walk back to the Crematorium to see the building, the lotus pond and the big cross. The building looked very modern and functional; the view was also stunning especially toward the meditation grove. Overall Skogskyrkogården was really a masterpiece of landscape design, and I hardly believed that this place was …

Madeira is a beautiful island and very popular holiday destination. Though it doesn't offer a whole lot of historic sights, it features a wide range of diverse landscapes and habitats, the most unique of which is the laurel forest. This type of forest disappeared on the European continent during the last Ice Age, but survived on some Atlantic islands such as the Canaries and Madeira. To tick it off, I took a local bus from Funchal to the trout hatchery at Ribeiro Frio, which seems to be crowded with tourists at all times. From there I took the pleasant trail (about 1.5 km one way) through an impressively dense forest to the beautiful Balcoes viewpoint. I also started on the longer trail to Portela, but turned back after a while when it started to rain. Ribeiro Frio is certainly the easiest way to visit this WHS, but for more serious (and fit) hikers than I am, Rabacal and the trail to the 25 Fontes seems to be the best way to experience the laurel forest. It should be noted that although the Madeira Nature Reserve easily covers three quarters of the island, this is not the same as the World Heritage Site, which only covers the remaining pockets of laurisilva, most of which are in the northern part of the island. I found it rather difficult to find a map showing the exact extent of the WHS (even though there is an endless variety of hiking maps available), but the …

We arrived by boat in Katalokon and since we missed a bus we rented a car at the port and drove quite easily to Olympia in about half an hour. Arriving there around one thirty we were amazed to learn that the museum closed at 3pm and the archaeologic site at 4! This left us very little, too little time in the museum. It displays first class art works, among them the famous Hermes statue by Praxiteles and impressive groups of statues that one crowned the tympanon of the temple of Zeus. But I was most taken by the incredibly refined metal works, among them many Griffins. The museum has also many good notes about the history of the place and in three languages! This is something I have missed in many WCTs! All in all it would be worth to spend a couple of hours in the museum.

The archaeologic site was also surprisingly impressive: Despite the fact that there are only ruins, the vastness of the place and its architectonical arrangement can be felt very excellently as you walk through it. Very touching to see the base of the great temple of Zeus which was home to the statue of Phidias, one of the seven wonders! Very nice also the pavilion-like Phillipeum, das Alexander the Great built for his father. This is probably the incarnation of the romanticism for ruins in the 19th century. During our visit the abundance of blossoming trees (some of them historically clearly incorrect …

Lake Neusiedl is a shallow steppe lake without large natural inflows, its water balance is determined almost exclusively by evaporation and rainfall. It's amazing that the water depth is nowhere more than about 2 meters. The lake is very young, it was formed about 13,000 years ago by tectonic movement. The lake is almost completely surrounded by a reed belt that is the habitat for rare animals and the breeding area for many migratory birds. In particular, the lake is attractive for bird watchers, but is also popular with sailors and sail boarders. The special climate - many days of sunshine, mild climate in the fall - provides ideal conditions for wine growing. There are many vineyards around the lake and both, red and white wines are excellent. I think the inscription is justified both for cultural and natural criteria.

The best way to explore Lake Neusiedl is a bicycle tour. We started our day tour in Rust and cycled around the entire Austrian part of the lake (a total of approximately 80 km). In Morbisch we took the ferry to Illmitz, the ferry is only for cyclists and hikers. During the crossing we've got a good impression of the dense reed belt, nowhere you can see a real shoreline. On the east side, the so-called Seewinkel, the cycle path leads through an area with many small saline lakes. We've seen a lot of birds and there are several look-outs, from where you have nice views over the lake and …

I had been in doubt about doing a proper visit to the Loire Valley, or a quick one so I could take in another WHS (Bourges Cathedral) on the same day. Fortunately, I choose quality over quantity and made the trek from Paris all the way to Chambord, which takes up almost all day by public transport on a Sunday. There is exactly one train-train-bus combination, which got me at Chambord at 11.50 a.m. There are two buses back in the afternoon, plus trains once an hour.

Chambord was the original nominated site in 1981, and is the must-visit castle in this area. My bus from Blois drove along the Loire for the first 10 minutes, the first and last look that I would get on that river. It is wide, and its banks are dotted with stately homes and churches. It reminded me of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, although there the river is less straight and its sides have more cliffs.

Arriving at Chambord, the castle almost looks small compared to the surrounding forest. The weather wasn’t that good, so I focused on getting inside the castle. There was quite a long and slow line, not very efficiently run by a site that must see thousands of visitors every day of the year. But after paying 9.5 EUR and picking up an audio guide (5 EUR), I got in and wasn’t bothered by crowds anymore from then on.

The Castle’s interior came as a big …

I visited the Bourges Cathedral 20 years ago. It was a stop on our way further south into France. I have never forgotten it. I did not knw anything about the cathedral, and it was funny how it was easy to lose sight of it once in the town. As Stephanie mentions, the stained glass windows, particularly the blue ones behind the altar, are amazing. Something about the ones behind the altar was very special, and I felt my mind relaxing and gently altering as I walked through that space I felt a very different feeling that I have never had before or since and I would love to walk there again. It's such a nice stop to make on any trip. You can light a candle, read your guidebook, say a prayer, have a quiet moment, and, if you are lucky, as we were, you might even hear a gentle choir practicing. When you finish your visit, and meet up with your friends to start traveling again, you will be very happy! Then, when the time is right, you can learn all you like about the cathedral, its, history, the architecture, and the beautiful town. We went to a cafe on the Rue Victor Hugo that we loved,

After three or four hours in Graz I was left feeling pretty underwhelmed, however by the time I left 24 hours later I viewed it as a city I would happily pack my bags and move to permanently. It was quite a transformation, and made me feel really happy that I decided to end my little trans-European jaunt with a night in Austria’s second city, rather than just visit for a few hours as a trip from Vienna.

My initial reservations stemmed mostly from the grubby walk from the station to the city centre and the fact that as it was Sunday pretty much every shop was closed. It seemed like a pleasant enough city but nothing to get too excited about.

However as I climbed up the hill things really started to get better. The wonderful double spiral staircase tucked away in the Burg really lifted my spirits. The higher up the hill I got the happier I became, it was a mix of putting in a little bit of physical effort with some nice sites and increasingly impressive modern architecture. I really enjoyed having a beer in the modernist bar atop the Schloßberg and watching the sunset over the Alpine foothills in the distance.

My evening meal provided further reasons to be merry, Styrian cuisine proved to be exceptionally tasty perhaps thanks to the healthy glugs of pumpkin seed oil that are used in it, and the locals wines were very much to my liking (a personal recommendation …

The villa is now re-open after extensive renovations and it is necessary to book ahead for tours, which cost about $20.00 (I booked on-line about three weeks before my April 14, 2012 tour.)

The only tours in English are the so-called "technical" tours which last about 90 minutes (the other tour is about an hour). The technical tour includes the (state of the art at the time) air-conditioning and heating facilities, whose mechanisms were explained by the guide in an easy to understand manner. My tour group had about ten people in it so it did not feel crowded.

The villa is in a quiet residential area of Brno, easily accessible in about ten minutes by several tram and bus lines, or about a 40 minute walk from the train station through the old town (very nice) then for about 15 minutes on a run down stretch of a wide, much trafficked ugly avenue and then about five minutes more along a tree-lined street.

Even those who are familiar with, or fans of Mies Van de Rohe will find a visit fascinating. My guide was excellent and well informed. Besides explaining the minimalist philosophy of Van de Rohe, and how he made it a reality in this residence, the guide also provided a history (very sad for the most part) of the house in the period following the Tugendhat's flight from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and abandonment of the villa up until the present. It is a microcosm of what happened to …

I was in two minds about visiting Toledo, not because I didn’t think it would be a worthwhile trip, but I was unsure if I could give it enough time to do the city justice. In the end I plumped for an excursion on the last day of a busy weekend trip to Madrid.

Toledo is only 25 minutes away from the Spanish capital, however we soon found out that trains were infrequent and got full rather quickly, but we managed to nab ourselves a couple of seats (if you are planning to go by train I would recommend booking in advance as our options were severely limited on the day). The super slick high-speed train deposits you at the rather lovely neo-Moorish station in Toledo, which is worth taking a few moments to admire before heading off to the walk or bus journey to the centre. The short walk gives a nice first view of the city as you see it sitting up on the other side of the river, showing you that you may have to do a fair bit of climbing during your visit.

It is very easy to see the traditional medina style lay out of the city centre; the narrow cobbled streets winding up and down hill instantly brought back memories of North Africa. The main highlight is the cathedral, with its overwrought gothic altar and impressive collection of art, from a rather astonishing amount of European masters. For us though Toledo's greatest attraction was …

Apparently Galerie St Hubert was the first shopping gallery in Europe and it is rather nice. I have been to other and better examples around Europe but this is certainly a nice diversion just around the corner from le Grand Place. I wouldn't say I was massively impressed by the shops though, and some of the surround streets show Brussels at its worst; the Belgian and EU capital, still disappoints me each time I visit, despite the wealth of attractions it has, it always seems to be much less than the sum of its parts. The gallery is a worthwhile detour, however the best attraction is the unpretentious and delicious Bistro Arcadi at the end furthest from la Grand Place, whilst across the road a la Mort Subite has a wonderful selection of Belgium's finest product, beer.

[Site 2: Experience 3]

A trip to the Wachau valley really is an impressive day trip from Vienna.

I started off my trip with a guided tour of the abbey at Melk. It really was striking, sitting on a bluff looming over the small town below. In winter the only way to see the interior of the abbey is to go on a guided tour. I normally dread these in such grand places; however this one was pretty inspiring. We were shown around by a resident nun how did a great job of contextualising everything we saw. I was happy that the museum was laid out to show the evolution of the abbey and the art with in it, rather than just highlighting some dusty ornate furnishings.

The highlight is undoubtedly the magnificent baroque library. Another site well worth seeing is the chapel which is an over-the-top baroque masterpiece. You can visit the chapel without going on the tour, but you are restricted to a small side section, however you can see the whole interior from there.

After a quick coffee I headed off on a small post-bus that drove me the whole length of the valley to Krems. This gave me good view of many of the major sites of the valley, without having to brave the freezing conditions.

In Krems I had a lovely walk through the cobbled streets hunting out some of the wine that is produced on the river banks that I had just driven through. After a meal and …

I have returned to this place on a couple of occasions, firstly in 1985 to visit the school itself which I left in 1946 . My second visit was in 1988 to be present at the school's Centenary celebrations. On both occasions the grandeur of the terrain captured me as in my youth - sure there were changes which I had expected to find and did, however it would be in the interests of the School itself if Unesco granted permission for the whole site to be listed as world heritage, there is a history that spans 125 years of providing a good education in a beautiful serene and healthy atmosphere for future generations.Long live OakGrove.