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I was the only visitor here, having arrived already at 8.50 a.m. after a 7.30 start from Bhopal. The 250rs entry ticket has to be bought at the base of the hill, where there is also an archeological museum (which I did not visit). Then a steep uphill climb follows, fortunately I had a car to take me. There was no one to check my ticket at the gate. But I did not surprise the suddenly appearing security lady - I had to open my bag to show nothing was in it besides a bottle of water, a notebook and a pen.

The main stupa at the hilltop is definitely the most eye-catching sight here. You’ll have to come in the late afternoon however to get really great pictures of it. The stupa looks like a stupa always does, a perfect dome. Wonderful are its four sculptured gateways, they are the main reason for turning this site into a WHS. Taking their age into consideration, the quality of the sculptures is really unique.

The base of the stupa also has inscriptions of donations given by devotees – a practice that obviously predates the namedropping at western museum collections nowadays. The four gateways lead to a Buddha statue each. Although most of the on-site carvings are in perfect condition, 3 out of 4 Buddhas have their heads smashed in. Probably not a coincidence. The stupa has two ambulatories, by which I “climbed” it.

There are a number of …

This was the first stop on my full-day tour of Delhi sights. The complex has a serene atmosphere, enhanced a little by the famous Delhi morning fog. You can sit on park benches and take in the views of these old constructions. There were about 20 other western visitors around, more than I had seen at any site outside of Delhi.

The focal point of the complex obviously is the enormous minaret. You only really feel how broad and tall it is when you're standing next to it. A magnificent piece of work.

And then there's the enigmatic Iron Pillar. It looks so out of place here, in this whole complex full of brick and sandstone buildings. It's a very thin pillar, surrounded by a fence to protect it. It looks as if it was placed here only recently, at the start of modern construction.

Another monument that I enjoyed here was the Tomb of Iltutmish. It's a bulky structure when looked at from the outside and it is missing its roof. The interior however has lots of fine carvings, both in red sandstone and white marble.

In preparation for this RTW trip, my image of South India somehow blurred into one big temple experience (I do like temples, so no problem for me). Hampi however is much more: a complete city, stretching out over several kilometers. The monuments are in different states of repair, varying from complete ruins to active temples. The natural setting is magnificent, a quiet rural area dominated by a river and strangely shaped boulders.

I spent 1.5 days in total at the site. The first late afternoon I walked along the river to the Vittala temple - one of the finest excursions here. The view of the river and the boulders is breathtaking. One of the reasons that Hampi has been on the "In Danger" List for several years is that there were plans to build a bridge here. That certainly would spoil the view. The Vittala Temple is also the place where the sculpted chariot is located, the icon of this WHS.

The next day I started out on foot from the town of Kamalapuram. It lies just to the south of the Royal Enclosure. This is a vast area, with several highlights like the Stepped Tank, the lovely Lotus Mahal, the surprisingly luxurious Elephant's Stables and the Underground Siva Temple. It took about 4 hours to make my way up to Hampi Bazaar, visiting most of the sites along the route.

After lunch in Hampi, I took the ferry across to Virupapur Gaddi. This is a backpacker …

Mumbai is an enormous city that suffers from heavy traffic most of the day. Its main train station is located at a busy intersection in the very center of the city. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is THE highlight of the city's historic buildings. And still a working railway station. From across the street, one can admire all its quirky ornaments.

We also went to have a look at the inside of the station. Unfortunately, we only could get into the part where the tickets are sold and the trains leave. The best part of the building (under the huge dome) is off-limits to visitors. I tried to have a closer look but was sent away by a guard. I guess it is used as a railway office now?

The exterior of the station did remind me of another WHS, Barcelona's Hospital de Sant Pau - the use of turrets, the colouring. It undoubtedly is a great work of period architecture, but I was a bit disappointed about the visit in general (mainly at the limited possibilities to admire the interior).

The city of Thanjavur has over 200,000 inhabitants, but its center feels much smaller and can easily be explored on foot. Signs guide you to the “Big Temple”, as they call it here. Maybe even the Tamils find “Brihadisvara Temple” too cumbersome, although they manage pretty well with their elaborate place names made up of dozens of syllables. I visited on a late afternoon. There was a steady flow of worshippers and daytrippers going into the temple complex. There’s no entrance fee, or limitations to non-Hindus. Only take your shoes off.

The entrance gate here is not the prettiest construction of the complex but did already hold my gaze for a while. The decorations here clearly have greater quality than those at Mahabalipuram, and it is easy to see how the sculptures here have influenced Angkor for example. After the second gate, awaits the large inner courtyard. It’s a vast open space. In the center stands a large black Nandi statue, covered under a pavilion (under construction at the moment). To the sides are smaller temples. The whole area has a festive air: there’s a temple elephant doing tricks, and groups of friends are sitting on the grass and taking photos.

The monument at the end of the courtyard is the Temple’s masterpiece: the Vimana, an unbelievably high pyramidical tower, fully covered in sculptures. You really have to sit down to take it all in, it’s exuberant. There are so many little details to admire, and the state …

Maybe I was expecting too much: the raving reviews on this website, my memorable visits to Chinese rock-carvings in 2007, and even the rare praise from ICOMOS in the evaluation report all had me geared up to a visit of one of the highlights of the WH List. The site did fail to capture me. There were only a few caves that I found really worth seeing. They all are pretty dark inside and the floor is uneven so you have to be careful where to step. It would be good to bring a torch.

My favourite cave was number 10: a Buddhist cave, the only chaitya among the monasteries. It was used as a music gallery and has fine acoustics. The exterior has a sculptured balcony, the ceiling carved ribs. A window was placed so to illuminate the big teaching Buddha in the center of the cave.

Another one not to miss is of course the enormous Kailasha Temple. An unimaginable load of work has been done to carve this all out of a monolithic rock. Its size and structure is difficult to capture on a photo. It resembles the Churches at Lalibela (though these carvings are even cruder).

I visited on a Saturday morning, and especially the Kailasha Temple was overrun by Indian daytrippers. Young men ignore every warning sign, climb the sculptures and get overexcited on seeing a white blonde female. While travelling in India over the past weeks and attracting a lot of …

Humayun's Tomb was the last of Delhi's WHS that I visited. It is undoubtedly the most picturesque of all of the sites, with its perfect shapes. It is easy to see how it has influenced the Taj Mahal. But I have not become a big fan of Mughal architecture here in Delhi: the buildings were constructed to impress, but lack fine details (or maybe these have disappeared during the ages, the glazed tiles are very few now).

My visit to the site lasted a mere 45 minutes, and I cannot see how I could have spent more time here (although part of the complex is fenced off at the moment). The "park" could use some more water, to make the lawns look green and fresh, and also to fill up the little canals and pools that surround the Tomb.

However, as Rob Wilson already stated below, the state of the site has improved a lot over the last few years. There's an exhibition on site where you can see "before" and "after" photos.

This is one rarely visited WHS. It currently ranks 726 out of 911 sites that have been ticked off by visitors of this website. Its story is not well-known, and its remote location doesn’t help either: Pattadakal lies amidst the flat farmlands of Karnataka, about 150km north of Hampi.

To get there, I rented a car and a driver for a day from Hospet. We headed out at 6.30 a.m. At this time of day, you get to watch rural India wake up – people fetching water from pumps, and many others disappearing into the fields with a coloured plastic mug of water in hand for a “toilet” break.

After 3.5 hours on a half-bad road (the only alternative is a “horrible road”), we arrived at the town of Patta Dakal. The WHS is signposted from afar, displaying the familiar logo. My first impression of the monumental complex was a pleasant surprise: it is a fenced-off area near the river, not too large but cluttered with temples and architectural models. I somehow was expecting a ruined archaeological site. They even succeed in keeping the grass green. The entrance fee, as at all other Indian WHS, is 250rs. For that you get to sign the visitor book – I noticed that there are about 20 foreigners coming here each day, not too bad. I visited on a Sunday, and the site was quite busy with locals.

I hired a guide named Raj to show me around – a …

Mahabalipuram is a great place to start a journey through (South) India: it’s a small relaxing town that comes with a pretty good WHS. I visited the groups of temples and other carvings around town in one morning. Already at 7.30 am I walked to the Shore Temple – I had set out early to beat the heat and the crowds. But I surely wasn’t alone: dozens of Indian pilgrims clothed in red robes were already coming back from a bath or an offering in the sea. The entrance to the Shore Temple is separate from that to the beach, and it’s here where you’ll have to pay the 250rs entrance fee (valid for all sights in Mahabalipuram). This Shore Temple is the most recent of the Pallavan constructions. It did remind me a little of another WHS, Prambanan on Java. Unfortunately, most of the sculptures at the Shore Temple have faded beyond recognition, due to erosion from wind and water at its location near the sea.

While admiring the structure, I was ambushed by groups of girls who wanted to talk to me or take a picture. I had thought that the 21st century would have ended this curiousness here in India too, but it hasn’t (men often just stared and stared…).

Right in the middle of town, 5 minutes on foot from the Shore Temple, lies the bas-relief “Arjuna’s Penance”. This is a sight that immediately captures your attention – such an elaborate and huge sculpture! …

I had taken as much precaution in visiting this WHS as in arranging a visit to Da Vinci’s Last Supper. More than 3 months before I reserved a first-class ticket on the Nilgiri Express. And even at that moment I could not get my preferred date and decided to take the trip down from Ooty instead of upwards to it. The first-class seats are located in a small, open carriage that gives you good views and photo opportunities during the ride. And what a ride this is!

The Nilgiri Railway was finished in 1908, and a trip up to Ooty from then on took only a couple of hours instead of 10 days. This way the mountainous region was opened up totally and attracted a lot of settlers. The railway is 46km long and uses a rare rack railway system: in the center of the tracks lies another rail, with tooths where the train gets some extra grip. It was made with a Swiss technique and is considered to be the most authentic rack railway system still in use. Almost all of the 12 stations underway are original. The WHS also includes the rolling stock, as it was considered by ICOMOS to be “irremovable” – it can’t be used anywhere else.

The trip covers 3 distinct parts: the first part (when going down) from Ooty to Coonoor has the best scenery. After every curve or tunnel – and there are many on this ride – the gorgeous views …

Old Goa is now mainly an archaeological site annex open-air museum - there are some restaurants, vendors and people living there in shacks, but it is hard to imagine that this once was a city of 200,000 inhabitants. Their religious structures have survived, a clutter of churches, chapels and convents in different European architectural styles. I'm not sure if the whole area of the former Portuguese city has been designated a WHS, or only the named churches and convents - the documentation on the Unesco website once again is incomplete.

I arrived by local bus from Panaji, the current capital of Goa, about 15 minutes away. The site is pretty popular with Indian tourists - to them, it must be a very exotic place, with its abundance of non-Indian monuments. But when you're familiar with Southern Europe or Latin America, the churches aren't that special. Most of them are plain, especially the interiors. Some of the churches have faded wall paintings or wooden carvings. Their style almost looks naïve. Only the Sé Cathedral and the Basilica (where St. Francis Xavier is buried) still seem to be used for religious services.

The town is pleasant enough to spend half a day. I went around on foot, the roads are not too busy and the grounds are well-kept. Nowhere I had to pay an entrance fee. The Church of St. Francis and the Basilica holds the best ornaments. Besides the churches, not much is left, except for the Viceroy's Arch …

My vote in the Ellora-Ajanta "dispute" clearly goes out to Ajanta! Although the size of Ellora obviously shows more rock carving craftsmanship, I fell for Ajanta's lovely location at a cliff overlooking a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river. And for the quality of its paintings of course.

The colours in the paintings have survived the ages pretty good, although there is a yellowish glow over most of them. Local, natural dyes were used, and blue (lapis lazuli) was imported from Central Asia. Some of the caves, notably 1 and 2, have their walls and ceilings completely covered with these paintings, showing various Buddhist scenes including animals and people.

Other favourite caves include numbers 10 and 26. They resemble the Music Hall at Ellora, with the formerly wooden ribs at the ceiling and the decorations all-around a central stupa. Cave 26 also has a great carving of a reclining Buddha.

I visited Ajanta on a tour from Aurangabad. They leave daily (except Mondays when the caves are closed) at 8.30. You can buy tickets from several organizers, but will all end up on the same bus. The drive out there is 2.5 hours (100km, at 40 km/h about an average speed in India). An English-speaking guide is included. As always on tours like this, the site visit is a bit rushed. But the tour was OK in general. It is also easy to get to the Ajanta Caves by public bus, they leave from platform 6 at the …

Since 2004, the year I met my soon to be wife we have celebrated our anniversary at Serpent Mound. We usually make it a week celebration. We start at the Newark Earthworks in Newark, Ohio; we then travel State Route 23 South out of Columbus, Ohio to Ross County. Here we go to the Hopewell Center in Chillicothe and enjoy the museum and their movie, along with the grounds themselves. Then we head to Fort Ancient and Fort Hill, finally ending at Serpent Mound. During this trip, there are other mound sites to visit, Alligator in Granville, Tarleton near Lancaster just to name a few. One can never go wrong spending a weekend driving through the once great lands of the Ohio Native People.

This site, known locally as El Morro, was easily reached from Santiago de Cuba at the time of my visit in February 2001. A local bus will take you to Ciudamar, a settlement on the southern shore of the almost enclosed bay with Santiago at its head, and from there it is possible to catch one of the little launches which shuttle between various points on the bay. I went first to La Socapa, a small village at the foot of the hill, from the easily reached top of which, excellent views of the castle across the narrow(400m?) entrance to the harbour, and indeed for miles along the coast in both directions, can be had.

I was surprised not to find any evidence of fortification on this side of the harbour entrance.

Once back in Ciudamar it's a walk of about 20 minutes to the foot of the hill on which the castle itself is located. It has grown over several different levels, the lowest being a little above the high water line with some of the rooms carved out of the soft rock.

At a higher level the castle is protected by a deep moat and bastions at every change in direction of the castle's hefty wall.The various levels are connected by staircases and by a series of tunnels which is fun to explore

Some of the castle rooms are now used as a museum illustrating local building techniques and telling the story of piracy in the region. There …

I have visited the Newark Earthworks in Newark, Ohio and they truly are a wonder of the ancient world. The enormity of the Great Circle and Octagon astounded me and I will never forget the feeling I had when I first walked within the walls of these two sites.

I encourage everyone to visit!

As the author of “Follow the Blue Blazes: A Guide to Hiking Ohio’s Buckeye Trail,” I would like to express my appreciation to previous reviewers on this website. As these reviewers pointed out so eloquently, the site known as Serpent Mound is a realistic and powerful expression of a Native American people that existed almost 1000 Years ago.

For myself, who has returned to Serpent Mound many times over the years, I still experience an emotional feeling of wonderment and a reverential connection with the past. The lifelike serpent could be ready to engulf an egg or as one Native American explained: "the Snake Clan is actually being led by the Turtle Clan" (Cry of the Ancients by Little Pigeon).

Visitors to the site should also take the path down to Ohio Brush Creek that begins to the right and near the serpents head. Wildflower enthusiasts will enjoy the seasonal native plants along the walk. The walk will also show how fragile is the site, for the supporting rock is eroded and pitted with deep crevasses or caves. Also, the front of the cliff reveals a simulacrum (an image in the cliff) loosely resembling a serpents head. Perhaps this is the reason for the people of what we refer to now as the Fort Ancient Culture to build their effigy on this spot.

Another reason given for the site selection is that is on an uplift of a 10-mile wide bowl in the surrounding landscape. This huge depression was thought …

The Kailash Temple was perhaps the finest single site I saw on my whole 3 week trip in South Asia. It marks out the Ellora caves as a truly world class destination, and one that should not be missed if you are in central India.

There are three religions represented across the 32 of the complex. The Buddhist caves are the earliest, and have many similarities to those at Ajanta, but do not have the painted interiors of that site. The Jain caves have some particularly impressive carvings, they are not as large as the others but they are finely detailed.

The bulk of the highlights though come in the Hindu caves, which at times can be massive.

The Kailash temple was absolutely astounding, and could easily be a world class WHS on its own, even without the 30 other caves. The impressive style of the carvings, the monumental size and the great views afforded by the surround galleries and hill made this extra special. It was really worthwhile clambering up the hill surrounding it to get a birds-eye view of the whole ensemble.

I managed to visit the caves in the same day as Ajanta and I felt that I did each site justice, visiting every cave and having repeat viewings of the major highlights.

Astounding, don't miss if you are in central India.

[Site 10: Experience 7]

my family has had it's reunion at serpent mound for many years. i have been there so many times it's like visiting an old friend every time i go there. the scenery is incredible. the snake effigy is truly incredible, especially when viewed from the observation tower. in addition, there are hiking trails through patches of wildflowers that lead down to ohio brush creek. this site is a jewel,from an archaeoligical, historical, and natural beauty standpoint. it definetly deserves protection as a world heritage site. it deserves such protection on it's own merit, and doesn't need to be included with the newark or other earthworks to deserve such protection. i only hope it is granted world heritage site status quickly to give this site protection from developers and others who would exploit and destroy this wonder. i truly hope it's included on the list of protected sites. not to do so would be a terrible omission. serpent mound holds now and forever a special place in my heart.

I too went to Chitwan this new year and amazingly it was fantastic. Due to lack of time, I unfortunately could not enjoy the jeep safari, but anyways i enjoyed my elephant safari and the boat riding. I saw many animals and birds that include Rhinos, Deers, Wild Boars and birds like kingfisher and others whose name i actually do not know. I saw many alligators and crocodiles and had alot of fun. One thing that didnt suite my mind was the overexploitation of the elephants and beating them which also left alot of wounds and scars on them. Hope something could be made out !! :)

‘Perhaps it is the ones that get away that prove the most interesting’ I thought to myself as my train trundled passed this magnificent 100 year old modernist shoe last factory, I think that was just a feeble attempt to console myself for the error that meant I missed a proper visit to this site.

I had been looking forward to visiting this site in Alfeld (30 minutes south of Hannover) for a little while; alas I contrived to miss it by catching the wrong train a few hours earlier. As such I was only able to admire the impressive glass curtain walls and iconic chimney stack from behind the locked gates leading into the compound. This is one to add to ‘almost visited sites’ as I was not able to get up close and have a closer look. Oh well, gives me a good reason to return I suppose!

The factory was the work of Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer a few years before they took up prominent roles at the Bauhaus. Its pioneering use of glass walls set out design features that are still very influential; although they are now much refined as their implementation here at the Faguswerks and a decade later at the Bauhaus building was beset by problems of speedy corrosion and poor heat insulation. Even with these problems the building is still regarded as an early masterpiece in international modernism.

Germany has done very well in getting its modernist heritage onto the world heritage …