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As the last review of the Museuminsel is 7 years old, it can use an update – especially since the surrounding, revamped cityscape now is more or less ‘finished’. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean it’s the end of seeing cranes on the horizon, as the Pergamon Museum is currently being renovated.

I started my revisit with an early morning walk through the neighborhood, taking in all the monuments on the Spreeinsel. Often it is better to walk on the opposite side of the river to get better views. The Altes Museum I still find the most impressive one architecturally, the others are neo(classical/baroque)-on-steroids. The whole area now resembles a monumental heart that fits a capital city, although it is somewhat devoid of 'normal' life.

For the obligatory museum visit, I chose the Neues Museum. This is the most recent to have fully reopened to the public (2009). I had booked a time slot for the opening hour of 10 a.m., but it wasn’t busy at all. I entered via the new James Simon Galerie, the 2019 addition designed by Pritzker Prize winner David Chipperfield (he also was responsible for the reconstruction of the ‘old’ museum). Seen from the outside I think the modern part integrates well with the (reconstructed) old architecture. The interior however is just a big hall meant to create some extra space which they don’t use well. Currently you can view a very poor exhibition on Uzbekistan – when I wandered in I wondered whether it …

Luang Prabang was my second stop in a trip that was bookended by Chiang Mai (currently on the T List) and Angkor (one of the most widely regarded WHS sites in the world), and even though it is smaller than the other two, I believe it deservedly belongs to the WHS List. Although some reviews liken the Lanna-style temples in Chiang Mai architecturally similar to those in Luang Prabang, I think there are subtle differences that differentiate the two. Nonetheless I don't think the temples are the main draw for Luang Prabang, unlike that in Chiang Mai, although you can very well cover most of it along Sisavangvong Road in half a day. In fact, forget most of what was written for the OUV of Luang Prabang - I think it is just quite hard to describe Luang Prabang, and the hodgepodge about French-colonial structures blended with the old temples don't really articulate properly the true juxtaposition of clashing things ongoing in LP that gives it its charm. In this vein I don't feel either Chiang Mai nor Angkor has that similar immaterial charm that I believe gives LP its OUV.

What to see

As mentioned, there's really not much to see in terms of architecture in Luang Prabang, instead, a lot of Luang Prabang is seeing things that are transient. Architecturally, the structures in Luang Prabang are not as impressive as the ones in Chiang Mai. Even though there is a French colonial vibe to it, I …

I know why there's only one review because nobody wants to follow such a detailed explanation of the proposed site and honestly I can't add much more than personal trip info - which is pretty neat to read too, right? :) So here I go with the "do yourself a favor and just skip down to the second review instead" posting.

First of, I only went to the Carrowmore cemetery which is very conveniently situated near Sligo. You can park onsite, pay an entrance fee and get a visitor card (no deposit required maybe they trust me more or it was a slow day). I spoke to the staff quite a bit and it was the first time I heard UNESCO mentioned. They were recently added to the tentative list which I didn't even know because I had my plans for Ireland way before Covid and it was definitely a highlight on the way up to Northern Ireland not to miss one way or another. Being a tentative list was even better I suppose so I can "tick" this off one day eh. You also can play a kid's game of spotting things around the site which keeps you a bit entertained plus I got a postcard as gift - slow day for the staff indeed (I want to add that they are super friendly!). Your first steps will be across the road which one could potentially get without paying but with the honest system they'll assume you paid …

What can be written of one of the most wonderful art WHS in the world? Giotto's magnum opus. The paintings are of the highest quality...luminous, serene, emotive...fantastic! For lovers of 13th/14th century Italian proto-Renaissance art, this chapel is a must see. 

Limited to small groups and short visits (15 minutes). Early morning, midweek visits preferable as they give best chance of securing on line tickets. Arrive prior to your scheduled visit time by about 20 minutes. Orientation video prior to visit.

Visited Padova on a day trip from Venice.

I had a full day tour from Managua to visit two Nicaraguan World Heritage Sites, the two Leon. After breakfast, a driver picked me up from the hotel to Leon Viejo with a brief stop to see the mighty volcano of Momotombo. The ruins were in the small village that my guide from Leon whom I met at the junction before the village entrance said, “a perfect place to admire Nicaraguan way of life”. He took me to see the small museum which I learnt that Leon Viejo is actually built by native Americans before the arrival of Spanish and after befriended with and enslaved the locals, the newcomer built the western styled town and lived together with natives, so Leon Viejo was quite very unique in the history of colonial city foundation.     

If the story of city foundation was quite unique, the ending of the city was far stranger. According to my guide, the city lord had an argument with the priest and killed him. Later the Momotombo erupted which caused locals to believe that god hated this city because of killing priest was the great sin, so with bad omens, they decided to abandon the city and move to present day Leon. They also dismantled the city for construction material, that why noting much left to see at Leon Viejo. My guide took me the see the whole ruins, the atmosphere was peaceful as I was the only tourist. Most of the ruins I saw were just …

During our honeymoon in Okinawa, I insisted that we stop at at least a few of the Ryuku sites. The first place we went to was Nakijin-Jo, in the north of the island. Out of the castle ruins, these were the most expansive and still offer both great views and a sense of the scale, size, and layout of the place when it was in use. There is an excellent visitor center and parking. 

While driving south, we stopped at Zakimi-Jo, which was much smaller and more contained, but still nice to see, and a local couple was taking their wedding photos there.  

Later, we visited the main complex at Shuri Castle, which sadly burned down just months after we were there. I certainly am glad they are committed to rebuilding it, because the rebuilt palace complex was stunning. 

However, easily the best of out all the sites (at least the ones we visited) was Sefa-utaki. A little out of the way but very reachable by bus from Naha. This is more of a natural site, a spot of unspoiled tropical forest with massive, limestone formations rising out of the ground. Before it was conquered by Japan and an independent kingdom, this was a place reserved solely for royalty and the priests of the local religion, and that sense of spirituality still pervades the grounds today. Though the ancient religion itself is no longer practice, the locals who tend to the site are still extremely reverent, and …

I am one of the people who visited as a tourist before heading off somewhere else. (Dead Sea, Massada & Beersheba) on a long day trip from Tel Aviv in late 1978. I had a guidebook, pre Lonely Planet and a Guide, Israeli who gave us a short, about 15 min tour. A couple of signs, noting to show that it had been there about 8000 years. I remember it as a dilapidated version of Troy, only a whole series of foundations and only to be seen with a guide who knew what he was talking about. Thankfully he did, a quick intro about Joshua before mentioning that the tale was dubious, the layer destroyed by an earthquake was hundreds of years before him. He then described the visible layers then we were on our way again. It needed interpretation boards and restoration. It does not look as though anything has happened apart from banning Israeli tourists. As Palestine's oldest site it needed a WHS designation. 

I had a very expensive day trip here today from my hotel in Ikeja near the Lagos airport. Guide and driver. It took about 3 1/2 hours to arrive at the site. One is immediately taken by the unique art forms on the walls driving in. You know that you are in a special place. We were met by a local guide who showed us around. It was Sunday and there were few visitors, but there were perhaps a dozen ladies at the temple. It is said that drinking the sacred waters of the (polluted) river were healthful and they were enjoying the libation. It was a lovely grove and fascinating to see the strange sculptures. Many referred to gods and spirit animals. While the small forest is sacred and likely worthy of UNESCO status I had difficulty accepting the relatively new art as part of the site, even though it is the art that makes the site interesting. So mixed feelings, but I enjoyed the visit. If you are up for a long drive it is great to see.

My wife loves this sort of place, industrial buildings and complexes seemingly abandoned to nature (though this one is obviously not abandoned, but is very well-maintained). 

The exhibits and info spots are all excellent and well-organized, but there are plenty of parts here where you can just walk around and explore and really feel the size and scope of this massive industrial factory. It absolutely conveys a sense of the sheer physical power that must have been felt in these early parts of the industrial revolution. I am very glad it's so well maintained, and parts of it are rented out to local artists to use as workshops. The perfect way to take something and adapt it beyond what it was originally meant to do. 

Under light snow in February 2023, I explored Chūson-ji Temple site of Hiraizumi. My introduction to the temple area was by walking through Tsukimizaka (Moon Viewing Slope), lined by well-postured cryptomeria trees. The slope leads to a slightly meandering path, which is decorated on both sides by subordinates temples and shrines.

All but three buildings at the site are reconstructions. The three surviving originals buildings are:

• the gold-leaf covered Konjiki-dō (built 1124 but restored in the 20th century);
• Konjiki-dō Ôidô (built in 15th century), which sheltered Konjiki-dō before the current concrete building; and
• Chūson-ji Kyôzô (built in 1122 with the lower storey reconstructed in the 14th century).

While one may visit the grounds for free, you must pay to visit Konjiki-dō and the museum. While Konjiki-dō is objectively a visually stunning structure, its aura is compromised by how this small building is presented. To elaborate, the allure of experiencing a building in situ is severely reduced when the said building is kept inside a concrete structure and behind glass. Looking at Konjiki-dō in this setting aroused the same emotion in me that I get when I look at an interesting artifact under a glass display in a museum. A mild, dispassionate interest.

Chavin is an ancient culture from BC on the more green, wet side of the Andes. It's a nice daytrip from Huaraz. Precisely you can tick off two WHS when doing this daytrip. The pass that needs to be crossed with the beautiful landscape around laguna Querococha is part of PN Huascarán. Even though on this October day it was raining on the Chavin side of the mountains it was a pleasant day trip. For 15 /S you get a ride in Huaraz with Olguita Tours to Chavin de Huantar. It goes every full hour starting at 5 a.m.. It takes about 2,5 hours when all goes fine. The archeological site is at the very south of town. Currently they build a new bridge here it seems and crossing over the food bridge via the construction site caused some muddy feet. We decided against a guide as we thought there would be more info panels. Especially at the beginning they're quite rare though. Close to the ceremonial plaza there were the first texts even in English however with limited info. Walking up a bit we reached the galleries. In the Lacron gallery there is a nice, carved statue that is original. The other galleries or underground tunnels are more impressive as they're so old. Finally one cabeza clava can be seen on a wall before walking to the exit. It's a stone face with human and feline elements and should display a shaman that turns into a jaguar after consuming …

My original plan on Rideau Canal was just to see its famous locks at Ottawa’s city center but turned out I saw many parts of the canal from Ottawa to Kingston unexpectedly. The famous and iconic Ottawa’s part of the canal was just hard to miss, while I did not find anything interesting with those multi-locks and a bit quite surprised that the size of the canal was smaller than I imagined, the location and the view of Canadian Parliament with this World Heritage Site was just superb. After great time in Ottawa, my friend and I planned to depart the city to Toronto in the morning but with certain reason, we ultimately left Ottawa on the late lunch time and decided that we had to find some place to stay instead of Toronto, and Kingston was my friend’s choice.

On the way to Kingston, one of us needed Tim Hortons, so we stopped at the small town of Kemptville to have small coffee break and filled the gas. Unknowingly that my friend accidentally adjusted google map to avoid highway while he tried to find nearest gas station, we drove into smaller picturesque road to Merrickville-Wolford. The area was lovely with beautiful houses, gardens and farms that remind me New England, one of my friends even mentioned that this area was similar to his neighborhood in Boston. When we reached Merrickville-Wolford, the sign of Merrickville Ruins sparked our curiosity, so we decided to see the ruins which also caused …

From the current scores it is clear that Kaunas isn't viewed very highly here, but having been to most of the European countries, Kaunas's OUV clearly shines. It is the only city I have been to where modernist architecture plays a very central role, definitely a result of the christening of Kaunas as the interwar capital of Lithuania whilst Vilnius remained in Polish hands and the ensuing construction, and gave a markedly different vibe to every other European city I have visited. In fact, I don't think there is another European city-architectural inscription regarding the interwar period, but I'm happy to be corrected.

Getting there

The easiest way to get into Kaunas is via Ryanair and Wizz Air into Kaunas Airport, or trains from Vilnius. I got into Kaunas by plane when it was still on the T List before heading off to Vilnius.

Getting around

As mentioned by the other reviewers, the city is compact. Indeed, I was able to view most (if not all) of the important sites in Kaunas within half a day before catching my train onwards to Vilnius, all by foot, although the inscribed site is significantly larger (a triangle between the edge of the city zoo, Old Town, and the train station). Laisvės al. is the main throughfare - if you're short on time, focus on this and the two parallel streets to it. The Christ Resurrection Church is the only major thing way off the main areas, but it …

I visited two of the whs sites on oct the 4th. Early in the morning I took the train from Perugia( where I rented an apartment for one week in order to discover Umbria and its wonderful little gems) to Spoleto. This umbrian town turned out to be a true pearl.I immediately fall in love with that fascinating city. After visiting the duomo,the rocca albornaziano,and some sites in Spoleto and strolling through its medieval alleys I had to make a tough decision:Spoleto is a fantastic city which is really worth every minute you spend there and I would certainly recommend an overnight stay as night time surely adds its magic to that umbrian pearl...........earlier this year I had visited Sighisoara in Romania.....hands down Spoleto plays in a different dimension compared with that quite similar romanian counterpart.........I could either spend the enitre day till late evening in Spoleto with my wife or visit the temple of clitunno in nearby Pissignano(a stone's throw from Trevi and its train station).

After some hard thinking I decided to leave for Trevi(by train) and then took a bus to the nearest bus stop of that temple( I still had to walk around 10-15 min to reach the whs).

On the way to Spoleto's train station I first visited the city cemetary and its basilica di San Salvatore( whs site). The basilica is closed to the public.Nevertheless,the interior can be seen quite well through its glass cover which is right behind the open wooden …

As an honorary Darmstädter (I live one town over with my wife), I was super excited when this was inscribed! It is a unique period in art history, one I was not that familiar with, but the buildings are visible from afar and have a unique feel to their look, thanks to their excellent preservation. It's small, compact, and easy to visit! 

I was initially skeptical if the Big Bend National Park is a good travel choice, let alone a good choice for a world heritage site. It is never mentioned as one of the greatest US national parks, in fact, it is hardly mentioned at all. Also, the often displayed image of an U-shaped canyon is actually from horseshoe bend (1000 miles to the west), and is not present in the Big Bend NP. Luckily, Big Bend turned out to be a very enjoyable national park and worthy candidate. One of its strong points is the presence of three different landscape types within the park: The dry and flat Chihuahuan desert, which is covered with shrubs and all kind of strange plants; then the mountain heights of the Chisos mountains with a more temperate environment, where craggy rock peaks are covered with forests. Finally the river canyon landscape along the south border, where the Rio Grande creates formations similar to the famous colorado river canyonlands. The park is quite big, and it can take up to two hours to drive from the trails at the west to the ones in the east, but the roads and general infrastructure are excellent (as usual in US parks).Now to the weak points. Firstly, the park is quite remote and out of the way of pretty much anything. It can only be reached by car, and with a long drive. The nearest cities are El Paso to the west (5h drive) or San Antonio to …

I had a full day tour from Managua to visit two Nicaraguan World Heritage Sites, the two Leon. After ending the morning tour in Leon Viejo at 10 AM, my guide’s original plan was local market then having lunch before the cathedral visit, but he got a warning phone call from his company that, the cathedral will be closed for the whole afternoon for certain ceremony, so he hurriedly took me to see cathedral at 11 AM before noon. The first thing we had to do was to secure the entrance ticket. The ticket booth was in the small hard to find entrance at the back of the cathedral opposite the local market, that in my opinion who on earth is going to notice this place! Then my guide rushed me to another entrance at bell tower and took me to see the famous roof.

After took off my shoes, the sight of the sparking white painted roof, domes, spires, and bell towers was indeed very beautiful, it was like walking in the snow-covered garden on summer! so bright that sunglass was mandatory. Then I walked to the top level of the roof, which in my opinion also nice but I would prefer the lower level, to see the view of the city of Leon from the roof which also was very fine. Then we went down to see the cathedral interior. The first thing I noticed was the natural light inside was really good despite the main door …

La lonja de la seda is a peculiar WHS, especially for Spain, where single monument WHS are a rarity. There is good reason for this. The rest of valencia, though beautiful is not really WHS worthy. As such to represent the city, once Capital (de facto) of the Crown of aragon, the city hall chose one monument: la lonja de la seda. La llotja was built between the 15th and 16th century in levantine gothic (based on la llotja dof la palma) with some renaissance influences. The building is quite modest in size and inside decoration. Its main attractive is the spectacular "sala de contratacion" with its spiral columns. The ceiling from la sala de contrataciones is another highlight. What really sold Unesco on the building was its overall conservation state. The building has been in almost continuous use as a mercantile institution since its founding. As such it has been taken care off remarkably well. apart from a few additions in the 19th century and the loss of the original paint job, it looks basically the same as when it was built.

Icomos recommends, in their now ancient report, that a study of mercantile builidings along the mediterranean be done. However it also notes that given its amazing preservation and "outstanding intrinsic artistic qualities" the inscription of the llotja should not be deferred.

so... what did I think of the building? it's pretty small and not as breathtaking as I imagined. Forget a forest of columns, the …

Ok, I will admit. I absolutely love Newfoundland and Labrador, which may have resulted in me giving this site at least a 1/2 star more than had it existed in a less beautiful province.  

Red Bay is located in the Labrador part of the Newfoundland and Labrador, which is even less populated and more remote than the rest of this rugged province. Red Bay has a small but well put-together interpretation centre. The highlight of the centre is a 16th century Basque chalupa (small boat), which was discovered in the waters of Red Bay and painstakingly restored.

From the village, you can get on a boat to visit the small islands in the bay, such as Saddle Island, which is within the UNESCO boundary. From anywhere in Red Bay, you can see the wreck of the ship Bernier. Parks Canada also offers guided walks, and I have always found their walks to be very informative. You can get a very good sense of the place with a 2 hour visit. 

On the way to Red Bay, in L'Anse Amour, you can take a quick stop to look at a 7,500 year old burial mound. 

If you drive north away from Red Bay, you can visit Mary's Harbour. From there, you can take an once-a-day ferry to Battle Harbour, which is a restored ghost fishing village. Battle Harbour is not an UNESCO World Heritage site, but it would not shock me if it does become one in …

We visited Birkenhead Park in June 2022. The park is open 24h a day, 7 days a week, free of charge. You can easily park your car (for free as well) along the streets around it, or access it by public transport (by train from Liverpool, which is just on the opposite bank of the Mersey).

Birkenhead Park offers everything you can expect from a typical English city park : wide open greens and wooded areas ; an artificial lake (with ducks and swans) and meandering paths around it, bridges, a bandstand, a boathouse on its shore ; all sport facilities : tennis courts, bowling greens, and of course a cricket ground where the local junior team was practicing on that day. This makes it a very nice place to spend a leisure afternoon. It advertises itself as “the People’s park”, having been thought and created from its very origin as a public park and opened as early as 1846. Open to everyone, all the time. It would even have inspired the creator of Central Park in New York city during a trip he made to Liverpool soon after Birkenhead park had opened. All in all, I think we spent two hours in the park, including some time to enjoy ice creams.

This being said, what makes it so special or outstanding? Well, the leaflet you can pick up at the Visitors’ centre proudly reads “World’s First”. And, I would say, that’s it. We were lucky enough to …