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Nikortsminda Cathedral is located in the village of Nikortsminda in Georgia’s Racha region and was built between 1010 and 1014 during the reign of King Bagrat III. It is regarded as an outstanding example of Georgian medieval architecture. The light-colored limestone façade is decorated with some very nice carved reliefs, ranging from simple crosses to biblical scenes and mythical creatures. 

One of the cathedral’s most distinctive features is its rare hexagonal (six-sided) interior layout, an unexpected surprise when stepping inside. The walls are painted with 17th-century frescoes, remarkably well preserved . Despite its name (Cathedral), from the outside, the building resembles a typical Georgian church.

We really enjoyed our visit, but I’m not entirely sure it rises to the level of outstanding universal value needed for World Heritage status. Georgia already has many remarkable churches, both inscribed and not, so there would need to be something truly exceptional to justify another addition. The carvings are exquisite, the layout distinctive, and the frescoes nice - but is that enough? I’m not convinced. To be honest, I’d much rather see some of Georgia’s other sites, like Shatili or Tusheti, put forward instead,¨.

The cathedral is set in a mountainous area about 50 km from Kutaisi and can be reached via a paved but winding road when traveling by car. Entry is free, and it remains an active place of worship and pilgrimage. The cathedral can also be visited on route to/from Svaneti thanks to the newly paved road over Zagar Pass. This …

Driving from Hat Yai to Bangkok by rental car gave me the freedom to see Thailand, and for World Heritage Site enthusiast, a stop at Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat. The temple is a landmark of southern Thailand. The first thing that caught my attention was the temple’s majestic white chedi, towering above the grounds. Its slender form is quite different from the famous rounded Ruwanwelisaya Stupa in Anuradhapura, yet much closer in style to the Thuparama Stupa I once saw there, though here on a larger scale. The golden tip of the spire gleamed brilliantly in the sunlight, adding a dramatic flourish to its elegant profile. Sadly, I could not get close, as the chedi is surrounded by a cloister, but the courtyard more than compensated, it is filled with 158 smaller chedi, each echoing the central one, creating a strikingly harmonious sea of spires.

The Viharn Phra Song Ma, the main hall, is another highlight. Inside, stucco reliefs depict episodes from the Buddha’s life before ordination, while the space is also filled with statues of demons and mythical animals. These figures are rendered in a style distinct from mainstream Thai temple art; bolder, more otherworldly, and unmistakably local. This unique expression is recognized as the School of Nakhon Si Thammarat, a regional artistic tradition that set the city apart. The importance of Wat Phra Mahathat is inseparable from the history of Nakhon Si Thammarat itself. Once an independent and prosperous state, …

Visit June 2025

No reviews yet – surprising for one of Kenya’s most iconic parks.

Amboseli lies right on the border with Tanzania. Declared a national park in 1974, it’s also recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The park is most famous for its large herds of elephants and the spectacular view of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. On clear days, the snow-capped summit provides a dramatic backdrop to the open savannah.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any clear skies during our visit — so the dream of capturing elephants in front of Kilimanjaro will have to wait for another time. But elephants? We saw plenty! Herds of them all day long, in every direction.

Though Amboseli covers just around 392 km², it holds an impressive variety of landscapes — from open grasslands and dusty salt flats to lush swamps, palm groves, and acacia woodlands. The wetlands are fed by underground streams from Kilimanjaro’s melting snow, creating a vibrant oasis even during the dry season. It was indeed wet in places — we had to challenge both our vehicle and ourselves with a few deep water crossings!

The park hosts a rich array of wildlife. In addition to the elephants — some of the most well-studied in Africa — we spotted lions, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, buffalos, hyenas, warthogs, antelopes, and numerous birds, from large ostriches and cranes to colorful bee-eaters. Cheetas are also common to spot, but we didn't find any on our own.

Our lion encounter was the highlight: it …

The Kakadu National Park is amazing. It was truly the highlight of my Australia trip and even though it was not even on my original plan, my only regret is not having planned in more time there. I visited in August, which is dry season and very nice 32 degrees (especially coming from rather cold Sydney, this time of the year). I will probably use this site as a reference in the future, whenever I have to explain what WHS and OUV is about to friends and family.

At Darwin airport I rented a car from Alice Car Rental, as they give you a comparably generous 250km per day and a good rate for extra km. It’s family owned and very friendly. Inside the park we spent the night at the Mercure Kakadu Crocodile in Jabiru. A hotel shaped like a crocodile. There are no cheap accommodation options within the park, except camping.

In the morning we visited the beautiful Ubirr Rock Art site. This alone would be an excellent WHS. Entry is free and there is interpretation of some of the drawings. Close to Ubirr you can find Cahills Crossing, where cars need to cross the river by driving through it. From the viewing platform we spotted several Crocodiles. Probably hoping for someone being stupid enough to try and cross by foot.

Another stop was the Mirray lookout, where you can hike the forest to a platform, that gives you a nice view over the park.

The nature highlight …

Visit date(s): April 22-25, 2015

Nearby sites on trip: none

Overnight locations: Stephen C Foster State Park cottage (Stephen C. Foster State Park | Department Of Natural Resources Division) and Folkston, Georgia

Location(s): Stephen C Foster State Park, Suwannee Canal Recreation Area

Travel method(s): car, boat, foot

Travel duration: 1-2 hours drive from and to Jacksonville, FL airport and between locations.

Visit duration: 4 days

OUV: The flora and fauna of the refuge is certainly abundant and diverse. Alligators, cypress and floating peat islands are all easily viewable on one of the boat tours. Orchids, carnivorous plants, alligators, raccoons, turtles and water snakes can be seen from the boardwalks and trails. There were enough frogs calling to serenade us to sleep on the night we stayed in the state park. This is just the short list that we can easily remember a decade later.

Best of: Lots of wildlife encounters, including some adorable baby alligators that called a mother over to protect them from us. (See photo above). Fortunately, we were on a boardwalk, so she couldn’t reach us. A boat tour is an excellent way to observe water life that doesn’t come close to the shore and to get wider vistas, as in the sunset photo.

Worst of: Away from Folkston, there aren’t a lot of meal choices and if staying in the state park, the closest place to purchase food is 20 miles or 30 km away.

From the currently proposed components I visited the Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park. It’s only about 1h drive from Melbourne, so this might become an easy tick in the future.

From Chewton, there is a very small (just hope for no counter traffic), paved road leading to a parking lot very close to the main attraction o this area: the remains of the Garfield Water Wheel. You will also find an information board there, that talks about the history of the wheel and the mine. The whole area is now covered by a forest, but the digging holes are still clearly visible. There are several walking trails, but the Garfield Mine Walk is probably the best to cover the mining activities. I found another small ruin on the walk, but no information on what it once was.

A few minutes from the gold field you can find 2 other connected sites. The Expedition Pass Reservoir (Image) is where the water for the digging came from. Close to the reservoir is the Forest Creek Monster Meeting Site, where 1851 14'000-20'000 diggers protested against the increase in miner's licence fees.

If you have more time than I had, you can also visit the nearby mining town Bendigo, around 40mins drive further north.

It’s hard for me to judge whether this is of OUV or just local importance, but I enjoyed my visit and would consider visiting more components in case this gets ever inscribed.

I am Swiss. Switzerland has 13 WHS and 1 TWHS, all of which I have seen for some time now. But in Switzerland, and only here, I have another goal: I want to have seen all the locations!

Nine of these 14 are easy, as there is only one location for each. Then there are the equally easy Le Corbusier and Beech Forests (two each in Switzerland), La Chaux-de-Fonds/Le Locle (two) and Bellinzona (three). Of these 13 (T)WHS sites, I only have one Beech Forest left to visit.

And then there are the Pile Dwellings...Of the total 111 locations, 56 are in Switzerland!

So I was once again on my way to a pile dwelling settlement, this time in Arbon on beautiful Lake Constance. My OUV expectations were not very high, as experience has shown that there is not really much to see at pile dwellings. But pile dwellings on the lake – that must at least be a beautiful place, one might think so lightly.

One positive thing about Arbon and its pile dwelling settlement can be said: it is easy to reach. If you come from the motorway, the main road leads right through the core zone! I parked on the side of this road and took the photo above, which shows roughly 80% of the core zone. In addition to the main road, the core zone contains two sports shops and several unidentifiable factories. Lake view? There isn't one; the lake is about 500 metres …

The last review of this UNESCO site was nearly 5 years ago, so thought I would provide an update. We visited in October 2024 and stayed in Perast for 2 Days and Kotor for 3 Days, only touching on this beautiful part of the world. We were travelling with our daughter and caught a local bus from Dubrovnik to Perast. You have to buy a ticket to Kotor and then ask the bus driver to drop you off in Perast. This area was very strategic in its location and throughout the ages has been ruled by many empires, which has been reflected in many of its buildings and architecture. It has also been susceptible to earthquakes throughout its history with the most recent devasting one on 15 April 1979, the year of its Inscription. This resulted in significant restoration works across the Gulf in its towns, in particular Perast and Kotor.

Perast is a smaller town which is dominated by the promenade along the Gulf, with houses leading up the hill and main road that continues to Kotor. It has a more village feel, particularly when the 'day trip' visitors return back to Kotor and the evening provides a more relaxed and quieter atmosphere. One of the key things to do in Perast is to visit the Lady of the Rocks Island (5 Euro - return) which also houses a museum in the church (3 Euro). St George Island located next to this island is not open to the public. …

Our first inscribed site that we visited in Serbia. We visited on the 31 July 2025. Hiring a car from Belgrade we drove to Zajecar where we based ourselves to visit this site. Getting to the site is well signposted and bitumen roads all the way there. There is a small ticket office and carpark out front of the site and entry was 500 Serbian Dinar per adult. About 200 metres up the road before you arrive there is an extremely large building that is destined to be the museum for this site, however it was still under construction (or closed for renovation) when we visited. There were a couple of other visitors to the site when we were there. There was no restrictions on photography or videos on the site and permission was granted to use the drone for some great footage. We are travelling with our Boston Terrier Dog and it was dog friendly with a number of 'local caretaker dogs' on site as well.

The Fortress / Palace is known by a number of names, but is more commonly referred to in the area as Felix Romuliana, which was named after the mother of the Emperor who commissioned this Palace, Calius Valerius Galerius Maximianus. It was built in the late 3rd and into the early 4th Century.

Walking around the site, there are numerous information panels that provide details on the history of the site as well as providing information on the buildings and ruins within the …

I visited this place during my Interrail trip in the year 2024. It was very simple to get there with public transport. Only catch two buses from Roterdam. The bus drops you just on the entrance, where you can start a pleasant walk watching the mills and the landscape.

It´s a walk of about 2 hours, where you can also visit one, and see the traditional trade of a miller in the Netherlands.

For me, it's a half-day trip that's worth it.

Getting to the church is now much easier — the main road is fully paved, so driving there is no problem. Then from the main road, you follow a road for about 600 m by car (also kind of paved) , then continue on foot for the final 400 m uphill.

There are still no gates, ticket booths, or visitor facilities at the fortress. The church seems like it’s always open, so you can visit at any time of day. With its blue-tiled roof and the picturesque remains of an old stone wall behind it, the little church has a certain charm. Inside, there’s not much decoration, but the layout is a bit unusual, and several narrow windows let in slivers of light. The surrounding area feels rather neglected, adding a slightly melancholic atmosphere To the place. While it’s a pleasant stop for those nearby, it’s doubtful the site will ever make it onto the World Heritage List.

As we toured Romania northern region of Maramures this summer, looking for the wooden churches WHS, we found ourselves in Sighetu Marmatiei (“Sighet”), a border town where we visited the Memorial of the Communism victims and Resistance. The place is a former prison, built by Austrians at the end of the 19th century and re used by Communist authorities to jail their opponents, mainly between 1945 and 1955 at the time of “sovietisation” of the country, and until 1977. Prisoners here were mainly intellectuals and politicians (a former prime minister of Romania from interwar period died there).

Cells have been turned into exhibition rooms, each of them covering one aspect of prisoners life but also Romania history after WWII, how Communists came to power and the impact on the whole country. There are two courtyards still guarded by miradors. A modern, underground round chapel was dug in the first one ; the second one hosts a group of modern statues (“the procession of the Sacrificed”) which has now became the symbol of the Memorial.

You can really spend hours there and learn a lot through all the gathered documents and testimonies. Information is in Romanian but you can get a booklet in other language at the reception when you buy your tickets. We got one in French, which was very comprehensive, clear and written in excellent French. Above all, there is a right balance between History and Remembrance. Things are clearly told without exaggeration or “revenge” spirit. While Romania is …

Pimachiowin Aki covers a vast wilderness dotted with carefully stewarded First Nation cultural sites, so I don't want to presume that my short visit in late July 2025 gave me any particular insight into its OUV, but I was able to reach the inscribed zone relatively easily by traveling to the very tiny town of Loon Straits, about three hours' drive north from Winnipeg, and staying in one of the cabins operated by the Loon Straits Wilderness Retreat for a few days. My partner and I formulated this plan as an alternative to transiting through Nopiming Provincial Park and staying on Wallace Lake, as other reviewers here have done, which ended up being very lucky for us, since wildfires in the eastern part of the site during our time there may have made things much more dicey if we had gone that route.

The twin peninsulas of the Loon Straits area are within the inscribed area (although we had our doubts until we started seeing the UNESCO sigil on signs along the highway!) and the serene shores of Lake Winnipeg provide a taste of the remoteness that the interior of Pimachiowin Aki conceals. Even on the periphery of the site we still saw quite a bit of wildlife: a black bear during our drive; a fox from our cabin; about a half-dozen otters during a dawn trip on a kayak provided by our lodging; and a great variety of different birds, including a bald eagle family that seemed to be …

My expectations weren't high in visiting this site and sadly this came to fruition. Reading the previous comments, I was still expecting that some of the site would be 'open' to visit and explore the history including commercial ventures / museums to explore surrounding the wine making history and reason for this nominated site. Sadly, we walked around what I would describe as a "renovated" ghost town that was all locked up.

We visited this site on a Thursday in late July, which I would have expected things to be open. ie It was not a weekend or sometimes Mon - Tues closure days, which we have encountered at other sites. It was obvious that the area has been closed for some time and there were no signs indicating when, or even if, some of the wineries / buildings / restaurants would be open. No physical museum or information on the history of the site at all. We came across to other groups of people that were also wandering around perplexed about the site. The only information available was a map of the site and previous usages of building located in the small town on top of the hill as well as a sign indicating that it had been refurbished with funding by the EU. The cynic in me would say that it was funded to provide a tourist attraction rather than protect heritage in that area and the investment has failed to attract the tourists, so it lays dormant …

Devil's Town is the common name for this site located in Southern Serbia. We drove there on our way between Novi Pazar and Nis. It is bitumen roads all the way to the carpark of this site. Entrance fee is 350 Serbian Dinar entry per adult and it is dog friendly if your dog remains on their lead. The core area is a geomorphologic phenomenon of earthen figures caused by erosion on the slope of the Radan Mountain. The eroded earthen pillars have a large rock as the head of the pillar, precariously balanced. It is about a 40-minute return walk to the viewing area, however I would give yourselves about 90 minutes to really enjoy the walk and take time to admire the site and scenery. A number of platforms have been constructed to provide you with optimal viewpoints of these earthen phenomena. We attended on Monday the 4th of August 2025, which was a nice overcast day. The site has recently commenced a Saturday Night viewing of the site and installed a range of lights to guide you on your forest walk to the site and lights that illuminate the core zone. If you are intending to visit, which I would recommend, and your diary allows it, I think a night viewing would look amazing. Complimentary to the site is an old well (spring) and evidence of historical mining in the area. The minerals in the water provide a copper red / brown colour in the water. There …

The primary entry to The Niger River Basin is by boat from the important crossroads town of Mopti. Upon our arrival in Mopti in Dec 2007 we were fortunate enough to learn that the rains had been good that year and the river level was still high enough that the ferry that travels between Mopti and Gao via Timbuktu had been extended by an extra month and we would be able to catch the last sailing of the season. I assume because of the unusual schedule extension there were not many others on the ferry and we opted for deck class and pitched our tents out on the open upper deck for the 41hr journey to Timbuktu. The bottom deck was full of cargo; watermelons, guavas, drying fish, chickens, a few goats and a huge stack of timber, all making for an interesting smell.

The river is a large delta in this region with a lot of small villages of fishermen on the banks. Often these are no more than a dozen little mud and straw huts that look ready to wash away with the next rains. Our ferry seemed to be mostly used for transporting cargo and made numerous stops along the way. For us it was an unorthodox Christmas but a relaxing one just watching a very simple and traditional way of life play out before our eyes. As much as I think of it as a cultural landscape, the nomination is a natural one and in that …

I visited these waterfalls in 2012 as a very easy day trip from the popular beach town of Kribi. The falls are more of a series of small cascades over a length of about 1km which are unique in that they finally empty directly into the ocean. This is a fairly rare phenomenon globally and in this case has led to a strong spiritual and cultural connection to it by the groups living along the Lobe river.

Views from the sea are supposed to be the most impressive. I didn't bother as I was visiting in late February and the falls were quite dry overall and broken into many small streams. Many areas could be walked around and the only cultural activity I saw around the falls was laundry washing and people relaxing on the nearby beach.

It has been a long time since the last review of Leptis Magna. This is not too surprising given that it has been on the In Danger list for almost a decade and even before the civil war, Libya was not an easy country to visit. I was able to visit Leptis Magna in May 2025 on a standard 4-day Libya tour with a couple of friends using the company Rozaria. At the time of my visit Libyan tourism seemed to be expanding after a couple years of relative stability, the evisa system had been successfully rolled out and mostly debugged and a number of new tour operators had appeared on the scene to compete for business.

Leptis Magna needs very little introduction, the average WHS or Roman Empire enthusiast will most likely have heard of it and descriptions of the site are typically filled with superlatives. It had been on my wish list for a long time and I was excited to finally visit after 2 previous failed attempts to secure a visa (in 2007 and 2023). Having visited many other roman ruins over the intervening years the question became would Leptis Magna still live up to the hype? In short, the answer is yes. The longer answer is a little more nuanced. There are no unique elements specific to Leptis Magna itself. Colonnaded streets, forum, baths, theatre, arches, market area, port, mosaics, hippodrome, amphitheatre, etc are all present and in all honesty more outstanding examples of each of …

Erebuni Fortress was founded in 782 BCE by King Argishti I and is considered the birthplace of Yerevan. This ancient Urartian citadel once stood as a powerful military and administrative center overlooking the Ararat plain.

Today, the site offers only a modest glimpse into its former glory. The Erebuni museum building appears impressive from the outside, with wide steps leading up to the entrance — but inside, there’s surprisingly little to see, apart from a handful of interesting artifacts.

From the museum, a staircase leads up to the reconstructed fortress. The outer walls have been rebuilt all around, giving a sense of the original scale. At the entrance, a replica(?) of an inscription stone marks the foundation of the fortress by King Argishti I.

Within the ruins, you can see the outlines of the palace, various rooms, storage areas, and other structures, all surrounded by reconstructed perimeter walls. We also came across traces of ancient wall paintings. 

Much of the signage is outdated and barely readable, with only a few newer panels added. The site is somewhat overgrown, and, overall, feels a bit neglected. We were almost alone at the site and used about an hour. 

A visit is worthwhile for the historical significance, but don’t expect something extraordinary. 

Entrance fee was 1500 dram (covers both museum and fortress), as all the other state museums in Armenia. The site is closed Mondays. 

Visited December 2024

The easiest way to visit this site is to have an organized one-day tour from Addis Ababa that takes you to Gombore component of <Melka Kunture and Balchit> and Tiya, another site on WHL. (You can combine it with the visit to Adadi Maryam church, the only rock-hewn church south of Addis.) Many Ethiopian guides and tour operators can organize it for you, you can find them on different social media; check some of them before making the final decision or ask people from this world heritage travellers’ community for some advice. Our (I travelled with a friend) guides to Melka Kunture and Tiya were very helpful and experienced.

The guide with a car and the driver took us from the airport and we… off to the south. We visited MK after Tiya. We started at a small museum located in the middle of the forest. By the bridge over Awash River there is a small handmade sign showing the way to the museum. No UNESCO plaque yet. The museum – they called this way – consists of three African style huts. We were lucky ‘cos there was a museum director at the site, and he was very, very happy to welcome us and show around the museum and the area. We did not pay any entrance fee, at the end of the tour we simply tipped him. There was not electricity in the museum, we used our torches to have a close view of the artefacts …