Blog | Page 5 of 14 | World Heritage Sites

A big view from a mountain toward a ridge of mountains, which have snow near the tops.

Olympic National Park

A large and beautiful park containing mountains, old-growth forests, temperate rainforests and beaches.

A view of mountains, fading to bluish in the background.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A large protected area of great scenic beauty and species diversity.

An evening shot on the town square, which is partly visible with some trees on the right. Facing the square is the cathedral, brightly lit up with two tall towers.

Historic Fortified Town of Campeche

A colorful Spanish colonial town surrounded by fortifications.

looking down a white-sand beach, hills rising from it with scrubby green plants over white rock.

K’gari (Fraser Island)

A unique island of sand dunes and rainforest.

A Romanesque church, round arched entryway open on three sides, a small tower.

Byblos

Ruins of many layers of civilizations and the birthplace of the Phoenician alphabet.

An entire temple, on a high base, surrounded by Corinthian columns.

Baalbek

An astoundingly large and well-preserved Roman temple complex.

A path straight ahead with bushes on either side, leading to a large domed building with an arched entryway.

Kunya-Urgench

Ruins of the capital of the ancient state of Khorezm and a major stop on the medieval Silk Road.

Looking up at the front of the cathedral: two square towers, very lacy with many vertical gothic openings, rose window at the center above the central entryway, lots of statue niches with figures and also gargoyles.

Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Rémi and Palace of Tau, Reims

Three medieval structures central to the history of Christianity and coronations in France.

Two camels lying down in the foreground, desert floor beyond them and huge rocky mountains behind that.

Wadi Rum Protected Area

A desert landscape known for its beauty as well as its archeological importance.

Front of a church - 2 storeys, arches along the edge of the roof as well as above the entrances.

Archaeological Site of Mystras

Atmospheric ruins of a complete Late Byzantine city.

Seen across the square, a stately building - a palace - in an 18th-century baroque style.

Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d’Alliance in Nancy

Three elegant 18th-century city plazas.

An entrahce with 3 arches, decorated in tile and brick. Symmetrical wings of the building one either side.

Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau

Two exceptional examples of Catalan Art Nouveau architecture in Barcelona designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

View across a hilly terrain with a castle in the distance. The hills are covered with the stripes of vineyards.

Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato

A region of northern Italy representing excellence in winegrowing and winemaking.

The mausoleum is a small square building with an arched entrance with one window above it. The base of what used to be a dome still stands on top.

Ancient City of Qalhat

The ruins of a major trade-route city of the Kingdom of Hormuz.

A ruin with walls intact and a very large interal arch, inside of which stand two almost complete pillars.

Villa Adriana (Tivoli)

A lavish retreat built for Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century.

A whale breaching the water almost vertically, quite high so both flippers are above the water too.

Whale Sanctuary of El Vizcaíno

Two Baja California lagoons used by gray whales for giving birth and mating.

View down a long narrow room with stone walls and a glass roof. The floor is covered in a mosaic with images of people and animals.

Villa Romana del Casale

The ruins of a Roman villa with remarkably well-preserved mosaics.

An attractive narrow city street, with buildings only 2-3 stories high; one of them looks like a gateway.

The Historic Centre of Guimarães

A charming medieval city center, considered the birthplace of Portuguese nationhood.

An gorilla sits in the green undergrowth, only visible from the chest up.

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park

An area of astounding biodiversity, best known for its mountain gorilla population.

A view of the vineyards seems to go on forever: very flat land, with small areas divided by lots of stone walls, vines growing between them, close to the ground.

Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

Viniculture in a hostile environment made possible through human ingenuity.

A stone church with a small open bell tower in its center with 4 bells visible.

Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias

Six buildings that are unique to the short-lived Asturian monarchy.

A marea with black paving stones on the ground, a wall of standing stones at the far end.

Taputapuātea

An ancient site of great historical and cultural significance to indigenous Polynesians.

A drawing of a horse, black outlines and tinted red on the body.

Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain

Some of the earliest art by the earliest humans.

A flat grassy field with, at a distance, a large grass-covered mound, flat on its top.

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site

The largest and earliest pre-Columbian city in North America.

View up a cobbled street, low adobe houses on either side.

Historic Quarter of the City of Colonia del Sacramento

A well-preserved colonial city that reflects both Spanish and Portuguese influences.

Historic Centre of Puebla

An intact Renaissance city full of Spanish-colonial baroque architecture.

The entrance to Geirangerfjord. Steep hills on either side, and big mountains in the background.

West Norwegian Fjords – Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord

The world’s largest and deepest fjords, and breathtakingly beautiful.

A row of 2-3 story houses, the nearer ones painted white and the furthest one red brick with a small round turret.

Flemish Béguinages

Centuries-old architectural ensembles in Flanders that once housed religious communities of women.

Looking across a flat, brown plain to, i nthe distance, mountains with a glacier between them.

Vatnajökull National Park – Dynamic Nature of Fire and Ice

A constantly-changing area where the continental rift, volcanoes and glaciers dramatically interact.

View of a large cliff dwelling tucked into a large cave: many ruined walls with gaps for windows.

Mesa Verde National Park

Ruins of ancient cliff dwellings used over a thousand years ago by Ancestral Pueblo people.

Looking down where a neat trail zigzags back and forth down toward the cave entrance farther down.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

A natural cave complex with extensive and varied rock formations.

Looking down a canal with large red-brick warehouses lining both sides.

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus

An ensemble of warehouses and office buildings resulting from Hamburg’s port trade in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The entranceway in the dille is arched and quite grand, with pillars inside it. The building extends out on both sides, lower than the central archway, with smaller arches along its length.

Historic City of Ahmedabad

A medieval walled city of unique gated communities and many architectural monuments in a mix of styles.

A jumble of buildings on the edge of a steep gorge.

Historic Walled Town of Cuenca

A medieval fortress town in a dramatic location, perched on cliffs.

The imposing fortress on a small hill: mud walls and a tall round tower at its corner.

Bahla Fort

A massive mud-brick fortress, the capital of the Banu Nebhan and the centre of Ibadism in the Middle Ages.

A rock face covered in paintings in dark red depicting people and animals as well as boats and buildings and geometric patterns.

Chiribiquete National Park – “The Maloca of the Jaguar”

A large Amazonian forest with unusual rock formations and ancient rock paintings.