Our UNESCO World Heritage Sites List

We love slow travel. While we try to avoid ‘checklist’ style travel, we do both have a passion for UNESCO World Heritage Sites and sometimes (often) go out of our way to visit them.

We stand behind UNESCO’s mission to preserve these sites for future generations while still making them accessible to the public today. It’s not always a perfect balance, but on the whole, we’ve found the World Heritage Sites to be engaging, educational and well worth seeking out.

While some UNESCO sites are crowded tourist destinations, there are many hidden gems, which make them perfect places to visit for slow travellers like us. Especially now that UNESCO also recognises cultural heritage, the sites also provide insight into the local culture – something we strive to do on our travels.

Below you’ll find a list of the sites we’ve visited over the years, (mostly together, although some of the early sites are from Alison’s childhood travels.) We’ve included the year we visited (if we remember it) and links to the articles we’ve written about each site. Of course, we haven’t written about every UNESCO site we’ve visited, so we’ve also included links to the listing on UNESCO’s website.

Belgium

(11 of 11)

We’ve created a special resource for all of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Belgium. It also includes cultural heritage and sites on the tentative list.

1. Flemish Béguinages (2005) (UNESCO Listing)
2. La Grand-Place, Brussels (2004) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Belfries of Belgium and France (2005) (UNESCO Listing)
4. Historic Centre of Brugge (2004) (UNESCO Listing)
5. Major Town Houses of the Architect Victor Horta (Brussels) (2007) (UNESCO Listing)
6. Stoclet House (2007) (UNESCO Listing)
7. Plantin-Moretus House-Workshops-Museum Complex (2011) (UNESCO Listing)
8. Major Mining Sites of Wallonia (2014) (UNESCO Listing)
9. The Four Lifts on the Canal du Centre and their Environs, La Louvière and Le Roeulx (Hainaut) (2014) (UNESCO Listing)
10. Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes (Mons) (2014) (UNESCO Listing)
11. Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai (2014) (UNESCO Listing)

Bosnia and Herzegovina

(1 of 2)

1. Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar (2012) (UNESCO Listing)

Canada

(3 of 15)

1. Historic District of Old Québec (UNESCO Listing)
2. Old Town Lunenburg (UNESCO Listing)
3. Joggins Fossil Cliffs (UNESCO Listing)

China

(1 of 43)

1. Historic Centre of Macao (April 2013) (UNESCO Listing)

Croatia

(1 of 7)

1. Old City of Dubrovnik (2012) (UNESCO Listing)

Czech Republic

(1 of 12)

1. Historic Centre of Prague (2012) (UNESCO Listing)

Dominica

(1 of 1)

1. Morne Trois Pitons National Park (1996) (UNESCO Listing)

Egypt

(3 of 7)

1. Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis (2014) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Historic Cairo (2014) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur (2014) (UNESCO Listing)

Finland

(1 of 7)

1. Fortress of Suomenlinna (2005) (UNESCO Listing)

France

(20 of 38)

1. Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Palace and Park of Versailles (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Palace and Park of Fontainebleau (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
4. Roman Theatre and its Surroundings and the “Triumphal Arch” of Orange (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
5. Pont du Gard (Roman Aqueduct) (2005) (UNESCO Listing)
6. Paris, Banks of the Seine (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
7. Historic Centre of Avignon: Papal Palace, Episcopal Ensemble and Avignon Bridge (2005) (UNESCO Listing)
8. Historic Site of Lyons (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
9. Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France (2007) (UNESCO Listing)
10. Jurisdiction of Saint-Emilion (2009) (UNESCO Listing)
11. The Loire Valley between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes (2008) (UNESCO Listing)
12. Bordeaux, Port of the Moon (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
13. Strasbourg – Grande Ile (2011) (UNESCO Listing)
14. Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
15. Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Former Abbey of Saint-Rémi and Palace of Tau, Reims (2014) (UNESCO Listing)
16. Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars (2014) (UNESCO Listing)
17. Abbey Church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe (2015) (UNESCO Listing)
18. Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley (2015) (UNESCO Listing)
19. Canal du Midi (2015) (UNESCO Listing)
20. Fortifications of Vauban (2015) (UNESCO Listing)

Germany

(3 of 29)

1. Cologne Cathedral (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin (2009) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Upper Middle Rhine Valley (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
4. Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier (2006) (UNESCO Listing)

Greece

(1 of 17)

1. Acropolis, Athens (2010) (UNESCO Listing)

Holy See

(2 of 2)

1. Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Vatican City (2001) (UNESCO Listing)

Hungary

(1 of 8)

1. Budapest, including the Banks of the Danube, the Buda Castle Quarter and Andrássy Avenue (2012) (UNESCO Listing)

Iceland

(1 of 2)

1. Thingvellir National Park (2011) (UNESCO Listing)

Italy

(8 of 42)

1. Historic Centre of Florence (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Piazza del Duomo, Pisa (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
4. Venice and its Lagoon (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
5. City of Verona (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
6. Historic Centre of Siena (2013) (UNESCO Listing)
7. Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites (2013) (UNESCO Listing)
8. The Dolomites (2014) (UNESCO Listing)

Latvia

(1 of 2)

1. Historic Centre of Riga (2013) (UNESCO Listing)

Luxembourg

(1 of 1)

1. City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarters and Fortifications (2001) (UNESCO Listing)

Malaysia

(1 of 4)

1. Kinabalu Park (April 2013) (UNESCO Listing)

Malta

(3 of 3)

1. City of Valletta (2008) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Hal Saflieni Hypogeum (2008) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Megalithic Temples of Malta (2008) (UNESCO Listing)

Morocco

(1 of 9)

1. Medina of Tétouan (2014) (UNESCO Listing)

The Netherlands

(5 of 9)

1. Mill Network at Kinderdijk-Elshout (2004) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Defence Line of Amsterdam (2004) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Droogmakerij de Beemster (Beemster Polder) (2004) (UNESCO Listing)
4. The Wadden Sea (2004) (UNESCO Listing)
5. Seventeenth-century canal ring area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht (2004) (UNESCO Listing)

Poland

(2 of 13)

1. Cracow’s Historic Centre (2010) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Wieliczka Salt Mine (2010) (UNESCO Listing)

Portugal

(2 of 13)

1. Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon (2012) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Cultural Landscape of Sintra (2012) (UNESCO Listing)

Spain

(4 of 40)

1. Works of Antoni Gaudí (2004) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Pyrénées – Mont Perdu (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Mudejar Architecture of Aragon (2008) (UNESCO Listing)
4. Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona (2008) (UNESCO Listing)
5. Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada (2012) (UNESCO Listing)
6. Historic Centre of Cordoba (2012) (UNESCO Listing)
7. Cathedral, Alcázar and Archivo de Indias in Seville (2012) (UNESCO Listing)

Switzerland

(1 of 10)

1. Swiss Alps Jungfrau-Aletsch (2001) (UNESCO Listing)

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

(4 of 28)

1. Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast (2006) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret’s Church (2001) (UNESCO Listing)
3. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2010) (UNESCO Listing)
4. Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (2012) (UNESCO Listing)

The United States of America

(9 of 21)

1. Yellowstone National Park (1986) (UNESCO Listing)
2. Everglades National Park (UNESCO Listing)
3. Grand Canyon National Park (UNESCO Listing)
4. Redwood National Park (2003) (UNESCO Listing)
5. Mammoth Cave National Park (UNESCO Listing)
6. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site (UNESCO Listing)
7. La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico (1996) (UNESCO Listing)
8. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (UNESCO Listing)
9. Yosemite National Park (2003) (UNESCO Listing)