Kurt Lauer

United States of America \ Member since September 2021

#44 566 97 24

My name is Kurt, and I live in Seattle, Washington. My main passion in travel is hiking and exploring National Parks, Wilderness areas, and dramatic landscapes. My biggest goal in traveling has been to hike in every US wilderness area - and so far I've been to 748 of America's 803 designated wilderness areas. I've also been to all the national parks (except the one in American Samoa) and almost all the National Monuments and National Park Historical sites. In my travels to different parks around the world, I noticed a couple years back that I had been to a number of WHS, so I came across this site, and decided to add them up. Since then I've made a more concerted effort to visit them, though my focus is still parks and the natural landscapes. Just finished a six month journey to Indian subcontinent. My focus was hiking in the Himalayas in India, Nepal and Bhutan, but I added a couple extra months and visited all the other non-Himalayan WHS in Bangladesh, Nepal and India. This allowed me to be the first person in the group to visit all the India WHS (though this won't last long as the are nominating 2 more for addition in the coming years and I only went to one of them). What I like about visiting WHS is it gets me to places that I wouldn't necessarily visit and the journey to get there takes me to a lot of interesting places along the way.

Recent Visits

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Aug. 14, 2025

Bom Jesus do Congonhas, Diamantina, Ouro Preto
2

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Aug. 9, 2025

Pampulha, Paraty and Ilha Grande
2

4

Aug. 5, 2025

Brazilian Fortresses Ensemble, Eglise et Monastère de Sao Bento, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Palais de la …

Top 10 Missing

Completed Countries

About Kurt Lauer

Member since: September 2021

Country of Origin: United States of America

Visits

Rank: #44

WHS: 566

Tentative Sites: 97

Website Participation

Reviews: 4

Ratings Ratings World Heritage Sites Chola Temples 5.0 Rani-ki-Vav 5.0 Sagarmatha National Park 5.0 Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras 5.0 Ellora Caves 5.0 Reims 4.5 Kathmandu Valley 4.5 Aachen Cathedral 4.5 Vienna 4.5 Khangchendzonga National Park 4.5 Baroque Churches 4.0 Kaziranga National Park 4.0 Echmiatsin and Zvartnots 4.0 Monastery of Batalha 4.0 Convent of Christ in Tomar 4.0 Monastery of Alcobaça 4.0 Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas 4.0 Kraków 4.0 Auschwitz Birkenau 4.0 Mahabodhi Temple Complex 4.0 Budapest 4.0 Prague 4.0 Cesky Krumlov 4.0 Schönbrunn 4.0 Eisinga Planetarium 4.0 SGang Gwaay 4.0 Nahanni National Park 4.0 Great Himalayan National Park 4.0 Bom Jesus do Monte 4.0 Nyungwe National Park 4.0 Mérida 4.0 Yakushima 4.0 Hampi 4.0 Ajanta Caves 4.0 Ogasawara Islands 4.0 Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers 4.0 Ningaloo Coast 4.0 Fortifications of Vauban 4.0 Upper Svaneti 4.0 Banska Stiavnica 4.0 Ischigualasto / Talampaya 4.0 Belfries 4.0 Rio Abiseo National Park 4.0 Haghpat and Sanahin 4.0 Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 3.5 Caral-Supe 3.5 Caceres 3.5 Niah Caves 3.5 Lübeck 3.5 Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine 3.5 Champaner-Pavagadh 3.5 Notre-Dame Cathedral in Tournai 3.5 Amiens Cathedral 3.5 Chartres Cathedral 3.5 Sun Temple, Konarak 3.5 Shark Bay 3.5 Town Hall and Roland, Bremen 3.5 Chan Chan 3.5 Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple 3.5 Churches of Peace 3.5 Wachau Cultural Landscape 3.5 Alto Douro 3.5 Villages with Fortified Churches 3.5 Manas Wildlife Sanctuary 3.5 Aggtelek and Slovak Karst 3.5 Champagne 3.5 Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur 3.5 The Sundarbans 3.5 Guimarães 3.5 Sundarbans National Park 3.5 Mtskheta 3.5 Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River 3.5 Hill Forts of Rajasthan 3.5 Churches of Chiloé 3.5 Amami-Oshima Island 3.5 Funerary and memory sites of the First World War 3.0 The Four Lifts 3.0 Kinderdijk 3.0 Chitwan National Park 3.0 Coa Valley and Siega Verde 3.0 Shirakami-Sanchi 3.0 Hildesheim Cathedral and Church 3.0 Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba 3.0 Monastery of Geghard 3.0 Semmering Railway 3.0 Hallstatt-Dachstein 3.0 Graz 3.0 Walled City of Baku 3.0 Ir. D.F. Woudagemaal 3.0 City of Luxembourg 3.0 Potsdam 3.0 Churches and Convents of Goa 3.0 Pattadakal 3.0 Mahabalipuram 3.0 Bardejov Town 3.0 Maritime Greenwich 3.0 Gelati Monastery 3.0 Spissky Hrad and Levoca 3.0 Vlkolinec 3.0 Portobelo-San Lorenzo 3.0 The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá 3.0 Sighisoara 3.0 Dacian Fortresses 3.0 Warsaw 3.0 Telc 3.0 Pilgrimage Church of St. John of Nepomuk 3.0 Kutna Hora 3.0 Gardens and Castle at Kromeríz 3.0 Zollverein 3.0 Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka 3.0 Wooden Churches of Southern Malopolska 3.0 Kew Gardens 3.0 Shiretoko 3.0 Plantin-Moretus Museum 3.0 Regensburg 3.0 Centennial Hall 3.0 Gobustan Rock Art 3.0 Melaka and George Town 3.0 Wooden Churches of the Slovak Carpathians 3.0 Margravial Opera House 3.0 Elvas 3.0 Western Ghats 3.0 Wooden Tserkvas of the Carpathian Region 3.0 Corvey 3.0 Poverty Point 3.0 Mount Hamiguitan 3.0 Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District 3.0 Los Alerces National Park 3.0 Sheki 3.0 Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai 3.0 Mafra 3.0 Hopewell 3.0 Mozu-Furuichi Kofun 3.0 Jomon Prehistoric Sites 3.0 Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands 3.0 Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex 3.0 Dholavira: A Harappan City 3.0 Tokaji Wine Region 2.5 Holy Trinity Column 2.5 Sado Island Gold Mines 2.5 Early Christian Necropolis of Pécs 2.5 Mountain Railways of India 2.5 Elephanta Caves 2.5 Lenggong Valley 2.5 Shirakawa-go and Gokayama 2.5 Lumbini 2.5 Al Zubarah 2.5 Schwerin Residence Ensemble 2.5 Stevns Klint 2.5 Bagerhat 2.5 Mining Cultural Landscape Erzgebirge 2.5 Nalanda 2.5 Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust 2.5 Litomysl Castle 2.5 Holasovice 2.5 Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape 2.5 Pannonhalma 2.5 Vigan 2.5 Stralsund and Wismar 2.5 Trebic 2.5 Tarnowskie Góry Lead-Silver-Zinc Mine 2.5 Flemish Béguinages 2.5 Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 2.5 Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus 2.5 Monastery of Horezu 2.5 Gusuku of Ryukyu 2.5 Jelling 2.5 Primeval Beech Forests 2.5 Moravian Church Settlements 2.0 Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution 2.0 Ahmadabad 2.0 Viking Age Ring Fortresses 2.0 Mining Sites of Wallonia 2.0 Kladruby nad Labem 2.0 Hedeby and Danevirke 2.0 Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe 2.0 Tomioka Silk Mill 2.0 Van Nellefabriek 2.0 Hortobágy 2.0 Neolithic Flint Mines at Spiennes 2.0 Willemstad 2.0 Hollókö 2.0 Danube Limes 2.0 Roșia Montană 2.0 Colonies of Benevolence 2.0 Santiniketan 2.0 Wadden Sea 2.0 Stoclet House 2.0 Okinoshima Island 2.0 Turaif Quarter 2.0 Tugendhat Villa 2.0 Fagus Factory 2.0 Provins 2.0 Rietveld Schröderhuis 1.5 Major Town Houses 1.5 Kalwaria Zebrzydowska 1.5 Fertö/Neusiedlersee 1.5 The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier 1.5 Le Havre 1.5 Lower German Limes 1.5 Dutch Water Defence Lines 1.0 Schokland 1.0 Berlin Modernism Housing Estates 1.0 Beemster Polder 1.0 Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin 1.0 Tentative Sites Satpura Tiger Reserve Mughal Gardens in Kashmir Royal Manas National Park (RMNP) Thomas Jefferson Buildings Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge White Sands National Monument Tabon Cave Baha'i House of Worship at New Delhi Orchha Varanasi The Qutb Shahi Monuments of Hyderabad Ekamra Kshetra Cold Desert Cultural Landscape of India Sun Temple, Modhera Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam Bussaco cultural landscape Dayton Aviation Sites Mattanchery Palace: 205 18

Locations: 0

Zones: 0

Reviews by Kurt Lauer

Khangchendzonga National Park (Inscribed)

Khangchendzonga National Park

During the late summer and and through the Fall of 2023 I embarked on a series of treks through the Himalayas starting in Ladakh and working my way to Bhutan. …

Keep reading Kurt Lauer 02/06/25

Satpura Tiger Reserve (On tentative list)

Satpura Tiger Reserve

I visited the Satpura Tiger Reserve during Christmas of 2023. Satpura is the largest of the Tiger Reserves in Madhya Pradesh. Due to its larger size Tiger sightings are less …

Keep reading Kurt Lauer 15/05/25

Archaeological Sites on the Deltaic Landscape of B by Kurt Lauer

Deltaic Landscape of Banglade… (On tentative list)

Deltaic Landscape of Bangladesh

The Archeological Sites of the Deltaic Landscape are a series of old mosques and burial sites in Western Bangladesh. Most are well off the beaten path, and even the sites …

Keep reading Kurt Lauer 04/06/24

The Architectural Works of Mu… (On tentative list)

The Architectural Works of Muzharul Islam

Muzharul Islam is a 20th Century Bangladeshi architect. I never heard of him until I saw that Bangladesh had added a number of his buildings to the TWHS list. Three …

Keep reading Kurt Lauer 06/03/24