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1202 of 1223 WHS have been reviewed by our community.


Pirin National Park

Elis - 26-Aug-24

Pirin National Park

I drove from Sofia because public transport (a bus which doesn’t run regularly and will only take you to nearby Bansko) seemed a bit complicated and I was tight for time. I parked somewhere near the Vihren hut and hiked up from the hut for about 3-4 hours. In hindsight, and of course if I had more time, staying in Bansko would have been a decent option as it looked like a nice albeit probably quite touristy place.

There are colour coded maps all over the park. I seem to remember taking the red coloured path from the hut and came across a lot of the big lakes

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Archaeological Site of Aigai

Mo-han Je Finland - 27-Aug-24

Archaeological Site of Aigai

I visited this site recently (August 2024) and would like to share my experience, particularly regarding the palace. I hiked up towards the palace from the Royal Tombs at Aigai; it took about 25 minutes. Along the gravel path, I had to pass through some private properties. Fortunately, the owners are okay with visitors passing through, though the road signs could be clearer.

At the palace site, a few Doric columns and remnants of mosaics still stand, offering a glimpse into its former grandeur. According to the information board, this palace was the largest building in Classical Greece. It’s fascinating to think that the nearby theater is the very place where Philip II was assassinated

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Daegokcheon Stream Petroglyphs (T)

Els Slots The Netherlands - 31-Aug-24

Daegokcheon Stream Petroglyphs (T)

The ‘Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream’ (the adjusted official name) will be South Korea’s nomination for 2025. Especially at the Ulsan Petroglyphs Museum, located at the site entrance, they are confident that it will get inscribed. Information panels detail the milestones in the nomination process, a map is showing all rock art WHS worldwide, and I was presented with a booklet explaining the site’s OUV. I wouldn’t say it’s a great site from either an artistic or visitor experience perspective. Still, they have done their best to provide a satisfying visit that will take some 2.5-3 hours if you take in all components (the museum, the two panels of petroglyphs, and the dinosaur tracks) on foot. And it's all free.

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The historic town of Korcula (T)

Andrew_Kerr UK - 24-Aug-24

The locals refer to this town as the "mini Dubrovnik" and despite it's very small size, it's easy to see why. With the town fortifications lapped by the clear waters of the Adriatic it does bear more than a passing similarity. That's where the comparisons end for me, Dubrovnik has become a victim of its own success. Overrun with tourists and Game of Thrones fans the city is too crowded and too expensive to be enjoyable anymore whereas Korcula, with its shaded alleyways, quiet squares and waterside restaurants is the antithesis of its big brother.

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Epidaurus

Frederik Dawson Netherlands - 19-Aug-24

Epidaurus

Epidaurus is very famous, and I heard its name since I was a kid as almost every documentary about ancient Greek civilization had to mention its impressive amphitheater. For such well known site, I was not surprised to see hundreds of tourists when I arrived Epidaurus in one late summer day evening, it seemed to me that many came to visit in such time to avoid heatwave in the afternoon. Fortunately, that those were on their way back and when I secured my 12 EUR entrance ticket, the site was relatively peaceful.

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Blog WHS Visits

WHS #924: Shiretoko

It has been a long, hot summer in Japan this year. It still affected Hokkaido’s Shiretoko NP when I visited in early September – with daily temperatures of about 26 degrees, it wasn’t what I had expected. No mist and clouds, and it looked more like Central Sweden during Midsummer than a place notorious for its seasonal sea ice. 

Before going, it is important to understand which of the ‘seasons’ you’re in: this strongly affects which activities you can do and what animals you might see. There’s the ‘Drift Ice Season’ (mid-January to early March), the ‘Bear Active Season’ (May-July) and the ‘Eco Preservation Awareness Season’ (August to mid-November). Outside these tourist months, everything will be closed and roads are impassable due to snow. I flew into Memanbetsu Airport and rented a car from there (it’s a 1.5h drive). You can also get around on public transport but there aren’t many buses a day.

In September, the main trail at the Shiretoko Five Lakes can be walked independently (in ‘Bear Active Season’ you may not). You do need to get a permit though at the Shiretoko Goko Field House (costing a nominal 250 yen) and they make you attend a 13-minute presentation about the do’s and don’ts in the forest, and especially how to behave around bears (Don’t run!). The 3km long hike mostly follows a trail through the forest, which occasionally opens up for each of the five lakes. Several of the Japanese hikers that set off at the same time as I wore bear bells, so that probably scared the bears away if there were any present at all. Bears had been seen about every other day in August and September along this trail. During my hike, I only saw deer twice. The trail ends at the exemplary elevated wooden boardwalk, which entails the shorter hike you can do here.

A few km southward, a short trail leads from the Nature Center (one of the many interpretation / visitor centers of the park) to Furepe Waterfall. This is a fine hike in a more open setting than the one at Five Lakes. It provides good views of the higher mountains inland. The waterfall itself may be disappointing at first, as it trickles out of a crack fed by underground water from snow and rain (resembling “flowing tears”). However, the cliff has a steep drop of 60m into the Sea of Okhotsk.

In the evening, from 7.30-9.30 pm, I joined a Wildlife Night Drive with a company called Picchio. In a minivan, kitted out with binoculars and spotlights, we slowly drove the roads around the Nature Center and the Five Lakes access searching for animals. We quickly did find a young deer (a ‘Bambi’ also in Japanese), and later on a fox. We went looking for bears near the river, where the guide said they start coming this time of the year to eat the salmon. But we didn’t find one, and neither could we spot an owl. 

The next morning I drove the Shiretoko Pass to the other, eastern side of the peninsula. But not before I had made a little detour to the road which according to last night’s guide is best for bears in this season; it’s the road signposted to the onsen, parallel to Iwaubetsu River. Unfortunately, I came up empty (again). Driving the Shiretoko Pass isn’t anything spectacular this time of the year (it’s closed because of heavy snow from November to March). From the parking lot at the top, there’s an impressive view of Mount Rausu and the islands ‘floating on the clouds’ in the distance. I drove to the town of Rausu and then north on the coastal road, but this area isn’t nearly as developed for tourism as the Utoro side of the park. There are mostly fishermen’s villages. 

My final act for Shiretoko was joining one of the boat tours along the coast from Utoro. The tours are conducted in the open waters of the Sea of Okhotsk, which are often rough, and the coastline is very rocky. Over 50% of the cruises were cancelled during my first 2 days. Since the disastrous boating accident in 2022, where 26 people died, the operators may even have become more careful before sailing out. I had booked a 2h15 long tour with Aurora to Rutsha Bay at 9.15 am on my last morning. Not just to see a bit of the coastline, but also for the last opportunity to spot a bear: they like to visit Rutsha Bay (the company advertises an 87% success rate of spotting one). Well - my fate was the same as that of Randi & Svein Elias a year earlier: the boat turned around well before it reached its final destination. In this case, after about 35 minutes. We still got to see the funny rocks and caves included in the regular short tour, but we were back at the port an hour early (and got a partial refund).

Overall, Shiretoko is a pleasant national park that doesn’t present its unique qualities easily. It has a fascinating ecosystem where sea ice, phytoplankton, krill, salmons and bears play their part, but it is hard to witness this in action.

Els - 8 September 2024

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Comments

Durian 9 September 2024

If I remember correctly, there is a condition that when the boat reaches the waterfall, captain will make a decision upon sea and wind conditions to go further or not. They announced on the boat twice (in Japanese), but in my case, no cancel happened.


Els Slots 8 September 2024

No, they did not give any explanation (at least not in English). The other (Japanese) passengers all seemed to accept it. It was probably because the sea got too rough, although it was a bright sunny day and the ride so far had been smooth.


Jay T 8 September 2024

How odd that the boat tour doesn't always run its full length. We're you able to get an explanation why?


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