Nan

Germany \ Member since April 2014

#34 646 162 38

It's up to you how you want to spend your holiday, whether that's lazing on the beach at a Caribbean club hotel sipping Mai Tais. Or tending to the garden.

Standing on the shorelines of the Pacific Ocean at Rialto Beach.

While I do enjoy the occasional Mai Tai on the beach, I prefer to see new things and travel to faraway places. I've read my fair share of travel guides to find out where to go and what to see. And I was often disappointed.

While many guidebooks spend an entire chapter extolling the virtues of a particular destination (e.g. a capital city), World Heritage Sites are different. They're as objective as it gets, and often take you off the beaten track. For example, I have fond memories of my taxi ride through a Czech winter landscape to visit Holasovice, a site that only World Heritage connoisseurs would appreciate. More often than not, WHS are great places.

Initially, I concentrated on visiting as many WHS as possible, which gave me a good overview. However, since I've reached the magic 300 (almost 600 now), I've shifted my focus to visiting the really great sites: quality over quantity.

Ultimately, I recommend that you travel as you please. However, if you find yourself in a country (even if it's just for a beach holiday), take a look at the map of World Heritage Sites on this site to see if any are nearby. You may have to travel a little off the beaten track, but I assure you it will be worth it.

My most impressive sites (the usual):

  • Petra
  • Machu Picchu
  • Angkor

From the tentative sites I have seen I feel strongly for:

  • Okefenokee NP, USA - Riding canoe in the swamp with snakes and crocodiles.
  • Unjusa temple, South Korea (my title picture) - Korea's best temple.
  • Desert Castles in Uzbekistan.

Several aspiring sites in Sri Lanka also come to mind Bawa's modernism and the painted buddhist temples are something to behold.

Recent Visits
  • 24
    6
    Oct. 1, 2025
    China and Thailand: Archaeological Sites of the Ancient Shu State, Ayutthaya, Beijing Central Axis ...
  • 1
    0
    June 7, 2025
    Weekend in Warsaw: Warsaw
  • 6
    0
    June 1, 2025
    Brückentag in Baden-Württemberg: Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch, Great Spa Towns of Europe, Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt …
Completed Countries

About nan

Member since
April 2014
Country of Origin
Germany
Visits
Rank
#34
WHS
646
Tentative Sites
162
Website Participation
Reviews
326
Ratings

Ratings

World Heritage Sites
Tentative Sites
646 184
Locations
360
Zones
2
Reserved for members.

Reviews by nan

Page 11 of 17
Angkor by Nan

Angkor (Inscribed)

Angkor by Nan

What makes a truly great site? To me a truly great site is one where you could remove the best parts of the site and still have a great site. …

Tomioka Silk Mill by Nan

Tomioka Silk Mill (Inscribed)

Tomioka Silk Mill by Nan

The Tomioka Silk Mill was built during the Meiji Restoration. As you may know the Meiji Restoration refers to Japan in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Japan had …

Curonian Spit by Nan

Curonian Spit (Inscribed)

Curonian Spit by Nan

Before World War 2 the Baltics had a substantial German population. Germany proper extended all the way to East Prussia with its capital Königsberg. But many Germans also settled further …

Nesvizh by Nan

Nesvizh (Inscribed)

Nesvizh by Nan

Normally, I am not too keen on museums embedded into historic places. The museums tend to be mediocre at best. Now I understand the need for operators to use all …

Hill Forts of Rajasthan by Nan

Hill Forts of Rajasthan (Inscribed)

Hill Forts of Rajasthan by Nan

The bus from Jaipur dropped me off near the entry to Amer Fort at the bottom of the hill. The entry lies next to a lake and the view of …

Potosi by Nan

Potosi (Inscribed)

Potosi by Nan

Getting to Potosi had been a dream of mine ever after having visited some of the silver mines of Mexico. Potosi was the largest silver mine of the Spanish empire …

Ruins at Preah Vihear Temple

Preah Vihear Temple (Inscribed)

Preah Vihear Temple by Nan

Preah Vihear is a Khmer mountain fortress about 250km from Angkor on the Thai border. From Preah Vihear you have a great view of the surrounding plains. I quickly understood …

Darwin's Landscape Laboratory by Nan

Darwin's Landscape Laboratory (Removed from tentat…)

Darwin's Landscape Laboratory by Nan

Courtesy of yearly visits to a supplier based in London plus friends with a gorgeous flat on the Thames I have been in London at lest once a year for …

The Rise of Systematic Biology   by Nan

The Rise of Systematic Biology (On tentative list)

The Rise of Systematic Biology by Nan

“Our credit card reader is broken.” “Yeah, sure, no problem, I brought cash.” “No, no cash.” “Why no cash? I came all the way bus from the city center of …

Sambor Prei Kuk by Nan

Sambor Prei Kuk (Inscribed)

Sambor Prei Kuk by Nan

Ignoring Els’ rule to "always do Angkor last on any trip involving Angkor" I opted for one last WHS visit on my way to the airport in Phnom Penh: Sambor …

That Luang de Vientiane by Nan

That Luang de Vientiane (On tentative list)

That Luang de Vientiane by Nan

"Thanks" to some last minute flight schedule changes by Lao Air I found myself stuck for a day in Vientiane while waiting for my flight to Pakse. I used the …

Vat Phou by Nan

Vat Phou (Inscribed)

Vat Phou by Nan

Thanks to Lao Air and their weird flight schedules, I managed to visit Vat Phou during an overlay on my way to Siem Reap (Angkor). I arrived in …

Luang Prabang by Nan

Luang Prabang (Inscribed)

Luang Prabang by Nan

As my first stop in Laos I visited Luang Prabang, the former capital of Laos. The main components of the site are situated at the confluence of Mekong and Nam …

Plain of Jars by Nan

Plain of Jars (Inscribed)

Plain of Jars by Nan

Ever since reading Paul's and Els's reviews of the site and it's listing in our Top Missing survey I have wanted to go to the Plain of Jars. I had …

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle by Nan

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle (Inscribed)

La Chaux-de-Fonds / Le Locle by Nan

Swiss watch making is legendary and the towns of Le Locle and La Chaux-de-Fonds are the centers of it. It all started at the beginning of the 18th century in …

Thang Long by Nan

Thang Long (Inscribed)

Thang Long by Nan

There are those near misses that go on to anger you for years. I had been to Hanoi years back and we did the usual tourist itinerary including a visit …

Dolomites by Nan

Dolomites (Inscribed)

Dolomites by Nan

Due to some short term change in plans I found myself with a week to spend for private travels. Seeing flight prices at very short notice were unreasonable and having …

Site of Southern Yue State by Roman Bruehwiler

Site of Southern Yue State (On tentative list)

Site of Southern Yue State by Nan

On my last day in China I did a morning tour of my host city: Guangzhou. I started in Shamian Island and then made my way to the city center …

Kaiping Diaolou by Nan

Kaiping Diaolou (Inscribed)

Kaiping Diaolou by Nan

Pulling into Kaiping by bus from Guangzhou I saw my first Diaolou. What a weird mix of castle tower and appartment building with some Asian decorations added to the mix. …

South China Karst by Nan

South China Karst (Inscribed)

South China Karst by Nan

Following my visit to Danxiashan I ventured to Guilin to see the famous Li river section of the South China Karst. Already in Guilin itself you see plenty of rocks …

Page 11 of 17