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 12 of 17
Water Management System of Augsburg by Nan

Water Management System of Au… (Inscribed)

Water Management System of Augsburg by Nan

Always trying to stay ahead of the curve, i.e. the upcoming German nominations, and using a Deutsche Bahn free travel reward earned by countless commutes to Berlin I stayed …

China Danxia by Nan

China Danxia (Inscribed)

China Danxia by Nan

Trying to cover the sites of the newly defined Guangzhou hotspot, I visited Danxiashan on my first full day in China. These red rocks dot the landscape to the …

Danube Delta by Nan

Danube Delta (Inscribed)

Danube Delta by Nan

As a small extension of the 2018 community meetup I joined Philpp on a trip to the Danube Delta. For some reason I had long wanted to visit the place …

Macao by Nan

Macao (Inscribed)

Macao by Nan

As a first stop on my Asia trip I visited Macao. For centuries this was a Portugese colony and it shows in the town center with plenty of colonial houses …

Plečnik's Ljubljana by Nan

Plečnik's Ljubljana (Inscribed)

Plečnik's Ljubljana by Nan

After the First World War a first version of Yugoslawia was formed consisting of Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia. As a consequence the importance of Ljubljana grew as it became a …

Plitvice Lakes by Nan

Plitvice Lakes (Inscribed)

Plitvice Lakes by Nan

It was 6:40h in the morning in Karlovac and I was boarding the bus to Plitvice NP. I had assumed that primarily locals would be on a bus this …

Hiraizumi by Nan

Hiraizumi (Inscribed)

Hiraizumi by Nan

The first Japanese gardens I saw on my visit to Japan was in Hiraizumi. It takes a while to fully appreciate the artistry of a Japanese garden, so initially I …

Srebarna Nature Reserve by Nan

Srebarna Nature Reserve (Inscribed)

Srebarna Nature Reserve by Nan

As part of our community meetup in Eastern Bulgaria, we decided to tackle the at the time worst rated site: Srebarna. Srebarna is meant to represent the ecosystem of …

Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis by Nan

Jesuit Missions of the Guaran… (Inscribed)

Jesuit Missions of the Guaranis by Nan

Tucked away in a North Eastern corner of Argentina are three Jesuit missions. The Jesuits were granted the rights to operate independantly from the local government by the Spanish crown. …

Aachener Dom and Katschhof

Aachen Cathedral (Inscribed)

Aachen Cathedral by Nan

One of the first sites inscribed on the world heritage list is Aachen Cathedral. It was part of the first batch of sites in 1978 and is also the first …

Benedictine Convent of St. John by Nan

Benedictine Convent of St. Jo… (Inscribed)

Benedictine Convent of St. John by Nan

Tucked away in a rather remote valley in the Swiss Alps just next to the Italian border you find the Convent of St John. Founded in Carolingian times on a …

Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces by Nan

Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces (Inscribed)

Lavaux, Vineyard Terraces by Nan

On a glorious sunny Sunday I went hiking from Saint Saphorin to Epesses. I had stayed overnight in Lausanne from where I took an early morning train to Saint Saphorin.

The upper level.

Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Inscribed)

Minor Hiking with a Swiss

In what was dubbed by some a mini meetup me and Philipp ventured into the Sardona Tectonic Area. It was a mostly sunny July day when we set out from …

Rhaetian Railway by Nan

Rhaetian Railway (Inscribed)

Rhaetian Railway by Nan

Swiss Rail is known by many for its proverbial punctuality. Having travelled a bit by train in Switzerland, though, to me another feature is the most striking one: It's reach. …

Hedeby and Danevirke by Nan

Hedeby and Danevirke (Inscribed)

Hedeby and Danevirke by Nan

Being born and raised in Schleswig Holstein, the Northern most state of Germany, I was made to visit Haithabu already at a young age. It features prominently in the local …

Cal Orck’o by Nan

Cal Orck’o (On tentative list)

Cal Orck’o by Nan

Having made my way up the hill to see the dinosaur steps at Cal Orck'o I found myself in front of a closed museum door. As so often before; I …

Sultan Bayezid II Complex by Nan

Sultan Bayezid II Complex (On tentative list)

Sultan Bayezid II Complex by Nan

On the outskirts of Edirne you find a former Ottoman medical center, the Sultan Bayezid II Complex. It was founded in the 15th century and operated for 400 years. …

Yıldız Palace Complex by Nan

Yildiz Palace Complex (On tentative list)

Yıldız Palace Complex by Nan

On my last day in Istanbul I made my way to the Yildiz Palace in Besiktas. It is currently (2018) undergoing renovations and not accessible to the public. The only …

Clonmacnoise  by Nan

Clonmacnoise (Removed from tentat…)

Clonmacnoise by Nan

If you are looking for the Irish monastery ruin, then Clonmacnoise is probably what you are looking for. The lovely ruins are situated along the banks of the Shannon river …

Engelsberg Ironworks in Falun Red

Engelsberg Ironworks (Inscribed)

Engelsberg Ironworks

As previous reviewers have pointed out Engelsberg doesn't feel all that industrial for an ironwork. Embedded into the typical Swedish landscape with lakes and forests, it has more the feel …

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