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

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Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town by Nan

Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town (Inscribed)

Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town by Nan

"What's your religion?" I stood at the entry to the Muslim side of the Cave of the Patriachs/Ibrahimi Mosque and an IDF soldier was asking. I answered: "None, I am …

Pergamon by Nan

Pergamon (Inscribed)

Pergamon by Nan

Pergamon is spread across multiple areas of the modern city of Bergama. The official locations given by the inscription are a bit misleading as the main components are grouped into …

Complex of Sheikh Mukhtar-Vali (mausoleum) by Nan

Complex of Sheikh Mukhtar-Val… (On tentative list)

Complex of Sheikh Mukhtar-Vali (mausoleum) by Nan

As a short excursion von Khiva, I visited the Complex of Sheikh Mukhtar-Vali. It's a bit to the East, less than 30min drive, most of it being spent on getting …

Samarkand by Nan

Samarkand (Inscribed)

Samarkand by Nan

Looking at the places on my "to visit" list, Samarkand is the one that made the list first and stayed there the longest. My late aunt sometime in the 80s …

Desert Castles of Ancient Khorezm by Nan

Desert Castles of Ancient Kho… (On tentative list)

Desert Castles of Ancient Khorezm by Nan

What a difference a different location makes ... Coming from Nukus by shared cab, I had exited my cab at Beruni to visit Pil Qala. It was a 15min …

Itchan Kala by Nan

Itchan Kala (Inscribed)

Itchan Kala by Nan

Of all the sites in Uzbekistan I liked Itchan Kala in Xiva (Khiva) best. Samarkand is obviously the biggest and objectively best site in Uzbekistan, but it's fairly spread out. …

Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor by Nan

Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum… (Inscribed)

Silk Roads: Zarafshan-Karakum Corridor by Nan

For 1.500 years, the silk roads played a major role in exchanging goods and knowledge between Europe and Eastern Asia. A key area was Central Asia which linked the various …

Medieval Monuments in Kosovo by Nan

Medieval Monuments in Kosovo (Inscribed)

Medieval Monuments in Kosovo by Nan

Me and my cabbie were still in Serbia. We had driven from Novi Pazar, a Muslim town in Serbia, to Raška and were now approaching the border into Kosovo. It …

Surtsey by Nan

Surtsey (Inscribed)

Surtsey by Nan

Boat trips are always ... a huge annoyance for a world heritage traveller. They are the most fickle of sites you can visit as they require preplanning up front, plenty …

Wadden Sea by Nan

Wadden Sea (Inscribed)

Wadden Sea by Nan

The Wadden Sea is probably the first WHS I visited (disregarding its inscription year). My grandfather was from Sylt, Germany's northernmost island, part of the North Frisian Islands and surrounded …

Wadi Al-Hitan by Nan

Wadi Al-Hitan (Inscribed)

Wadi Al-Hitan by Nan

Egypt at it's core is two landscapes. The lush green strip of land land around the Nile. And the desert. At least nowadays. Going to Wadi Al Hitan, will take …

Studenica Monastery by Nan

Studenica Monastery (Inscribed)

Studenica Monastery by Nan

Located in a rural and remote corner of Serbia, Studenica Monastery is the nicest Serbian Orthodox monastery and church I visited while in Serbia. It is a fortified monastery, with …

Necropolises of Middle Egypt by Nan

Necropolises of Middle Egypt (On tentative list)

Necropolises of Middle Egypt by Nan

To get a firm grasp of Egyptian history is something that has evaded me for decades. The time spans (millennia?!) involved are just too large. Ancient Egypt starts around 3000 …

Nubian Monuments by Nan

Nubian Monuments (Inscribed)

Nubian Monuments by Nan

Abu Simbel had been on my to visit list for a long time. After several community went for NYE and still being in possession of a Lufthansa 300EUR flight voucher …

Sunset at Cinque Terre

Portovenere, Cinque Terre, an… (Inscribed)

Cinque Terre, never again?

Cinque Terre is gorgeous. These scenic villages tucked away on the Ligurian coast, wow. Still, I don't plan to ever visit again. I think I need to explain.

I have …

Temple of Hator built by Ramses III by Nan

Temple of Hator built by Rams… (On tentative list)

Temple of Hator built by Ramses III by Nan

According to the Egyptian authorities, the Hathor temple at Dendera (Qena) is the best preserved Egyptian temple. From what I have seen on my trip, I would concur. The main …

Genoa by Nan

Genoa (Inscribed)

Genoa by Nan

Unplanned and mostly for logistical reasons, I revisited Genoa in the spring of 2022. The route I took was the same as on my previous visit: coming from Cinque Terre …

Aphrodisias by Nan

Aphrodisias (Inscribed)

Aphrodisias by Nan

Western Turkey is dotted with stunning Greco Roman archaeological sites. It's a bit like Maya ruins in Yucatan. Take a look at the many tentative sites of Turkey, count how …

L'viv by Nan

L'viv (Inscribed)

L'viv by Nan 2022-03-15

While I write this, the Russian army is bombing and shelling Ukraine, targeting and killing civilians indiscriminately. Whole towns are obliterated and millions of Ukrainians are fleeing the front lines. …

Cultural Landscape of Canyon in Kamenets-Podilsk

Kamenets-Podilsk Cultural Lan… (On tentative list)

Cultural Landscape of Canyon in Kamenets-Podilsk by Nan

Times are weird. It is less than 8 month ago that I visited Ukraine. I never got around to write this review, before the war started. And now it feels …

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