flygirl

It may be more than you think!

http://whc.unesco.org/

Here is another link:

http://www.thesalmons.org/lynn/world.heritage.html

More ideas when you are traveling - at least see some of the above if you haven't already!

bilboburgler

I've done the two wine ones (St Emillion and Tokai)

Clifton

I've always been a little surprised by the fact that Ireland has so few sites (2) on whc list. No Glendalough, Rock of Cashel or Aran Island fortresses. Cashel has been on a tentative list for 14 years, the others aren't even up for consideration. Other countries seem to get quite a lot of sites listed of which many have less history... I wonder if it's the country themselves that make the nomination and whether funds have to be allocated to make the designation?

Anyway, I guess I don't always know which ones I've been to - most of the US ones; Puebla, Mex; but only Newgrange in Ireland. A couple in London. Budapest, the Pustza and the Tokaj region in Hungary. The Maramures churches, the painted monasteries in Moldavia, Beirtan and Sighisoara in Romania. Angkor in Cambodia. A few sites in Australia which were nice (Carlton Gardens??), but nowhere the heritage of a Glendalough.

Hope to add quite a few next trip - Marrakech, Essaouira, Ait Benhaddou, Fez, Meknes, Volubilis, the Alhambra.

marginal_margiela

Geez, what a long list. I'm surprised that the McDonald's in Avignon isn't on the list for its clean toilets.

Here are some that I remember:
Angkor Wat
Great Wall of China
Cesky Krumlov
Fatephur Sikri
Taj Mahal
Agra Fort
Sintra, Portugal
Istanbul
Temple of Heaven
Vatican City
Cathedral of Burgos (Why?)
Red Square
Alhambra
Salzburg
Vienna

That's all that I can remember.

AP6380

I've been to Notre Dame, the Acropolis, Meteora, Delos, the Vatican, Agrigento, Pompeii, Paestum, Syracuse, Istanbul, Pamukkale, Xanthos and the historical center of Rome. I haven't been to too many countries, but by this this list I look more well-traveled!

fuzzylogic

Clifton - so the US has UNESCO listed sites? Now that's a surprise.

Which, where? Oh, and why?

sheila

I've been to the centre of Salzburg, the Grand Place, Paphos, Chartres,Mont St Michel, Fontainebleu, the Seine, the Canal du Midi, the routes of Santiago de Compostela (or some of them), the Acropolis, the Vatican, the Last Supper, Florence, San Gimignano, Siena, the Cinque Terre, Genoa, the Alhambra, Ironbridge, Westminster Cathedral, Greenwich, Orkney, Kew, Yosemite.

Pausanias

46

AR

63, but I've not been to the one that's only about 40 miles from my house!

Surprised that Egypt hasn't got any more and that Mount Vernon isn't included.

KE1TH

I've been to 48 of the listed sites.

Great Barrier Reef, Queensland Tropics, Uluru-Kata Tjunta, Blue Mountains, Seine-Paris, Acropolis, Rhodes, Olympia, Mycenae, Patmos, Historic Rome, Vatican, Florence, Pisa, Venice, Ravenna, Padua, Verona, Fez, Marrakesh, Meknes, Volubilis, Batalha, Tower of Belem, Sintra, Alto Douro, Alhambra, Avila, Toledo, Seville, Salamanca, Stonehenge, Bath, Westminster, Canterbury, Tower of London, Edinburgh, Greenwich, Liverpool, Mesa Verde, Yellowstone, Everglades, Grand Canyon, Redwoods, Smoky Mountains, Statue of Liberty, Yosemite and Carlsbad Caverns.

noe847

I've been to Vienna city center, Salzburg city center, Schonbrunn, Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks, Historic Quebec, Historic center of Prague, Kutna Hora, old town Regensburg, wooden churches of Maramures, fortified churches of Transylvania, old town Sighisoara, Stonehenge, Westminster, Tower of London, Edinburgh, Independence Hall, Mammoth Cave, Monticello/University of Virginia, Pueblo de Taos, Smoky Mountains, Statue of Liberty.

Brit

50. The Century Club has a list of countries that is used to determine if one has been to 100 and can join the club. It's fun to see how many countries to which one has been.

basingstoke1

Fifty Seven - I was a bit surprised by some of the place on the list.

Giovanna

Only 25, but much to my embarrassment none in my own country. We only live a couple hours away from Yosemite, and I was raised in Colorado but never got to Mesa Verde. But I promise to keep on traveling and trying to visit more!

StCirq

Well, it's way more than I would have expected - 92! It does help to have combed every inch of France, though.

JP

161?

3 more a few weeks from now.

rkkwan

~55 for me. I think my dad has gone to 3 times as many, though he's only double my age.

marginal_margiela

The Tower of Belem is on the list? Really?

I have been there, too.

And the Tower of London (who hasn't?)

Been to Acropolis, Batalha, Canterbuy, Ravenna, Edinburgh, Seville, Grand Canyon, Florence, Pisa, Venice.

With this list, I really don't understand why the casino at Bally's in Las Vegas isn't mentioned.

Blimey.

Clifton

Fuzzy, yes, there are few. Not nearly the volume as in Europe of course. Some of the US sites have already been named since I posted. Why? Why ask me?

I'd seen a past thought or two from you on this board and thought it was might be possible to predict your reasons for picking this particular mention to be "surprised" about. But, in the event it is not the typical hit and run posting, and even if it is, question asked.... so.

Most of the US sites are natural sites, rather than cultural. Grand Canyon, Everglades, Yosemite. All fairly unique in that respect. A couple of large caves as well. A very few sites are US historical sites - Statue of Liberty for instance (although I'd have preferred Ellis Island as a site, personally). The balance are native American sites such as Mesa Verde. Personally, I'm glad to see these on the list, as there's no particular reason that I know of to discount native cultures, like the aboriginal heritages of the Americans, Australia or Africa over those of Eurasia. There is a WHC site in the middle US for instance, near where I lived most of my life, called Cahokia Mounds. Nothing near as flash as the Great Wall and such, but this is a stone age site where mounds were built at huge volumes by the Mississippian people, without horses or much more than stone axes. An earth moving project, bringing in fill from 20 miles away, that would take modern equipment quite a long time to accomplish. And then the entire people disappeared. I appreciate that there's an interesting past anywhere you go and that it's being preserved.

Thanks for asking, even if I did have to speculate a little on the why part.

rkkwan

UNESCO World Heritage sites are not just a list - like one from a magazine - or just some plaques placed at the site. Instead, a lot of politics and money is involved.

Many locales at poorer nations really need the money to protect the sites, as well as to bring more tourists (and their money) to them. That's simply not happening in US/Canada.

The purpose and focus have also changed. That's why you'll find those registered earlier are mostly in Europe, while the newer ones are often in developing countries.