Great Barrier Reef

Great Barrier Reef - UNESCO World Heritage Site, Australia

It’s hard to truly grasp the size Great Barrier Reef from the surface of the Earth. Unless you’re in a jumbo jet flying over the reef at 30,000 feet, you can’t see how big it is, and even in a jet, you can only see a fraction of it. The reef stretches a massive amount …

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Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park - UNESCO World Heritage Site

From the World Heritage inscription for Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park: This park, formerly called Uluru (Ayers Rock or Mount Olga) National Park, features spectacular geological formations that dominate the vast red sandy plain of central Australia. Uluru, an immense monolith, and Kata Tjuta, the rock domes located west of Uluru, form part of the traditional …

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Purnululu National Park

Purnululu National Park - UNESCO World Heritage Site, Australia

From the World Heritage inscription for Purnululu National Park: Purnululu NationalPark, located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, covers almost 240,000 hectares of remote area managed as wilderness. It includes the Bungle Bungle Range, a spectacularly incised landscape of sculptured rocks which contains superlative examples of beehive-shaped karst sandstone rising 250 meters above the …

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Shark Bay

Shark Bay - UNESCO World Heritage Site, Australia

While I was able to visit Kakadu and Purnululu during the right time of year, I probably visited Shark Bay at the wrong time of year. It would have been much better to visit during the Australian summer. Nonetheless, I got to see the one thing I really wanted to see at Shark Bay … …

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Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca

Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca

George Town was designated a World Heritage site just a month before I planned my visit, which was ideal timing to explore this historic city in the Straits of Malacca! There were still banners and signs all over, the country and locals seemingly congratulating themselves on the accomplishment. George Town was a former British trading …

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Temple of Preah Vihear

Temple of Preah Vihear - UNESCO World Heritage Site, Cambodia

From the World Heritage inscription for the Temple of Preah Vihear. The Temple of Preah Vihear, a unique architectural complex of a series of sanctuaries linked by a system of pavements and staircases on an 800-meter long axis, is an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture, in terms of plan, decoration, and relationship to the spectacular …

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Complex of Hué Monuments

Complex of Hué Monuments - UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vietnam

From the World Heritage inscription for the Complex of Hué Monuments: The Complex of Hue Monuments is located in and around Hue City in Thua Thien-Hue Province in the geographical center of Vietnam and with easy access to the sea. Established as the capital of unified Vietnam in 1802 CE, Hue was not only the …

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Hoi An Ancient Town

Hoi An Ancient Town

From the World Heritage inscription for Hoi An Ancient Town: Hoi An Ancient town is located in Viet Nam’s central Quang Nam Province, on the north bank near the mouth of the Thu Bon River. The inscribed property comprises 30 ha and it has a buffer zone of 280 ha. It is an exceptionally well-preserved …

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My Son Sanctuary

My Son Sanctuary - UNESCO World Heritage Site, Vietnam

From the World Heritage inscription for My Son Sanctuary: During the 4th to 13th centuries there was a unique culture on the coast of contemporary Vietnam, owing its spiritual origins to the Hinduism of India. This is graphically illustrated by the remains of a series of impressive tower-temples in a dramatic site that was the …

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