Five incredible new World Heritage Sites everyone should visit

Telegraph

18 hours ago

There are various obvious clues that summer has arrived in full: the end of the school year; the inevitable travel chaos at our main airports; traffic jams on the way to Cornwall.
But one of the more high-brow indicators is the revelation of the latest list of Unesco World Heritage Sites. This generally arrives in July, as the UN's cultural arm gives its official rubber-stamp to locations 'around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity'.
As of this year, this amounts to 1,248 significant places in 170 countries – ranging from palaces in France to coral harbours in Micronesia.
The newest announcement, made this week, has added a further 26 'inscribed properties' to this gleaming portfolio – some of them in relatively remote corners of the planet such as Tajikistan and Malawi, others closer to hand in Italy, Greece and Germany.
The following fresh inductees are all worth at least a long weekend:
1. The Palaces of Ludwig II, Germany
The preposterous idea that German architecture is dour and lifeless is rebutted with the firmest flourish by the castles that were strewn across the hillsides and high places of Bavaria by its monarch, Ludwig II, between 1864 and 1886.
A man of flamboyant tastes, Ludwig commissioned three separate country properties – Neuschwanstein, Linderhof, Herrenchiemsee – during his 22-year reign, envisaging each of them as a refuge from the apparent mundanity of court life in Munich.
All three of them (plus a villa on Schachen hill, near Garmisch-Partenkirchen) are part of the new Unesco listing – although it is Neuschwanstein, with its dreaming spires, which has become the region's postcard icon.
Unesco says
'Drawing inspiration from Versailles, German fairy tales and Wagner's operas, the palaces showcase historicist styles and advanced 19th century techniques. Carefully integrated into stunning landscapes, they embody Ludwig's artistic vision.'
How to do it
Neuschwanstein Castle is one of the highlights of the 12-day Fairytale Bavaria & Three Rivers Cruise offered by Great Rail Journeys (01904 734 152). From £3,399 per person, including return train travel in and out of London.
The Minoan sites of Crete, Greece
Of all the tales to emerge from Ancient Greece, the story of Theseus stalking and slaying the bull-headed Minotaur in a labyrinth is perhaps the most fantastical. But there is solid matter behind the myth. Knossos, the supposed site of this magical maze, was very real.
The city's foundations still exist outside Heraklion, the modern capital of Crete – baking in the sun as an echo of the Minoan civilisation which held court on the island from 3100 to 1100BC. Knossos is one of six Cretan archaeological sites to receive the Unesco seal of approval this year; the ruins of Zakra, Phaistos, Kydonia, Zominthos and Malia are the others. All of them offer good reason to climb off your lounger during a summer holiday.
Unesco says
'The sites represent the Minoan civilisation. They served as administrative, economic and religious hubs, featuring advanced architecture, urban planning and vibrant frescoes. They reveal early writing systems, maritime networks, and cultural exchanges.'
How to do it
Martin Randall Travel (020 3936 0353) runs a nine-day escorted tour of the island – Minoan Crete: History & Archaeology – which peers at this era in depth. Next departure March 27 (2026). From £3,510 per person, flights extra.
3011 British heritage sites
3011 British Heritage sites Table
The megaliths of Carnac, France
Almost every year, one of the new Unesco locations is so special that you cannot believe it has not been part of the club for decades. The standing stones of Carnac are the 2025 example – 3,000 slabs of hand-hewn granite that were put in position, near the south-west coast of what is now the Brittany peninsula, in about 3300BC (though some may date to 4500BC).
Many of the megaliths had clear purposes – laid out to create dolmens (tombs) and tumuli (burial mounds). In this, they are perhaps better understood than Stonehenge, which, built in around 3100BC, they pre-date – but they share its air of Neolithic mystery.
Unesco says
These monumental stone constructions – arranged in relation to one another, and to features like terrain and waterways – reflect a sophisticated understanding of their environment. Rich engravings and other assorted artefacts further illustrate the cultural complexity of the societies that inhabited this part of the European Atlantic coast.
How to do it
Andante Travels (01722 466 243) offers Brittany: Carnac and Beyond; a seven-day escorted tour of the region. Two departures are still in the diary for this year (September 1; September 7), from £3,790 a head (including trains).
The 'Killing Fields', Cambodia
Not every new Unesco site is a tribute to humanity's best instincts. The arrival on the heritage list of the key places associated with the Khmer Rouge – the brutal regime which tortured and killed around two million people during a reign of terror over Cambodia that endured from 1975 to 1979 – is stark proof.
Two of these vicious hellholes – Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek – are in the capital Phnom Penh. While now devoted to remembrance, they do not hide the brutality of what they witnessed half a century ago. Visitors do not step out of them in a bright frame of mind, but the story they tell should not be ignored.
Unesco says
The three component parts represent the widespread violence during this period – the former M-13 prison (early repression), the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (former S-21 prison) and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (former execution site of S-21). These places have been preserved, and memorialised, since the regime's fall.
How to do it
Inside Asia Tours (0117 409 0270) sells a 12-day itinerary, Into the Heart of Cambodia, which looks at the country's darkest hours in Phnom Penh, and its most remarkable at Angkor Wat. From £2,340 a head (flights extra).
Port Royal, Jamaica
It is quite the achievement to be remembered as 'the wickedest city on Earth' more than three centuries after effectively ceasing to exist. But so unsavoury was the reputation of Port Royal – a former nest of pirates and rogues, built on a peninsula off the south coast of Jamaica – that its one time licentiousness rings in the present.
Founded by the Spanish in 1494, but captured by Britain in 1655, the fortified settlement was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1692. What remains in 2025 (most of the ruins are below the waves) is a semi-sleepy outpost of bars and restaurants – where you may hear the odd ghostly cackle.
Unesco says
Today, its terrestrial and underwater remains offer rare insights into urban colonial life. Once a key hub for transatlantic trade – including the trade of enslaved Africans – Port Royal featured a deep-water port, and six defensive forts, some now submerged... serving as a distinctive marker of British colonial presence in the Caribbean.
How to do it