Itineraries

Hegra (al-Hijr / Madâin Sâlih), Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site (2008), preserves 131 Nabataean rock-cut monumental tombs from the 1st century BCE and 1st century CE — the southern extension of the same civilisation that built Petra, 300 km north. Located in Al-Ula, Hejaz, it also holds a remarkably intact Ottoman Hejaz Railway station (1908) and is now the centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious heritage tourism development under Vision 2030.

Saint-Louis, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000, was founded in 1659 as the first French settlement in sub-Saharan West Africa and served as capital of both Senegal and French West Africa before losing both roles to Dakar in 1902 — a transfer that preserved its 19th-century Franco-Creole colonial island intact. The Faidherbe Bridge (1897), the signare townhouses and the annual June Jazz Festival make it one of West Africa’s most distinctive heritage and cultural destinations.

Bardejov in northeastern Slovakia preserves one of Central Europe’s finest intact Gothic market squares, an extraordinary collection of eleven late-Gothic winged altarpieces in St Egidius church, and a complete circuit of medieval walls — a UNESCO World Heritage site of quiet but exceptional quality.

Zamość, the “Pearl of the Renaissance,” was built from scratch in 1580 by Grand Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and designed by Italian architect Bernardo Morando — a complete Renaissance ideal city with a 100×100m arcaded market square, Mannerist cathedral and intact bastions, inscribed by UNESCO in 1992.

Zacatecas, founded 1546 after the discovery of the world’s most productive silver deposits, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993. Its Cathedral facade is considered the finest Churrigueresque Baroque monument in Mexico; the Mina El Edén silver mine and the Cerro de la Bufa viewpoint complete the city’s heritage circuit, 1 hour by air from Mexico City.

Olinda, Pernambuco — a Baroque hilltop colonial town 6 km from Recife, founded 1535 and rebuilt after Dutch burning in 1630 — was the first Brazilian site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List (1982). The Franciscan Convent of São Francisco (1585) is the oldest in Brazil; Olinda’s Frevo carnival and giant puppet figures are UNESCO Intangible Heritage.

São Luís do Maranhão, founded by France in 1612 and the only French colonial city in Brazil, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997 for its extraordinary concentration of azulejo-tiled colonial facades — more than in any Brazilian city and the densest outside Lisbon itself. The city is served by international and domestic flights and is the gateway to the Lençóis Maranhenses dune and lagoon landscape.

Mompox (Santa Cruz de Mompox), founded 1537 on a Magdalena River island in Colombia, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1995 for its intact colonial urban fabric and seven 16th-18th century churches. The town is 250 km from Cartagena (reachable by river+road or light aircraft) and is known for its Semana Santa processions and filigree goldsmith tradition.

Sighișoara’s medieval Saxon citadel in Transylvania — the only continuously inhabited medieval hilltop citadel in Europe — was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999. The city is linked by train to Brașov and Cluj-Napoca, and is within 40 km of the UNESCO-listed Fortified Saxon Churches at Biertan, Saschiz, and Valea Viilor.