travel

Lima is the gateway to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites spanning colonial plazas, ancient desert geoglyphs, and a pre-Inca ceremonial complex deep in the Andes.

Mexico City and its surroundings hold four UNESCO World Heritage Sites — from the Aztec chinampas of Xochimilco to the pyramids of Teotihuacan — all reachable within two hours.

Port Louis holds Aapravasi Ghat on its own waterfront — where indentured labour began in 1834 — and Le Morne Cultural Landscape, a mountain refuge for escaped enslaved people, 50 km south.

Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites lie within 1.5 hours of Nicosia — a 9,000-year-old Neolithic village, nine Byzantine fresco churches in the Troodos Mountains, and Roman mosaic villas at Paphos.

Malta holds three UNESCO World Heritage Sites within one island: the Baroque capital of Valletta, a 5,000-year-old underground temple at Ħal Saflieni, and seven megalithic temples that predate the Egyptian pyramids.

Kyiv’s two UNESCO World Heritage Sites — Saint-Sophia Cathedral and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra — hold the oldest Byzantine mosaics in Eastern Europe and nearly a millennium of Orthodox monastic history.

Bali’s single UNESCO World Heritage Site spans five locations within 65 km of Denpasar: rice terraces, volcanic temples, and a living water-management network over a thousand years old.

Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites await from Kolkata: the Sundarbans mangrove delta with its swimming Bengal tigers, and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a 610mm steam line climbing to 2,200 metres.

Three UNESCO sites within reach of Lahore: the Mughal fort, Shalamar Gardens, and the fortress of Rohtas — spanning 500 years of South Asian history.