travel

Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites lie within reach of Zagreb: the self-building travertine lakes of Plitvice and a 2,300-year-old Greek field system on Hvar.

Two UNESCO sites lie within a half-day of Belgrade: the Roman imperial palace of Gamzigrad-Romuliana and the medieval monasteries of Stari Ras and Sopoćani, home to Europe’s finest 13th-century frescoes.

Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites lie within a day’s reach of Sofia: the painted medieval cloisters of Rila Monastery, a Thracian tomb sealed with Hellenistic frescoes, and an 8th-century cliff-carved horseman in Bulgaria’s northeast.

Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites lie within a day’s drive of Bucharest: the medieval Saxon citadel of Sighisoara, seven Transylvanian villages with fortified churches, and the mountain strongholds of the ancient Dacian kingdom.

Three UNESCO World Heritage Sites lie within reach of Baghdad — from Babylon’s glazed-brick processional way to the world’s oldest cities in the Mesopotamian marshes.

Quito places two of the world’s most storied UNESCO sites within reach: a colonial city intact since the sixteenth century and the Galápagos Islands, birthplace of the theory of natural selection.

Old Havana’s baroque plazas and Atlantic fortresses stand within the city itself; Trinidad, 330 km east, preserves a complete 18th-century sugar-trade town alongside the ruins of 75 plantation mills.

Rio de Janeiro is itself a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape, while the endangered Atlantic Forest and the Baroque gold city of Ouro Preto lie within a day’s reach.

Cusco puts three UNESCO World Heritage Sites within reach: the Inca imperial city itself, Machu Picchu 80 km away, and the vast Qhapaq Nan road network — South America’s densest heritage cluster.