travel

Two UNESCO sites within 90 km of Islamabad: ancient Taxila, a Buddhist city spanning 600 BC to 400 AD, and the never-captured Rohtas Fort (1541). Both reachable as day trips.

Two UNESCO World Heritage Sites are within reach of Karachi: Makli Necropolis, one of the world’s largest burial grounds, and Mohenjo-daro, a 4,500-year-old planned city of the Indus Valley.

Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites are within reach of Isfahan: a Safavid royal square at city centre, a 3rd-century hydraulic engineering marvel, and the twin Achaemenid capitals of Pasargadae and Persepolis.

Jeddah offers access to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Al-Balad’s coral-stone merchant houses within the city, and the Nabataean rock tombs of Hegra two hours north by air.

Argentina’s two UNESCO sites reachable from Buenos Aires: Iguazu Falls, the world’s largest waterfall system, and the Jesuit Block and Estancias of Córdoba, a colonial ensemble dating to 1613.

Four UNESCO World Heritage Sites lie within reach of Bogotá — from the Cocora Valley’s towering wax palms to Cartagena’s Spanish fortifications and Tierradentro’s painted underground tombs.

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.