The Acropolis, Greece. All photography is ours.
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UNESCO World Heritage Sites
UNESCO World Heritage Sites are the places the world agreed are worth protecting, and it turns out a lot of them are great for families. Castles, cliffs, caves, canyons, and one Incan citadel are some that we’ve enjoyed. We didn’t set out to collect them, but we can’t resist a good travel checklist, so here it is, sorted by continent and linked to the post for each one.
We’ve visited twenty-seven sites on three continents so far. Check out the maps below to discover where they are. We’ve mapped every site on UNESCO’s list, nearly 1,300 of them, region by region, so you can see what’s near wherever you’re headed.
Destination index · Updated November 2026
Sites visited
Twenty-seven and counting
Countries
Seven
Sites on the list
1,276
Home base
Oklahoma
Favorites
The Acropolis. Machu Picchu
North America with kids
North America
Most of our World Heritage Site visits overlap with our US national park visits. Yellowstone in winter, the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde’s cliff dwellings, the Everglades, Mammoth Cave underground, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia are some that we’ve seen. Redwood and Olympic round out the list.
The United States
We’ve been (13)Not yet (12)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Canada and Greenland
We’ve been (1)Not yet (25)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
Not yet (75)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
South America with kids
South America
We were able to visit two sites in one spring break, Machu Picchu and Cusco. Machu Picchu is the one everyone comes for, and it took our breath away for reasons beyond the altitude. Cusco, the ancient Incan capital, is a World Heritage Site in its own right, and a beautiful city full of food, culture, and llamas just waiting for you to get a selfie.
South America
We’ve been (2)Not yet (79)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Europe with kids
Europe
Europe is full of UNESCO sites, so it’s pretty easy to work one or two into your visit. London alone has three, and our 22 things to do in London covers all of them. We explored Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns in the rain. We saw Stonehenge with a London Walks guide and caught the Giant’s Causeway at sunset. Our Bastille Day trip added the banks of the Seine and Versailles. In Iceland, you can walk between two continents at Thingvellir, then see Vatnajökull, the glacier behind the ice lagoon. While watching puffins on Heimaey, we could see Surtsey on the horizon, a UNESCO site so protected that only scientists are allowed to set foot on it. We also visited the old quarters of Luxembourg City on a day trip from Belgium, and the Acropolis in Athens.
Britain and Ireland
We’ve been (6)Not yet (25)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
France and the Low Countries
We’ve been (3)Not yet (70)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Spain and Portugal
Not yet (59)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Czechia
Not yet (85)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Italy, Malta, and the Adriatic
Not yet (86)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
The Nordic countries and the Baltics
We’ve been (2)Not yet (45)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Eastern Europe
Not yet (69)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Greece, Türkiye, and Cyprus
We’ve been (1)Not yet (46)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Asia with kids
Asia and the Middle East
Nothing visited here yet. Everything from Istanbul to Kyoto is on these maps, split into regions so the pins stay readable.
The Middle East
Not yet (108)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
The Caucasus, Central Asia, and Mongolia
Not yet (37)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Russia
Not yet (34)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
South Asia
Not yet (67)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
China
Not yet (68)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Japan and Korea
Not yet (46)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Southeast Asia
Not yet (51)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Africa with kids
Africa
None visited yet. The pyramids, the medinas, the great migration parks, and Victoria Falls are all here, split north, west, and east.
North Africa
Not yet (54)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
West and Central Africa
Not yet (48)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
East and Southern Africa
Not yet (74)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Oceania with kids
Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific
Here you’ll find the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, the Tasmanian Wilderness, and the fiords of New Zealand’s South Island, plus the island sites scattered across the Pacific.
Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific
Not yet (30)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Remote islands with kids
Islands and far-flung places
A handful of sites sit too far out to sea for the regional maps. They include Bermuda, the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores, Cabo Verde, Easter Island, French Polynesia, and the subantarctic islands.
The ones that don’t fit anywhere else
Not yet (21)Hover over or tap a pin to see the site’s name. If we’ve written about it, click the pin to read our guide.
Keep exploring
Where are you heading next?
There are plenty of sites in the US for us still to explore. If you ever run out of travel ideas, hit the easy button and use our UNESCO maps to plan your next trip. Need some inspiration? Check out some of these below.
Family travel destinations
Every state and country we’ve taken the kids, sorted by region.
National parks
The 46 parks we’ve visited, our #ParkPics series, and every NPS site by state.
Family ski trips
Six resorts, where we stayed, and the big ski passes compared.
Theme parks
Head to Orlando, Southern California, Midwest coasters, and Disneyland Paris.