Regular readers of my blog know that I’m so much after UNESCO World Heritage Sites and I try my best to visit them in any city / country that I visit. I still haven’t listed the total number of sites that I’ve visited and still I haven’t got the spirit to do that. I just feel I should keep visiting without counting, so one fine day when I do, I’d have good number.
So, after living in London for a few months, I had visited quite a few UNESCO sites around London. So, listing here the places that are within London or can be visited from London in a day trip. I skipped places like Cornwall, Liverpool etc that require almost an overnight journey from London. Except for Dorset, rest of the places have a pretty high entrance ticket! Dorset, on the other hand, is the only UNESCO site that comes under the ‘Natural’ category, while rest all come under the ‘Cultural’ category. Links direct to my detailed posts about the individual places wherever possible.
Stonehenge: This is one of the mesmerizing places I’ve visited and perhaps the first ever major site I visited after moving to London. Also listing it on the top coz its also one of the Seven Wonders of the World!!! To see the sheer size of our primitive fathers' construction is just mind blowing!
Tower of London: London has a gruesome history! If you’ve watched the series Tudor or the movie Elizabeth, you’ll have a slight idea. The kings, queens, religion, marriages, betrayals, killings - to get into it is really freaky. Visiting the Tower of London and walking through the Traitor’s Gate and standing next to the torture punishment instruments, it must be experienced!
Kew Gardens: To begin with, I didn’t even know Kew Gardens was a UNESCO Site! Covering an area of 300+ acres, this is the largest conservatory in London, and needs an entire day to just walk about!
Westminster Abbey & Palace (UK Parliament incl Big Ben): When I was in London, I wanted to walk the same aisle where Prince William & Kate Middleton walked down wearing Lee McQueen and got married! Guess what, as luck would have it, I also managed to climb the 334 steps inside Bigben to stand behind the face of the world-famous clock!
Maritime Greenwich: This is a collection of quite a few buildings together incl the Royal Observatory, Greenwich Park, Royal Hospital, Queen’s House etc. The post on Royal Hospital is coming up soon and unfortunately I missed Queen’s House as it was closed for renovation.
Canterbury Cathedral: Almost towards the end of my stay in London, I visited Canterbury Cathedral and the only reason was that because it was under UNESCO!
Blenheim Palace: That’s a place I missed!
City of Bath: Unlike other sites, here an entire town is under UNESCO. The town looks like it got frozen in time a few centuries back.
Dorset: In simple words, this was a Paradise on Earth!!! It’s a thing of natural beauty. The landscapes are just too surreal!!! If you’re lucky with the sun shining when you visit, you might spot dolphins jumping and playing. No, I didn’t have that luck!
So, is this inspiration enough for you to visit London? Now is a good time to visit London, coz apart from this, Christmas and the New Year Fireworks at London Eye can also be included in the itinerary.
Your invitation at the end is so tempting! I do want to pack my bags and go to London for this holiday. All these places I definitely want to visit. Stonehenge in particular is a must see for me.
ReplyDeleteBrought me back my memories in UK...
ReplyDeleteYour posts about London make me want to go there NOW! So much to see there. Stonehenge...aha!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see the stonehedge and the dorset. They are really a must visit in London.
ReplyDeleteI got news earlier this year about BA having great deals! I wish I could travel and visit these heritage sites too!
ReplyDeleteI would like to visit Kew Gardens someday. It seems like a beautiful place. Also, the Stonehenge is quite popular, I want to see it myself.
ReplyDeleteLucky are those who can devote time, effort and resources in travelling. My soul desires that so much but unfortunately I am bound to the four corners of the wall in the office. I sometimes make time and enjoy travelling but the above mentioned will be the thing in the I can list and hopefully can visit and witness the amazing places.
ReplyDeleteThe UK remains to be at the top of my bucket list and I would love to visit each of these UNESCO heritage sites with my boys one day, especially Westminster Abbey. I am sure my son will also enjoy visiting Big Ben. Hopefully, we can save up enough money and chance upon great BA deals, to go there one day soon :)
ReplyDeleteWow! I love it that you are able to travel around the world especially in Europe! I love to visit Europe someday but my means are not enough being a single mom and all. Anyway, I want to visit Stonehenge. If not, I am OK with a postcard. I love collection postcards with UNESCO World Heritage Sites on it. :)
ReplyDeleteThis place is so amazing.. I'd love to visit all these heritage sites!
ReplyDeleteLondon is a great place on earth, few places are there to match it with so much.
ReplyDeleteThese places are amazing and I love to visit a new places.
ReplyDeleteI love London! There are many places to see.
ReplyDeleteAwww! When you said pack your bags, makes me want to do so. UNESCO heritage sites are on my bucketlist too! On how i could travel to all of these, i still dont know! But i believe dreams do come true! And i need a serious travel buddy too! I envy you for having traveled to so many places! :)
ReplyDeleteEven we try to visit UNESCO Heritage sites as much as possible during our travels! You got a good number of lists from UK here! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you compiled all your unesco visits in one post. I've always enjoyed your travel blog so this is a convenience
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