UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Asia

If you travel to Kathmandu, a visit to one of Nepal's ancient kingdoms, Bhaktapur, located 30-45 minutes from the capital, is worth a visit. Bhaktapur is on the World Heritage list, and no cars or buses are allowed inside the gated neighbourhood. There are beautiful ancient monuments, temples and snake pools, and if you move away from the touristy Durbar Square and stroll down the small winding streets, you will experience a completely different and amazing world. Here, you will find local people performing their daily chores, goats on porches, lots of small traders, beautifully decorated doors and fantastic colourful food markets.

Sagarmatha National Park is on the Natural World Heritage List and covers an area of approximately 1,150 km² in the Himalayan mountains. The park's mountains have heights ranging from 2,800 to 8,840 m (Mount Everest peak), and it is this area you trek through if, for example, you go to Mount Everest Base Camp. You get nothing less than a breathtaking moment when, after many hours of hard trekking - typically from the town of Namche Bazaar, you spot the first sight of the Everest mountain range and Mount Everest itself. The best time to trek in this area is in October, when you will have the best chances of fine weather and sunshine.

Lahore is a surprisingly pleasant and interesting city, but the real charmer is the walled Old City. It's a place of narrow twisting alleys, skinny houses (some traditional havelis), colourful shops and elbow to elbow crowd - and of course low hanging power line spaghetti. As elsewhere in Pakistan, people are super friendly and easy-going, and the only hassle would be the many invitations for tea. The major sights are the two mosques Badshahi and Wazir Khan, and Lahore Fort (which is an UNESCO World Heritage site), but the true experience is to just wander aimlessly around.

The fine 16th-century Rohtas Fort is an UNESCO World Heritage site. It's considered one of the largest and most spectacular in the Indian subcontinent. The construction began in 1541 on the orders of emperor Sher Shah Suri. As it was never invaded, its large walls and monumental gateways are remarkably well-preserved. It's a huge site, so to cover all the gates you need a car, but the main sights are within walking distance from the entrance.

The giant walled gardens were constructed over two years starting in 1641 under the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan. The idea was to create a representation of utopia. The gardens are enclosed by a high perimeter wall and there are three descending terraces. 410 fountains stand in formation in front of the various pavilions, and a 160 km long canal was built to bring water from the foothills of Kashmir. Shalimar Gardens is a UNESCO World Heritage site and popular with families and dating couples.

The UNESCO World Heritage enlisted Takht-i-Bahi is the ruins of an ancient Buddhist monastery complex. It was built over several centuries, starting from 1st century BC to the 7th century AD. It's spectacularly located on a rocky hill at an altitude of 500 meters with a long stairway down to the parking lot 65 meters below. It's a large complex scattered over an area of almost 40 hectares with the base of the main stupa, chapels and underground meditation cells. Unfortunately, there are only the beautiful stone walls left, as everything else has been placed in museums in Pakistan and abroad. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating experience to explore the maze of passageways, trying to get a better view than before.

Taxila is one of Pakistan's best-preserved Buddhist site and one of South Asia's richest archaeological sites. Taxila was one of the most important cities of the ancient region around modern day Peshawar. Throughout the history, the area haa changed hands many times, where Taxila first flourish, but eventually sank into obscurity after it destroyed by a nomadic tribe (the Hunas) in the 5th century. Today old Taxila is an UNESCO World Heritage site.

This extraordinary underground river is part of a 25 km long cave system, whereof 8.2 km is a river. To add to its uniqueness, the river also outflows directly into the sea. You can only visit on a tour and those will "only" venture 3 km into the river. But it's truly spectacular to be paddled through the darkness with only the boatman's headlamp to point out rock formations, stalactites, stalagmites and bat colonies. The Underground River, which official name is Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, is not just an UNESCO World Heritage Site, but was also voted as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. The tours are well organised, but by doing it from Sabang, and not Puerto Princesa or El Nido, you can be one of the first in the cave.

At the summit of this mountain peak is a rock with a huge "footprint" in it. The legend goes that it was Adam's when he was kicked out of heaven. Others believe it belongs to Buddha or Shiva, but in any case it's a major sacred site that many, old and young, visit at least once in their lifetime. It's a 7 km (normally about 3-4 hours) ascent on stairs with several fellow pilgrims. Many choose to do it at night, so they can experience the famous sunrise from the summit. Though the sunrise is nice and anticipated after a very cold night, the shadow the mountain casts in the early morning light is even more spectacular and so is the view over a good chunk of Sri Lanka. It's a magnificent experience, especially on Poya (holy) days, where the number of pilgrims can exceed 20,000 and extend the journey by several hours.

Over the flat plain of central Sri Lanka rises a small hill of rock. Since the 1st century BC it has been used as a Buddhist cave temple, with more than 80 smaller and bigger caves. There are five main caves, all dimly lit with ancient Buddha statues and precious wall paintings, along with the usual religious mismatch of statues of Hindu gods and old kings. The Buddhist monastery, which is believed to be from the 2nd or 3rd century BC, is still functioning to this day and local visitors still use the caves to pray. By being such an impressive historical place, Dambulla Cave Temple was of course declared an UNESCO site. As a bonus, you have a magnificent view from the top and Sigiriya Rock can even been spotted in the distance, 19 km away.