15 Best Off The Beaten Path World Heritage Sites In Europe

Along with seven nearby towns, including Ragusa, Modica and Catania, the town of Noto was destroyed by the devastating earthquake of 1693. Together they comprise the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto World Heritage Site. The most beautiful of these is Noto, which was rebuilt on a new site in the years after the earthquake.

The whole of Noto is gorgeous, from the moment you walk through the gateway Porta Reale o Ferdinandea) into the town. Everything is built with the same local honey-coloured stone, which grows more beautiful as the sun slowly descends in the late afternoon. It also lends itself to intricate sculpture, such as the heads (pictured above) supporting the balconies on the Palazzo Nicolaci, close to the Cathedral.

We spent a day swooning at it all, with regular pauses to cool ourselves down in the late spring heat with gelato.  The Cathedral, at the top of a broad flight of steps, is the main attraction in the centre, but make sure you also have time to see the churches of San Carlo al Corso (where you can climb for a superb view of the Cathedral), Santa Chiara and San Salvatore.   

Where To Stay In Noto: the 4-star Hotel Porta Reale is the city’s top luxury hotel, in an ideal location on the main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

Tours of Noto: This Baroque Sicily tour from Catania takes you to the towns of Noto, Modica and Ragusa Ibla.

See Also: Ortigia Sicily – the stunning ancient island city of Sicily

The northern city of Burgos is quite some distance from anywhere else visitors may venture (3 hours north of Madrid, two hours south of Bilbao). And this is why Burgos Cathedral, one of the most beautiful Gothic cathedrals in Spain – and Europe – is still something of an off the beaten path World Heritage Site.

It was begun in the 13^th century, and was strongly influenced by the Gothic style of the cathedrals of northern France. Building was largely halted until the 15^th century, when work resumed in the more decorative Flamboyant and Plateresque styles (the latter is also prominent in Salamanca).

The exterior is magnificent, and the interior matches it all the way. There are some extraordinary artworks, including the high altarpiece, the 15^th-century dome by Juan de Colonia and the altarpiece in the Capilla de Santa Ana by Gil de Siloe.  Also look out for the tomb of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, better known as El Cid, a famous military leader and national hero of Spain.

Where To Stay In Burgos: Crisol Meson del Cid – highly-rated 3-star in unbeatable location on the square next to the stunning Cathedral

See Also: 30 Famous Spanish Landmarks

Tours to Burgos: Burgos’ relatively isolation means that very few tours visit there. This day trip from Madrid in the footsteps of El Cid takes you to Burgos and El Cid’s birthplace, Vivar del Cid, a few miles from Burgos.

Malbork Castle is one of the most beautiful castles in Europe. It’s also one of the most imposing and intimidating castles you’ll ever see, with vast red brick walls and fortifications enough to put off any attacker.

The Castle was built by the Teutonic Knights (Deutscher Orden), a Christian Order which had participated in the Crusades. It was built in the late 13^th and 14^th century, and the Knights named the town Marienburg after the Virgin Mary. It later served as a residence for Polish Kings, and was captured three times in the 17^th century by Swedish forces, including during the Great Deluge in 1656.

The Castle came under Prussian control after the 1772 Partition of Poland, and remained in German possession until 1945. After Stalin’s land grab to the east, the borders of Poland moved to the west, and the German population of the town was forced to leave. The name of the town then reverted to Malbork.

Malbork is one of the best castles in the world, but the visitor experience isn’t quite there yet. I first visited back in 2000, and had to join a tour in Polish with no audioguide in English. Not ideal given my limited Polish at the time. Now you can join a Polish tour with an English audioguide, which is far better. But English guided tours aren’t usually scheduled – you need to arrange these, sometimes well in advance.    

Where To Stay In Malbork; Hotel Bulvar – top-rated hotel in excellent location near the Castle, river and train station

Tours: This tour from Gdansk includes the standard tour of the castle and transport there and back.

Alternatively, this day tour from Warsaw takes you to Malbork and Gdansk or the seaside resort of Sopot (I’d recommend Gdansk…).

Getting there: Malbork is one hour from Gdansk or two hours by train from Warsaw.

Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales

Evocative industrial ruins among the stunning mountains of North Wales

Wales’ fourth and most recent World Heritage Site was inscribed in 2021. North Wales is hardly a travellers’ secret, with some of the finest mountain scenery, castles and coastline in Europe. The Slate Landscape World Heritage Site, spread around six locations in the county of Gwynedd is barely a stone’s throw from some of the most popular and best places to visit in North Wales, yet they remain largely unknown to most visitors.

This is because, with a few exceptions, much of the Slate Landscape hasn’t been set up for visitors in the past. The amazing quarrying town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, with its Llechwedd Slate Caverns and world-famous narrow gauge Ffestiniog Railway has long welcomed visitors, as has the excellent National Slate Museum in Llanberis. The narrow-gauge Talyllyn Railway, also built to carry slate from quarry to port, has also been a popular attraction for many years.

Holašovice is one of the most beautiful villages in Europe.  It’s a tiny village in South Bohemia, around 15 miles west of the regional capital, České Budějovice. It was designated a World Heritage Site because it’s a unique survival, with all 23 original farmsteads – built in the local ‘folk Baroque’ style in the 18^th and 19^th centuries – still intact around a village green and pond.

It’s as if time has stood still in this village for a century or more. Most of the house gables are decorated with patterns and motifs, along with the year it was built.  One of them, Selsky dvůr, is now a small museum.

It doesn’t take long to see Holašovice. Buses run there and back from České Budějovice every two hours on weekdays, and two hours is probably enough for most people to see everything and get a snack and drink at the village pub. You might not spend much time there, but it’s a magical little place, somewhere that completely enchanted the three of us.

Where to Stay: Hotel Budweis – beautiful new hotel by the river in České Budějovice

Getting there: Regular buses from České Budějovice leave from stand 17 at the bus station.

Places to see nearby: České Budějovice is a wonderful small city, very underrated, with a lovely historic centre. It’s also home to the Budvar brewery and several restaurants serving the local brew. However, the most popular place in the region is the gorgeous medieval town of Český Krumlov, half an hour south of České Budějovice.

See Also: 15 Best Places To Visit In South Bohemia

Albi, France

One of the undiscovered jewels of France

Albi is one of the most beautiful medieval cities in France, and it’s fairly off the beaten track in tourist terms because of its location in a relatively quiet part of southwest France  – an hour from Toulouse and two hours north of Carcassonne. But it’s an astounding place, with a unity of architecture rare in Europe, with only a few cities including Bath comparable with it.

Like Toulouse, Albi was built from red brick, and many of the buildings in the Old Town have survived. The city is dominated by the Cathedral (Cathédrale Ste Cécile), which from the outside looks like a forbidding fortress. Inside it’s very different, ornately decorated throughout with a beautiful blue painted vault. The city is also known for the Albigensian Crusade, which was carried out against the Cathars, who were considered heretics by the Catholic Church for their belief in a second, evil God as well as a good one. The Crusade was given its name as many Cathars lived in Albi before the Crusade was decreed in 1208.

The whole of the Old Town of Albi is built in red brick. This includes the Palais de la Berbie, next door to the Cathedral, which now houses the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, which has many of the city’s most famous son’s works.

Even with just one day in Albi, you’d have enough time to see the rest of the city’s main sights. These include the church and cloister of Saint-Salvy, the timber-framed red-brick medieval Maison du Vieil Alby (House of Old Albi) and the Pont Vieux (Old Bridge) over the river Tarn, one of the most beautiful bridges in France.

Where To Stay In Albi: Mercure Albi Bastides – reliable 4-star just across the river from the Cathedral and Old Town – some rooms have staggering views

Tours: This private guided walking tour of Albicaters for up to ten people, and introduces you to all the main sights in two hours.  If you’re visiting on a day trip from Toulouse, this tour takes you to both Albi and the gorgeous hilltop town of Cordes-sur-Ciel.

See Also: South of France Road Trip – 10 Days From Avignon to Albi And Back

Quedlinburg, Germany

The closest you’ll ever come to a time capsule of the Middle Ages

Quedlinburg is one of the most fascinating places to visit in Germany. In the 10^th century it became the seat of the Kingdom of the East Franks, the forerunner of modern Germany. It also has what is believed to be the biggest concentration of medieval half-timbered houses and buildings in the world – there are at least 2,000 of them.

King Heinrich I was crowned King in 936 AD, and is buried in the superb Romanesque Church of St Servatius, which is in the same hilltop location as the Castle and Museum. To some, the town is the cradle of the German nation. There are several more beautiful churches in Quedlinburg, from the Romanesque and Gothic periods.

But it’s the medieval houses most visitors come to see. The streets in Quedlinburg are paced with these houses, from the main square to narrow alleys down in the town and up around the Castle. It’s like walking through as fairytale, especially early in the morning and at twilight when most people have left for the day.

Quedlinburg is one of the longer day trips from Berlin, with five to six hours of train travel or four hours of driving involved. I’d recommend staying at least a night in the town to see it at its most magical. The town is in the Land of Saxony-Anhalt, one of the best unexplored regions in Europe to visit.

Where To Stay In Quedlinburg: Hotel Zum Bär – great old hotel on the main square, with impeccable service

Tours of Quedlinburg – this private guided walking tour in English or German takes you around the main sights and town centre in two hours.

See Also: Things To Do In Quedlinburg

Évora, capital of the rural Alentejo region, is one of the most underrated cities in Europe. It’s quite a popular day trip from Lisbon, but there are enough things to do in Évora to fit in a night or two there, perhaps even using it as a base to explore the Alentejo.

Compared with Lisbon, Évora is a tiny country town with a fraction of the crowds. It’s a beautiful whitewashed medieval city full of tight, narrow, hilly cobbled streets. You could easily spend a whole day just wandering them as we did, café and bar-hopping as we went.

Along the way you’ll see some incredible buildings. The Cathedral (Se) is a wonderful hotchpotch of medieval architectural styles, with a characterful conical central tower surrounded by smaller turrets. As I walked along the roof of the Cathedral, I half-expected elves to peer out of the tiny windows at me. A tip if you walk there – don’t climb up there as a fog is descending, as I did!

The Blaenavon Industrial Landscape became Wales’ second World Heritage Site in 2000, and remains the only one in the southern half of the country.  The formerly industrial South Wales Valleys come a long way down the pecking order for many visitors to Wales, behind its mountains, castles and coast, but Blaenavon gives you a fascinating glimpse into how Wales dramatically changed by the Industrial Revolution.

Blaenavon – like Merthyr Tydfil 15 miles to the west – differed from the rest of the South Wales Coalfield in that iron and coal were produced there. It’s at the head of the Afon Llwyd valley, the easternmost industrialised valley in the region.

There are two main sights – the Blaenavon Ironworks and Big Pit Coal Mining Museum. The Ironworks were founded in the final years of the 18^th century, and operated continuously until 1880. Around this time, the coal mine now known as Big Pit was opened a mile across the valley, and that operated until 1980.

The Ironworks are the best preserved of their kind anywhere in the world, with the blast furnaces, water balance tower, cast house and foundry all intact. The Stack Square workers’ cottages have been beautifully restored with period furniture and decoration from 1870 to the 1970s.

Big Pit was one of the first coal mines worldwide to open as a Museum, and it’s a great experience, going  300 feet (90 metres) underground and walking around the workings for just under an hour.

The remnants of Blaenavon’s industrial past can be seen everywhere around the town. I suggest taking a short drive on the B4247 to the car park at Keeper’s Pond, on the plateau summit of the Blorenge mountain to the right of the road.  Stand here and admire the view across the Usk valley to the Sugar Loaf mountain a few miles across the valley.

Then look to your left to the Canada Tips, where a century’s worth of coal detritus remains. This is where once industrial South Wales meets rural South Wales. And it’s worth remembering that, 230 years ago, there was no such distinction, all the way down the coast to Cardiff.

Where To Stay: The Bear Crickhowell – 15^th-century coaching inn in lovely town in the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) National Park

See Also: 33 Great Day Trips from Cardiff

Aquileia, on the northeastern coast of Italy, was one of the most important ports of the Roman Empire. It was a major trading port through which goods from Central Europe were exported elsewhere in the Adriatic and more widely across the Mediterranean basin. However, this all abruptly came to an end in 452 AD when a certain Hun by the name of Attila came to town, ransacking and levelling it.

Much of the town of Aquileia remains unexcavated, left beneath the fields surrounding the present town. It’s believed to be the largest unexcavated ancient site in Europe, although with the advent of technology such as LIDAR, which carries out aerial surveys, it’s possible that other similar sites may be discovered in the coming decades.

The best-known sight in Aquileia is the Basilica, which dates back as far as the 4^th century AD. The body of the church was rebuilt 700-900 years later. But the astonishing original mosaic floor has survived, with many representations of people, animals, birds, fish and other marine life.

Beyond the Basilica, the most extensive remains are around the riverside port area. It’ll be fascinating to see what else is revealed in the coming years.

Where To Stay: Hotel Patriarchi – great 3-star hotel a few metres from the ancient Basilica

Bardejov is an interesting one.  It’s a small fortified medieval town in the east of Slovakia, with its original street layout, houses, church and town hall intact. This isn’t especially unusual in the former Czechoslovakia – there are many such towns around our former home, the Czech Republic, including the World Heritage town of Telč, possibly the most similar town in the country to Bardejov.

What sets Bardejov apart is its amazing state of preservation. It isn’t much different from the 16^th century, when its Renaissance Town Hall was built in the middle of the elegant town square. Unusually for this part of the world, much of the town’s Jewish Quarter has also survived intact, including its superb 18^th-century synagogue.

Slovakia still receives far less visitors than Czechia – the Prague effect hasn’t really caught on outside the Czech capital. So whereas much of Czechia is still new to most English-speaking visitors, rural Slovakia doesn’t figure in too many people’s plans at this point in time. It’s a pity, as so many enchanting places get overlooked as a result.   

Where To Stay: Hotel Pod Branou – popular hotel just around the corner from the main square of Bardejov

Getting there: The nearest international airport is Košice, two hours south of Bardejov by train.

Poland is a predominantly Roman Catholic country, and it’s not often that you encounter Protestant churches around the country. In 1648, at the end of the Thirty Years War, the Peace of Westphalia was concluded, leaving a substantial Protestant population in Silesia, under the Catholic rule of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III.

Most of their churches were lost, with three new ones built, including three ‘Peace Churches’, thanks to the diplomatic efforts of Sweden. Even then, Ferdinand insisted on a litany of strict conditions. The churches had to be built of wood, and not stone. They had to be built outside town boundaries, and towers were forbidden. He was praised for his tolerance,  but this was a very limited concession.

The third church, at Głogów, was lost to fire in the 18^th century, leaving these two extraordinary churches, at Jawor and Świdnica. The exteriors resemble half-timbered mansions, and inside the interiors have many Protestant characteristics, notably galleries around the outer walls of the churches. The churches were built in the contemporary Baroque style, with the same ornate statuary you’d expect in any church in Europe at the time, and the walls are richly decorated with exquisite paintings.

These two churches are well off the beaten track. The nearest city is Wrocław, and this guided tour takes you to both Churches of Peace in half a day.

Where To Stay – I recommend staying in Wrocław, and you won’t find much better than the 4-star Art Hotel, part of which is in a 14^th-century townhouse in the Old Town

Saarland is one of the quieter parts of Germany, largely off the beaten track, with most visitors to this part of the country more likely to be heading for the nearby Moselle or Rhine valleys. By good fortune we had to spend a few days a few miles away in nearby Saarbrücken, and while looking through some local tourist brochures that this magnificent Ironworks was just 11 minutes away by train, There was no way I was going to miss it.

The vast Völklinger Hütte is the only surviving complete Ironworks in the world, with sintering, coking and smelting sections and five blast furnaces. It was closed in 1986, having at its peak employed 17,000 workers.

Now it’s a great monument to 20^th-century heavy industry, and it’s easily one of the best historic industrial sites in Europe to visit. It’s intriguing to see how the site has been used – parts are used to exhibit art, parts have become works of art, while other areas have been left to nature, gradually becoming overgrown over the decades.

For me, the best part was climbing the staircases between the furnaces to the viewpoint at the top of the Ironworks, looking at the forest of chimneys and towers, imagining the fiery glow they would have once produced.

Where To Stay: Leonardo Hotel Volklingen-Saarbrucken – popular 4-star chain hotel a 15-20 minute walk from the Ironworks

Entry: You can buy your tickets in advance here.

See Also: Völklingen Ironworks – The Complete Guide

Lednice-Valtice Cultural Landscape, Czech Republic

This area of South Moravia, close to the border with Austria was once owned by the Princes of Liechtenstein, and Lednice Castle was their principal summer residence. They also owned the nearby towns of Mikulov and Valtice, and from the 17^th century onwards began to turn their entire estate into a vast and unique landscaped park.

This began with avenues between the residences at Lednice and Valtice, and continued with the building of a series of monuments across the 143 square kilometre estate. These include a Palm House and unusual minaret at Lednice, and a Neoclassical Colonnade on a hill above Valtice.

Both Castles are well worth a visit, and you could easily get around the rest of the World Heritage Site on a bicycle, as most of the area is flat.  Gothic Revival Lednice Castle has a strong English influence – the exterior is reminiscent of some of the oldest colleges at Cambridge University. The interior is very different, decorated and furnished with some phenomenal woodwork, particularly the spiral staircase.

Valtice Castle is a beauty from the earlier Baroque period, and much of it was completed by the mid-18^th century. The exterior of the Palace is superb, and the interior a dazzling ornate feast for the eyes, especially the Castle Chapel.  It’s a beautiful part of Europe, well worth a couple of days of your time, along with the nearby wine town of Mikulov.

Where To Stay: Zamecky Hotel Lednice – you can’t go wrong with this 4-star hotel with restaurant 50 metres from the World Heritage Castle

Tours: this tour from Brno includes Lednice, Mikulov and some of the most scenic South Moravian wine country.

Getting there: The nearest major Czech city is Brno, which is little more than an hour away. The mainline station in the border town of Břeclav is also a short bus ride away.

These two Baltic and Hanseatic cities 80 miles (127 km) apart are joined together in this combination UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reason they are inscribed on the UNESCO List is their outstanding medieval Brick Gothic architecture, some of which originated in these cities.

Wismar is the western half of this World Heritage Site and the westernmost major coastal city of the former GDR. The Iron Curtain was beyond the city, very close to another famous Hanseatic city, Lübeck. Wismar has many outstanding Brick Gothic buildings, including its iconic Water Gate (Wassertor), the churches of St Nikolai and St Georgen,  and the Alter Schwede and An der Wasserkunst buildings on the main square (Marktplatz).

Stralsund, to the east, is also the gateway to the island of Rügen, one of the most popular holiday islands in Germany.  It’s every bit as impressive as its partner and neighbour to the west, with an astonishing red-brick Rathaus (Town Hall), and the Nikolaikirche next door on the Alter Markt square. The town walls are also well worth seeing, as is the view from the St Marienkirche over the Altstadt (Old Town).

There are also several museums in Stralsund, and the pick of these is the modern Ozeaneum on the waterfront.  The aquaria show you marine life from the Baltic, the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, and it’s somewhere we’d love to take our son when we return there.

Where To Stay In Wismar: Stadthotel Stern – a 4-star favourite in the Old Town, within walking distance of all the sights

Where To Stay In Stralsund: Haus Wullfcrona – highly rated Old Town guesthouse in a centuries-old townhouse

Getting there: Stralsund is a 3-hour train trip from Berlin Hauptbahnhof (main station), as is Wismar. The journey by train between Wismar and Stralsund takes around 2 hours 15 minutes. There’s no direct train – you need to change at Rostock Hbf.

Tours of Wismar: this Wismar harbour cruise is a great introduction to the city, as is this 2-hour private walking tour of Wismar.

Tours of Stralsund: this Stralsund harbour cruise is a great way to get to know the city.