If you have a bucket list of travel destinations, most likely you have a lot of world heritage sites on that list. These are the best travel destinations in the world, the must-see destinations that offer universal value. Below are five of the most beautiful places on earth:
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The Phoenix Islands in Kiribati
The Phoenix Islands Protected Area is among the newest world heritage sites. Instituted just in 2010, this remote piece of land about the size of California can be found just in between Fiji and Hawaii. It is a marine protected area that boasts of about 30 underwater volcanoes, two beautiful submerged reefs, and about eight atolls. You can see one of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet here.
The place remains virtually untouched and is home to a lot of species known and actually unknown to mankind. There are about 500 known kinds of fish species ranging from parrotfish, surgeonfish, sharks, ray species, among other marine species. You can also find about 120 kinds of corals in the PIPA.
Getting to the Phoenix Islands can be quite a trip. A boat ride from Fiji might take around 5 days.
Angkor, Cambodia
Angkor was the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire and is home to some of the most magnificent architectural works and arts produced by the old civilizations. Angkor actually covers an area bigger than the five boroughs of New York City.
From Phnom Penh, you have several options in terms of getting to Siem Reap. Your travel time will be around six hours and you can take a bus or you can also take a boat. From Siem Reap, you can take a tuk-tuk going to the old city.
Taj Mahal in India
The Taj Mahal in India is one of the most famous and most beautiful structures in the whole world. The lavish marble structure in Agra, India is actually a mausoleum. It is a monument that symbolizes the eternal love of a husband for his wife.
The ruler of the Mughal Empire, upon the death of his favorite wife, poured his wealth and devotion to create the Taj Mahal. It took 20,000 workers that consisted of artists, masons, and carvers. The construction started in 1631 and was completed in 1648.
The Taj Mahal gets pretty crowded with visitors reach around 3 million per year.
Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines
These man-made rice terraces located in the northern portion of the island of Luzon in the Philippines were designated as a World Heritage Site in 1995. The mountains look like stairs to the heavens and the Ifugao people have been cultivating these lands for more than 2,000 years.
The rugged beauty of the region is further enhanced by the beauty of the Rice Terraces. They were created by the earlier settlers using their hands, stones, and mud to create the terraces. The rice paddies are also being watered using an ingenious system that makes use of the water from the mountaintops.
Banaue is about 348 kilometers from the capital, Manila. You can only travel by land and will take around 12 hours to get there going through mountainous terrains.
Petra in Jordan
The stone city of Petra in Jordan, amid cliffs, gorges, and mountains, is a quiet monument to how its people thrived about 2,000 years ago. You might recall Petra after seeing it in movie flicks like Indiana Jones but the place has a rich history behind it that is more incredible than theĀ HollywoodĀ scripts.
Petra was known as a caravan hub between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. The golden age of the Nabateans was during the early A.D. When trade routes from Egypt, Arabia, and the Levant made their way to the gates of Petra. The wealth of this old civilization is well reflected by the lavish structures that were carved out from the cliff stones.
From Amman, you can get to Petra riding a cab or a bus for about three hours through the Desert Highway.
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