The best (and worst) UK World Heritage Sites, ranked

Telegraph

18-04-2025

Unesco created its first World Heritage Sites in 1978, aiming to preserve places of 'outstanding universal value'. It's a bold ambition, and one that now includes everything from the Taj Mahal to the Great Barrier Reef. Of the 1,223 worldwide, however, the UK is home to some 31 (35 if you include sites on overseas territories).
These include the elegant streets of Edinburgh and the majesty of Stonehenge, but also some lesser-known spots, tucked away across the country. Places such as the Blaenavon Industrial Landscape in Wales, where bucolic countryside was transformed by mining and steam. Or Scotland's Flow Country, where vast peatland forms an intricate, boggy ecosystem filled with remarkable wildlife.
All are representative, somehow, of the country's culture. It is because of this that they make for a remarkable day out, too, often supplemented by museums or visitor centres, or, at least, a very good café.
With so much choice on our home soil, and to mark World Heritage Day (April 18), our experts can help you decide which to visit next. Whether it's a glorious country park or an imposing engineering marvel, this is our honest review of every Unesco site in the UK.
Gough and Inaccessible Islands (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
0/10 (in terms of tourism experience)
The general aesthetic of these sibling outcrops in the South Atlantic is rather embodied by the name of the second. True, neither Gough nor Inaccessible are strictly inaccessible in a world where boats exist, but they are a long way from the beaten track, marooned in the ocean some 1,350 miles beyond even the distant horizon that is Saint Helena.
This, in terms of Unesco status, is entirely the point. Both islands are all but uninhabited (Gough has a weather station), and, as such, are home to ecosystems undamaged by man's touch, or invasive species. They do, though, have vast colonies of seabirds, in splendid solitude. But visitor experience is non-existent.
Chris Leadbeater
Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands)
0/10 (in terms of tourism experience)
That said, compared with Henderson Island, Gough and Inaccessible are practically Mallorca and Ibiza. A tiny pinprick in the South Pacific, Henderson is one of the most remote places on the planet – sitting 120 miles north-east of Pitcairn Island, on which the mutineers of the HMS Bounty hid from the world in 1789.
There is almost no chance of a traveller ever finding their way to Henderson, and its elevation to the Unesco pantheon (it was inscribed in 1988) happened precisely because it is uninhabited; a pristine speck of land in an enormous expanse of blue, kept in the state of isolation it has always enjoyed.
Chris Leadbeater
Flow Country
5/10
The Flow Country (pronounced to rhyme with 'cow' by the way) is Britain's most recent Unesco World Heritage Site, designated in 2024.
I have visited this part of Scotland on a number of occasions. While I would not for a second question the significance of this peatland ecosystem (read: absolutely enormous bog), and the diverse species that thrive here, in all honesty, it doesn't make for a particularly enthralling visitor experience, particularly given the truly magnificent landscapes that await in Sutherland to the west.
Greg Dickinson
Gracehill, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland
5/10
After being persecuted since their founding in Bohemia in the 14th century, the Moravians built a church at Gracehill in 1759, then a village in which the 39 churchgoers lived austere, simple lives. It became a World Heritage Site in 2024, and while locals welcomed the honour, some worried about coach parties disturbing the peace of what is still an active church. The Vatican or Notre Dame it isn't, but the village and church are still pleasant places to savour a moment of stillness.
Geoff Hill
Blaenavon Industrial Landscape
6/10
With its ruined foundry, workers' cottages and soaring water tower, the settlements at Blaenavon are a picture of industrial life. Attractions such as the Big Pit National Coal Museum provide a lively, if confronting, day out – this is an area totally transformed by the raw materials once mined here. It may not be as spectacular as Stonehenge, but then not all cultural landmarks need to be.
Sophie Dickinson
Jodrell Bank Observatory
6/10
Jodrell Bank is home to the UK's largest radio telescope: first designed to monitor Soviet space probes, and now used to observe quasars, giant stars and gravitational lenses. For those interested in space, it's an unbeatable glimpse into the working lives of astrophysicists, and budding stargazers will adore their far-out exhibits. If science isn't your thing, however, Jodrell Bank might fail to launch.
Sophie Dickinson
Maritime Greenwich
6/10
The architecture at Greenwich, which includes Christopher Wren's Naval College and Inigo Jones's first Palladian building, is evidently beautiful. As too is the parkland, from which London's skyline can be observed. The area's history will be engrossing for those interested in the nautical development of Britain, but otherwise this is just a lovely London neighbourhood – full of picnickers and Lime bikes and, whisper it, overpriced pints.
Sophie Dickinson
Gorham's Cave (Gibraltar)
6/10
Perspective on the British Overseas Territory at Europe's southern tip rarely looks beyond its tricky relationship with Spain, or the monkeys that leap across its fabled 'Rock'. But the hard stone of Gibraltar conceals less vaunted attractions. Gorham's Cave is one of four sea-level holes in the wall – Vanguard, Hyaena and Bennett's are the others – which enjoy Unesco status thanks to the evidence of Neanderthal life found within them. Access is limited to summer, and visitors must be accompanied by a guide from the national museum – but for the curious, these four outposts are windows into lost worlds.
Chris Leadbeater
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
7/10
What a wonderful thing that the world's greatest botanical garden (home to more than 500,000 living plants) is set within the bounds of the M25. A visit to Kew is always a joy, and in recent years my family has made it an annual tradition to take my toddler son around the Kew Lights display at Christmas, which is always artfully executed. The Trust does vital scientific and conservation work, and as a result the at-the-gate fee is a steep £25. My tip? Turn up after 4pm and you can get in for just £11.
Greg Dickinson
Saltaire
7/10
Forget dark satanic mills. Titus Salt's visionary mill village has Italianate architecture, cream-coloured stonework, a hospital, almshouses, a church and an Institute – now known as Victoria Hall. It was no utopia. Workers had two-up, two-down terraces, while larger houses were reserved for supervisors and managers. Residents weren't allowed to hang washing in the street, and it's said that Salt kept a watchman posted to cut down unseemly lines of clothes. But it was, and is, aesthetically pleasing, orderly and very functional.
The Saltaire Village Society was formed in 1984 to regenerate the area on the outskirts of Bradford. Another visionary owner, Jonathan Silver, bought the mill, transforming it into a thriving cultural space known as Salts Mill. In 1987, he opened the 1853 Gallery on the ground floor, exhibiting works by local legend David Hockney. These days, the mill is also home to restaurants, cafés and bookshops, as well as a second gallery space. There's no better repurposing of a former mill in northern England.
Chris Moss
Ironbridge Gorge
7/10
Ironbridge, Shropshire's valley of invention, or the 'Silicon Valley of its day', according to one trustee, is a rite of passage for day-tripping schoolchildren across the country. In truth, you could (and probably should) spend much longer than a day exploring its many sites – the tile museum, china museum, iron museum, Victorian town, Gorge museum, the bridge itself. I could go on. If you are studying, or remotely interested, in the Industrial Revolution, a trip to Ironbridge is essential.
Greg Dickinson
Canterbury Cathedral
7/10
Shortly before Thomas Beckett was assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, he said it was wrong to 'make a fortress out of a house of prayer'. The cathedral has continued in this vein, warmly welcoming visitors and pilgrims in the centuries since. How you favour it compared with the other Unesco churches will depend on your interests: here, you can find a memorial to the martyr and intact medieval cloisters; Fountains Abbey, for example, is better for ruin-haunting.
Sophie Dickinson
Tower of London
7/10
Anne Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey and Guy Fawkes all had their time in the Tower. You can too, for the princely sum of more than £100 per family. Historians will delight in its storied chambers, but London is a city of remarkable museums and galleries – and there are more successful ones than the Tower. It's an extraordinary part of London's history, but perhaps not its most extraordinary attraction.
Sophie Dickinson
New Lanark
7/10
A couple of centuries ago, the gorge and three waterfalls of the Falls of Clyde were famous Scottish beauty spots, visited by the Wordsworths, Coleridge and Sir Walter Scott. Merchant banker David Dale saw not so much romance but commerce. Together with Preston-born inventor Richard Arkwright, he planned a new mill complex, with water diverted from the Clyde by tunnel and aqueduct to drive a series of huge wheels.
Dale added housing for around 2,000 residents, with a planned village also providing a school, church and other social amenities. New Lanark village was the result. Handsome sandstone buildings are spread out along the bottom of the gorge, with mills, workshops and a counting house open to the public. People still live in the apartments. You can wander at will or join an expert-led tour, which is highly recommended.
Chris Moss
City of Bath
8/10
Other Unesco-listed cities include Dubrovnik, Vienna and Rio de Janeiro, so Bath is in fine company. It's for good reason: the honey-coloured architecture and eponymous hot springs are as captivating now as they were to the Georgians. The modern city is home to exceptional restaurants and fine hotels, too, making it a wonderful spot for a weekend away. Just be warned – its popularity is no secret, and at busy periods it can feel as claustrophobic as a stuffy drawing room.
Sophie Dickinson
The Lake District
8/10
With England's tallest peak (Scafell Pike: 3,210ft) and largest lake (Windermere: 5.7 sq miles), the Lake District has a cinematic majesty unlike anywhere this side of the Scottish and Welsh borders. But the secret is out, and the 20-million-odd annual visitors are taking their toll. The Lakes, without humans, are a solid 10/10, but with concerns around sewage, traffic, litter and pollution, I have given the national park an 8 – what's more, the overall visitor experience could drop farther if urgent action isn't taken soon.
Greg Dickinson
Dorset and East Devon Coast
8/10
One line of argument says that the British waterside does not offer quite the photogenic punch of that supplied by, say, the Pacific vistas of California or the fractured coves of Andaman Thailand. Another says that the combined shorelines of Dorset and East Devon – better known as the Jurassic Coast – have all the visual impact anyone could ever need, without the requirement to cross oceans. The limestone arch of Durdle Door tends to hog the camera, but you will surely have your own favourite spot on a 96-mile arc of seafront which speaks so persuasively of earlier aeons that fossils are visible in the cliffs.
Chris Leadbeater
Derwent Valley Mills
8/10
This multi-site hunk of heritage scores high for historical import – it's the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution's factory system, which shaped modern England. Just south of the Peaks, the site stretches 15 miles along its namesake river, from massive Masson Mill to Derby Silk Mill, now the city's free Museum of Making. The star attraction is Cromford, epicentre of Richard Arkwright's innovations and a charming village – combine tearooms with mill tours and canal strolls. Best, the Derwent Valley Heritage Way wiggles through it all, a leisurely walk via hulking factories and wooded hills. Fascinating, and (mostly) pretty too.
Sarah Baxter
Studley Royal Park/Fountains Abbey
8/10
Henry VIII was proof eternal of the principle that it is easier to destroy than to create. His demolition of England's monastic system between 1536 and 1541 ultimately left many of the country's great abbeys in ruins, their wealth sucked into the crown's coffers. But this royal vandalism came with a romantic aftershock. A ghost among the fields of North Yorkshire, Fountains Abbey is perhaps the most picturesque of the religious wrecks sunk by Henry's ire. Its beauty – and its Unesco status – comes entwined with Studley Royal Park, the country estate that blossomed around the broken church in subsequent centuries.
Chris Leadbeater
The Slate Landscape of North-West Wales
8/10
It is not difficult to imagine the baffled expression that would spread across the face of a 19th-century miner were you somehow able to tell him that the Gwynned quarries where he toiled in dirt and darkness received a global cultural rubber stamp in 2001. Still, there is a good reason why the hillsides and mine shafts of north-west Wales are on the Unesco list: they are hand-cut case studies in the effort and endeavour that defined the Industrial Revolution. And there is prettiness too. The Talyllyn Railway, once a slate-carrying workhorse of laden trucks, is as lovely a preserved steam line as anything on this planet.
Chris Leadbeater
Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape
8/10
Mining, once the lifeblood of the south west, took place in sight of today's twee resort and second-home enclaves. The Mining Landscape consists of open and underground sites and stannary towns – which once had their own laws and considerable power – across 17 locations in 10 districts, including St Just, Hayle, Camborne and Redruth, Portreath Harbour, Tamar Valley and Tavistock. All were radically reshaped during the 18th and 19th centuries by deep mining for predominantly copper, tin and the steam engine.
The mining areas have none of the overtourism stresses of beaches and quaint harbours. There's an excellent walking route around the Great Flat Lode near Camborne and, partway along, the King Edward Mine Museum (re-opening on Easter Sunday) explains the history and has working machinery to show how Cornwall and West Devon once prided themselves on hard labour and valuable metals rather than the leisure industry.
Chris Moss
The Great Spa Towns of Europe – Bath
8/10
The Great Spa Towns of Europe is a transnational World Heritage Site consisting of a selection of 11 spa towns across seven European countries – Britain's entry is championed by Bath. Tickets to the Roman Baths must be booked in advance, but this is one of the world's best preserved ancient spas, cleverly brought to life with interactive installations. Finish with an indulgent soak of your own in naturally hot mineral water up in the Thermae Bath Spa's rooftop pool. As a resort, Bath offers as much today as it ever did.
Natalie Paris
St George's (Bermuda)
8/10
Britain's 17th century endeavours in the Atlantic left numerous footprints, but few are prettier or older than the town that was Bermuda's capital for more than 200 years. Set at the north-east tip of the island, St George's does not quite pre-date Jamestown, the first permanent English colony on the American mainland (it was founded in 1612, as against Jamestown's 1607), but it has a pleasing frozen-in-time aesthetic where 400 years seem to fall away as you wander. St Peter's Church is the cornerstone, its foundations having been put down in 1620 – leaving it as the oldest Anglican church outside the British Isles.
Chris Leadbeater
Durham Castle and Cathedral
9/10
When you roll into Durham by train, the castle and cathedral snap into focus, rising above the trees and rooftops like something from a storybook. The cathedral, intimate yet imposing in its Romanesque grandeur, finds creative ways to attract different generations – there is a Lego cathedral on display, and they host tea parties in the Chapter House, where Professor McGonagall held transfiguration classes in the Harry Potter films. And the castle, next door, offers perhaps the most extravagant university digs in the land.
Greg Dickinson
Forth Bridge
9/10
You don't forget your first sight of this great steel leviathan. Born of the tragedy of the Tay Bridge Disaster, it was forged to look (and feel) invincible. The titan that survived thrusts across Scotland's Forth river, anchored with an improbable 6.5 million rivets, the hulking tubes of its triple cantilevers wide enough to house a London Tube train. Admire for free from South Queensferry, and then join the Maid of the Forth for a closer inspection of this pinnacle of Victorian engineering.
Robin McKelvie
Giant's Causeway and Causeway Coast
9/10
When I drove Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way in 2018, one of the highlights was undoubtedly the otherworldly Giant's Causeway, and the coastal scenery around it. The causeway is unlike anything else you have seen, a gathering of 40,000 basalt columns (many almost-perfect hexagons) that were formed during volcanic eruptions 61 million years ago. A futuristic visitor centre opened in 2012 to help manage the million or so visitors who stop by each year.
Greg Dickinson
Old and New towns, Edinburgh
9/10
I fell for this most romantic, cosmopolitan city (overlooked by an extinct volcano, for heaven's sake) back in 2007 on a university open day. The fact that they rejected my application did not stop me from returning, year after year, usually for the Fringe, which turns the entire city into a carnival of creativity and laughs. It is, for me, Britain's most appealing city. If I could airdrop my friends, family and job up there, I would move to Edinburgh in a heartbeat.
Greg Dickinson
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal
9/10
If Ironbridge tells the story of the Industrial Revolution, then the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct ('Pont-ker-suthly') brings it to life like a low-octane rollercoaster. This 127ft-high aqueduct, rising above the Welsh Dee Valley, is still navigable by both canal boat and on foot. The entire stretch of canal listed by Unesco spans 11 miles, but for 1,000ft or so you are quite literally floating in mid-air. If it isn't already on your to-do list, I would scribble it on pronto.
Greg Dickinson
Blenheim Palace
10/10
Versailles will always be the elite example of the grand estates which sprouted up in Europe in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, but Blenheim is a close second. Crafted by the master architect Sir John Vanbrugh, its Baroque majesty still sings three centuries after its (long-winded) completion in (about) 1735 – its grounds sweeping across the Oxfordshire landscape, the palace spreading out just as beautifully in its broad wings and art-stuffed chambers. That it was built to salute the Duke of Marlborough's victory – at 1704's Battle of Blenheim – over the man who created Versailles (Louis XIV) adds a sweet symmetry.
Chris Leadbeater
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
10/10
No wonder the BBC hailed Orkney as 'Britain's Ancient Capital'. The archipelago thrills with prehistoric sights that pre-date the Pyramids – and Stonehenge. On its enlisting, Unesco honed in on a remarkable quartet of islands dating back more than 5,000 years. Wander around the prehistoric village of Skara Brae, delve down a dark 36ft-long tunnel into the chilling Maeshowe burial cairn, commune with our ancestors at the spectacular Ring of Brodgar henge and ponder your own insignificance under the ancient vaulting Stones of Stenness. It's all free too; bar Skara Brae.
Robin McKelvie
Castles of North Wales
10/10
Totems of conquest can have tricky relationships with the places they were constructed to control. And there is no question that this is what the 13th and 14th century castles which fringe the coast of North Wales are – multi-towered reminders of the brutal way in which Edward I of England annexed Welsh territory in the 1280s (and of his determination to keep his boot on the local throat once he had done so). But my, those mighty fortresses – Caernarfon and Harlech, plus nearby Conwy, and Beaumaris on Anglesey – were built to last. And for all that they symbolise, the Welsh shore wouldn't be the same without them.
Chris Leadbeater
St Kilda
10/10
The utterly unique St Kilda archipelago was Unesco's first dual listing: for its human heritage and unique nature. Mankind survived in the Atlantic wilds until 1930 – the old village tells the story. Tolkien-esque sea cliffs (Conachair at 1,411ft is the UK's highest), geology more in common with the Faroes, and world-famous seabird colonies swoon the head and heart in a real-life Jurassic Park, with its own species of mouse and wren. The best way to explore is on a Hebrides Cruises live-aboard adventure vessel, whalewatching en route.
Robin McKelvie
Frontiers of the Roman Empire
10/10
What, to paraphrase Monty Python, did the Romans ever do for us? Well, we could talk endlessly about baths and road systems, but the finest echoes of the ancient era on British soil may be the lines of stone which remember what the Romans did not do: take (what is now) Scotland. Both Hadrian's Wall (across Cumbria and Northumberland) and the Antonine Wall (40 miles to the north, between the Firths of Forth and Clyde) were a tacit admission that the top end of Britannia was too tough a task to tackle for even the foremost fighting force of its age. See either, and you are standing at the end of the world.
Chris Leadbeater
Palace of Westminster/Westminster Abbey
10/10
For evidence of Britain's deep-rooted ties to democracy, and its role in its development, you need look little further than the 11th-century kernel of London's Houses of Parliament. The Palace of Westminster does not receive the television coverage of the House of Commons, nor the opprobrium directed at the House of Lords, but almost every crucial figure in this country's most recent millennium has stepped across its flagstones at some point. It shares its Unesco status with the adjacent St Margaret's, and with a Westminster Abbey where several of the monarchs who helped – or hindered – democracy's flow lie buried.
Chris Leadbeater
Stonehenge
10/10
You never forget your first time with Stonehenge. Having seen it from the road, or on a dubious documentary, or in Spinal Tap, you might feel like you get it – Neolithic rocks, dragged across the countryside, placed in a field. But nothing compares to being in their presence. The stone circle, and the similar henge in Avebury, defy easy explanation and are a testament to the bizarre and ineffable rituals humans have felt compelled to enact for millennia. You needn't be there at the solstice to feel its majesty.
Sophie Dickinson
Our methodology
Our experts' ratings consider the visiting experience, how each site compares with others around the UK and the world, its value for money, the site's preservation and the heritage it represents.