A Week of World Heritage

UNESCO's World Heritage list is quietly the best trip-planning tool there is: someone already found the places worth crossing the world for. Where several cluster close together, a one-week itinerary practically writes itself. Five favourites - and our UNESCO hub holds hundreds more.

1. Jordan: stone cities and red sand

The tightest world-class cluster anywhere: Petra's carved canyons deserve two full days, Wadi Rum's desert one night minimum, and the Dead Sea floats you on the way back to Amman. Seven days, three wonders, one small country - the Jordan Pass bundles the entries. Start with our good-to-know notes.

2. Peru: the Sacred Valley week

Machu Picchu is the headline, but the week is the point: Cusco's stone streets, the Sacred Valley's terraces and markets, then the citadel by train or trail. Altitude sets the order - valley first, city second, everything easier. Lake Titicaca extends it to ten days for the ambitious.

3. Turkey: fairy chimneys and white terraces

Fly into Cappadocia for three days of valley walks, cave hotels and the balloon-filled dawns, then cross to Pamukkale's travertine terraces and the Roman spa city above them. Finish in Istanbul, which needs no list to justify it. Internal flights stitch it together cheaply.

4. Cambodia: the Angkor immersion

One site, one week, no padding: Angkor Wat at sunrise is only the opening line of a temple city that goes on for days - the faces of the Bayon, tree-strangled Ta Prohm, and the quiet outer temples where you will be almost alone. Siem Reap makes a comfortable, cheap base; see Cambodia's good-to-know page for temple dress rules.

5. Southern Italy: caves and coasts

Start in Matera's cave city, add the trulli stone huts of Alberobello, and finish on the Amalfi coast with Pompeii en route - a week of UNESCO sites connected by some of Italy's best eating. June and September serve this route best; August serves it to everyone at once.

Making your own

The recipe generalises: open our UNESCO hub, find a country with three or more sites within driving distance, and let the list build the week. Pack once, base twice, and check when to go so the season cooperates. Comfortable shoes above all - heritage means stone underfoot, and the city kit plus a refillable water bottle covers ninety percent of it.