This is May and while it is burning hot in most parts of India, there are several other places where May is a perfectly fine month to be traveling. So, here are some awesome World Heritage Sites you could plan to visit in May.
1. Aachen Cathedral
Location: As the name suggests, Aachen, Germany.
What is it? Empire Charlemagne, inspired by the churches in the Holy Roman empire, built this beautiful palatine chapel between 700- 800 C.E.
Highlights:
- The continuous reconstruction of this palace till as recently as 1884 lead to a mixture of ancient roman, renaissance and modern architectural styles.
- Interior of cathedral is very interesting. The Byzantine part is built in Octagonal shape (8 sides) and has beautiful overhead decoration.
- The mosaics on the ceilings will have you spell bound and the art work in the cathedral will take you back to age of Emperor Charlemagne.
Best Time to Visit: February to May. The summer is between March and May making it sunny and pleasant to walk around the city.
2. Great Barrier Reef
Location: Located on the North East coast of Australia.
Highlights:
- The entire eco system that stretches about 348,000 km was declared a WHS by UNESCO in 1981
- This location contains worlds largest collection of coral reefs with 400 different types of corals.
- This site is of remarkable variety and beauty with nearly 1,500 species of fish and 4000 types of molluscs.
- The site also houses the rare species like large green turtle and dugong.
Best Time to Visit: April to November for the best visibility
3. Heavens Gate
Location: Heavens Gate can be found in the Tianmen Mountain in Hunan, China.
What is it?
Heavens gate is a natural water eroded cave that is shaped like a door.
The height of the cave is about 13.5 m of height, 57 m width and depth of 60 m!
Highlights:
- The beauty and scenery is one of its kinds that can be experienced when going up the Heavens Gate.
- To get the most spectacular view of these mountains you can take walk up 999 steps to the top of the mountain.
- Also, you can take one of the most thrilling cable car rides, which is considered one of the worlds longest cable car rides measuring the distance of 7455 m and height of 1279 m.
Best Time to Visit: April to October
4. Schönbrunn Palace
Location: The palace is located in Vienna , Austria.
What is it? Schönbrunn Palace is historical palace which is the residence of the Habsburg emperors from 18 to 19th century.
Highlights:
- When you visit the palace you are welcomed by an audio guide as you wander through the imperial rooms.
- There are separate channels to tell you the history of each room and give you a glimpse of extravagance and grandiose life styles of Habsburgs.
- The palace also houses a zoo, apparently the first zoo that was built in 17th century and the beautifully enchanting gardens.
Best Time to Visit: April to September
5. Aushwitz and Birkenau
Location: This Nazi concentration camp is located in Oswiecim, Poland.
What is it? This is the largest concentration camp built by Nazis during the Second World War and stands as a witness to the darkest and the most inhuman moments of human history.
Highlights:
- A concentration camp once is now a world heritage site that takes you through the most emotional trip ever.
- The site has the railway tracks and the cattle cars in which Jews were bought to these camps.
- The prison cells lacked bedding or proper heating system where the temperature fell below -20? c
- The torture cells for the violators of the rules, the prison camps, execution chambers, the burial grounds; this site is the witness of the atrocious war crimes under Adolf Hitler.
Best Time to visit: April to October
Image Courtesy:
http://kamonohashikamo.wordpress.com
http://www.cairns-greatbarrierreef.org.au/
https://www.flickr.com
http://commons.wikimedia.org/