Five regions, one List

Sub-Saharan Africa's sites run from the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela and the stone city of Great Zimbabwe to the Serengeti, Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls) and the island prison of Robben Island. Natural places make up a larger share here than anywhere else on the List. So do places that are still in everyday use, where the people whose families made a landscape are the ones who look after it. Distances are long and roads vary, so give each trip more time than the map suggests.

Almost everything here is cultural: walled cities, caravan towns, temples and tombs, from Petra and the pyramid fields at Giza to the old cities of Damascus and Sana'a. Wadi Rum and the Socotra archipelago are among the few natural places. Several sites are on the List in Danger because of conflict, so check what is currently open before you plan a visit, and expect the heat from late spring to early autumn.

The most varied of the five regions, and the one where a single country can hold dozens of sites. Angkor, Borobudur, the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall sit alongside the Great Barrier Reef, Himalayan national parks, rice terraces and island chains. Monsoon seasons decide when a trip works, and they differ from one coast to the next, so check the season for the place and not the country.

Nearly half of the List is here, and most of it is cultural: historic town centres, cathedrals, castles, palaces and the remains of industry. North America adds national parks such as Yellowstone, and Europe keeps some of its last primeval forests. With so many sites close together, this is the easiest region for a long weekend by train. The best-known places are also the busiest, so go early or out of season.

Pre-Columbian cities such as Machu Picchu and Teotihuacan sit beside colonial towns laid out by Spanish and Portuguese planners, and beside some of the richest ecosystems on Earth: the Galápagos, the Pantanal and Iguazú. Altitude matters in the Andes, where a day of acclimatising is sensible, and the rainy season closes some roads and trails, so check before you book.