Fascinating to see what makes up these top tens of Best Missing. I'll work to visit some of my current ten out, though others I may not be able to get to for a long while. Thanks for adding this feature!

Just looking at this again. Shouldn't Cyrene be included in the Hellenistic Greece civilization?
I know it is a much bigger list but is that the only reason why the Roman Empire was never included?
I like the best missing addition. It definitely is a mean reminder of some great (and often difficult) places we are all missing.

Yes. I have added it.


For Roman Empire we have the category of primarily Roman Archaeological sites (32 entries). There's also the connection Ancient Roman colonies for major sites outside Italy (38 entries). I haven't added the longer lists in general because they tend to reflect the overall listings too much - so the same people who have visited the most WHS overall will also stand out on long lists as they are not specialized.


Ah, I see you are one of the many whose Best Missing is Rapa Nui. We have enough for a charter flight so it seems.

I guess I was thinking about the Roman Archaeological sites but I can see how they are popular enough that they aren't statistically interesting.


Could this the new strategy for future meetup location proposals?

After the brief exchange on today's blog post, I was wondering if average evaluations could not be added to the category and the connection pages. So in a sense this would give a sense of "tiers of appreciation", if not even of "quality". So what is the best/most appreciated Wiking site? And the best needing a ferry to be reached? :-)

They are already there at the category pages, see for example https://www.worldheritagesite.org/list/category/Byzantine

But I am unsure if we should add them "everywhere"; for many connections it's irrelevant (and many sites include small aspects that have led to a connection, which may not have had anything to do with why it got a specific rating).

Oooh, great! Sorry, I had overlooked it.

I was thinking of that as a "why not?" if it does not have a big impact in computation, resources, memory, etc. I think that we never know where interesting connections might arise! In a sense, every aspect leads to a rating... and it might simply be fnny to know which is the most appreciated site reachable only by ferry, or damaged by a landslide :-)

For "Countries Complete (Difficult Countries)" list Russia should be removed since no one completed it or close to completion. Additionally, Mexico should be added since Zoe completed it.

I think the point is that it's difficult and nobody has yet to reach it, like France is still empty for Countries Complete (Top Countries). Russia may be the toughest overall not counting the impossible (UK and now the US, even French Austral Islands are like hmmm). Hard to reach places, huge countryside, empty spaces, Wrangell $$$, 'nuff said.

I have added Swahili culture complete, as I find it a nice subset which requires some travelling around the East African Coast

The publications of the sites considered for 2026 created a shift in the list of those in the best position for that year, with Solivagant as the clear winner of the day at the top as he lost 'only' 4 sites! Further on, Argo and Bram have had only 1 removed and Alexander even 0. Not such a good day for Roman, as he lost 9 ticks!

It was:
Solivagant : 21
Szucs Tamas : 18
Thomas Buechler : 18
Wojciech Fedoruk : 18
Roman Bruehwiler : 17
Els Slots : 16
Roger Ourset : 15
Christravelblog : 12
Erik Jelinek : 12
tony0001 : 12
Jonas Kremer : 11
Nan : 11
Ammon Watkins : 10
Argo : 10
Bram de Bruin : 10
Christoph : 10
Kurt Lauer : 10
Philipp Peterer : 10
Sascha Grabow : 10
Stanislaw Warwas : 10
Svein Elias : 10
Alexander Lehmann : 9
Dimitar Krastev : 9
George Gdanski : 9
Jarek Pokrzywnicki : 9
Patrik : 9
Randi Thomsen : 9
Sergio Arjona : 9
Tsunami : 9
Clyde : 8
Hubert : 8
Jose Antonio Collar : 8
David Berlanda : 7
Frederik Dawson : 7
Hadrianus : 7
jonathanfr : 7
Lars Jensen : 7
Ludvan : 7
Adrian Turtschi : 6
henryjiao18 : 6
Jawnbeary : 6
Jon Opol : 6
Mathijs : 6
Sclowitz : 6
TimAllen : 6

It now is:
Solivagant : 17
Thomas Buechler : 13
Szucs Tamas : 12
Els Slots : 11
Roger Ourset : 11
Wojciech Fedoruk : 10
Alexander Lehmann : 9
Argo : 9
Bram de Bruin : 9
Christravelblog : 9
Nan : 9
Erik Jelinek : 8
Jonas Kremer : 8
Kurt Lauer : 8
Roman Bruehwiler : 8
tony0001 : 8
Ammon Watkins : 7
Clyde : 7
Frederik Dawson : 7
George Gdanski : 7
Philipp Peterer : 7
Randi Thomsen : 7
Sergio Arjona : 7
Svein Elias : 7
Alexander Parsons : 6
Christoph : 6
David Berlanda : 6
Dimitar Krastev : 6
Hadrianus : 6
Hubert : 6
Jarek Pokrzywnicki : 6
Jon Opol : 6
jonathanfr : 6
Jose Antonio Collar : 6
Patrik : 6
Sclowitz : 6
Tsunami : 6

Some suggestions (from connections) to add to Community Statistics, Most Intrepid Travelers:

- Discriminatory Entry Policies
- Do Not Travel
- First inscriptions
- Isolated WHS
- Most Remote Cultural WHS
- No road access
- Not open to tourists
- Takes more than 5 days to visit

As said in the introduction blog post, we have left bringing back (and expanding) the community statistics for stage 2 of our make-over.

However, the 'country complete' counts are present on each country page and each member profile page. At the top of the latter, you can see the total number of countries you have completed next to the globe icon.

And, since yesterday, we have published on each WHC page an overview of the 'WHC masters': a ranking of those who visited the most WHS that were inscribed in that year's session. Have a look at 1978 for example, scroll down to Community > Visitors to see the list. Works semi-live for 2025 as well.

More like this to come!

Australia should be on this list too - Macquarie Island can be reached on expensive Antartica cruises from NZ, but Heard & McDonald Islands are only accessible to specific marine scientists every few years. I'm surprised Roman claims to have visited this site - the core zone is only about 12nm around the islands themselves so even sailing through that would be difficult.

The photos shown on our site page are his: https://www.worldheritagesite.org/list/heard-and-mcdonald-islands/
It took him 20 days on a boat in 2012 (Heard Island, 3 days).