UK Touring - UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom

Scotland's capital and the seat of its new Parliament, combines the young and modern sensibilities of a great university city and national capital with a historic and dramatic setting. Here you'll find the world's biggest performing arts festival, a 1,000 year old castle and a mountain - Arthur's Seat - right in the middle of town.

UNESCO said:
The Scottish capital since the 15th century "has two distinct areas: the Old Town, dominated by a medieval fortress; and the neoclassical New Town, whose development from the 18th century onwards had a far-reaching influence on European urban planning. The harmonious juxtaposition of these two historic areas...is what gives the city its unique character.
Read about

• The Festivals
• Hogmanay

Visitors to Orkney are immediately struck by the enormous concentration of mysterious prehistoric structures that dot the islands. Some are more than 5,000 years old, predating Stonehenge and the Pyramids by several thousand years. The site includes two very different stone circles, The Standing Stones of Stenness and The Ring of Brodgar; a chambered burial mound full of Viking runes from a later period, Maeshowe; a 5,000 year old village, Skara Brae, and a number of unexcavated mounds and sites.

UNESCO said
"The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago some 5,000 years ago."
Read more:

• A Quick Guide
• Dine and Stay in Orkney

Famous, of course, for The Beatles, on a more sober note, Liverpool's early fortunes were made in international trade. Its role in the the slave trade makes it a moving and important place to visit for anyone interested in this aspect of history. UNESCO said:
"Six areas in the historic centre and docklands of the maritime mercantile City of Liverpool bear witness to the development of one of the world’s major trading centres in the 18th and 19th centuries. Liverpool played an important role in the growth of the British Empire and became the major port for the mass movement of people, e.g. slaves and emigrants from northern Europe to America."
Read about:

• Europe's largest free street music festival
• The International Slavery Museum

You've heard of Jurassic Park no doubt, but did you know that England has a real Jurassic Coast? It's 95 miles of the Dorset Coast, in Southwest England, about a third of it owned by the National Trust, composed of wild beaches, sheer white cliffs and stunning rock formations. Important (and easily seen) evidence of the history of life on earth - 185 million years of it - is

UNESCO said
"The coastal exposures within the site provide an almost continuous sequence of Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous rock formations spanning the Mesozoic Era. The site includes a range of internationally important fossil localities...which have produced well preserved and diverse evidence of life during Mesozoic times."
Read more about the Jurassic Coast

The UK's newest UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Wales, listed in June 2009, recognizes the masterpiece of pioneering 17th and 18th century civil engineer Thomas Telford, one of the modern world's earliest and greatest bridge builders.
The 204 year old canal, still used by thousands of narrow boat enthusiasts, is 18 kilometers long with an aqueduct across the River Dee that is 126 ft high and 1,007 ft long but only 11 ft wide and 5.25 ft deep.
UNESCO said:..."the building of the canal required substantial, bold civil engineering solutions, especially as it was built without using locks. The aqueduct is a pioneering masterpiece of engineering and monumental metal architecture, conceived by the celebrated civil engineer Thomas Telford."

As one of the world's great cities, it's no surprise that London has four different World Heritage sites. Laura Porter, About.com's guide to London, has written about these:

• The Tower of London
• Westminster Abbey, The Palace of Westminster and St. Margaret's Church
• Maritime Greenwich
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew