It’s a bucket list like no other: Unesco’s 1,223 World Heritage Sites.
And American couple Haley Crowley and Zachary Fisher are determined to visit them all.
The couple has visited 114 sites so far and has been documenting their travels in their @haleyandzach_ TikTok account, where she has gained more than 80,000 followers.
They reveal to MailOnline Travel the twists and turns of their odyssey, including the best and worst sites and the places that surprised them.
Haley and Zach’s “Unesco quest” has taken them to 58 countries, from Montenegro and Myanmar to Chile, Cambodia and China. “It forces us to really explore a country and in turn has led to some amazing experiences,” they say.
Haley Crowley and Zachary Fisher are on a “lifelong quest” to visit all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The couple has visited 114 sites so far and have been documenting their travels on their TikTok account @haleyandzach_. The couple is pictured above in Torun, Poland.
The couple’s “quest for UNESCO objects” has taken them to 58 countries, from Montenegro and Myanmar to Chile, Cambodia and China. One of their favourite places is the Great Wall of China (above).
On the left, Haley is pictured in the image of the Great Wall of China, which the couple described as “amazing.” On the right, the couple is sliding down the Great Wall on the Mutianyu sled.
Taking the couple’s number one spot on the extensive list is the Great Wall of China, perhaps the country’s most iconic monument, which was built during the Ming Dynasty and stretches for more than 21,000 kilometers.
The couple said: “You hear about the wall, how big it is, how far it stretches, but to see it twist and weave through the mountains as far as the eye can see. It’s really incredible.”
Another highlight for the couple is Old Bagan, an ancient city in the Mandalay region of Myanmar that served as the capital of the Pagan Kingdom from the 9th to the 13th centuries.
At its peak, the city was home to more than 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries. Today, the ruins of more than 2,000 temples and pagodas remain.
The couple said: “Due to the civil war in Myanmar, we were some of the only tourists and often had these amazing places to ourselves.”
Some “honorable mentions,” according to the couple, are Angkor Wat, a Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Siem Riep, Cambodia; Machu Picchu in Peru; and the Plain of Jars in Laos, an archaeological landscape known for its thousands of large stone jars.
A highlight for the couple is Old Bagan, an ancient city in the Mandalay region of Myanmar that served as the capital of the Pagan Kingdom.
The couple said: “Due to the civil war in Myanmar, we were some of the only tourists and often had amazing places to ourselves.” They are pictured left with a local in Old Bagan.
Haley is pictured above at the Plain of Jars in Laos, an archaeological landscape known for its thousands of large stone jars.
They also highlighted Upper Svaneti, a region in the mountainous area of Georgia famous for its well-preserved medieval villages.
While Haley and Zach’s quest has taken them to many incredible places, they noted, “Some of the sites are much better preserved or restored than others.”
One of their least favourite sites is the Chinchorro mummies in Arica, northern Chile. They are the oldest examples of artificially mummified human remains, having been buried up to 2,000 years before the Egyptian mummies. They said: “It’s interesting, but how can it compare to Machu Picchu?”
Another site that did not meet expectations is Tiwanaku, a pre-Columbian civilization that existed between 300 AD and 1100 AD.
The city, which is located in present-day Bolivia near Lake Titicaca, was one of the most important Andean civilizations. Today it contains several ruins, including the Akapana pyramid and the Kalasasaya temple, but, according to Haley and Zach, “There’s not much left to see.”
The couple have also been amazed by several sites, including the mining town of Sewell, which sits 2,200 metres (7,217 feet) above sea level in the Andes and sits above the world’s largest underground copper mine, El Teniente.
Tiwanaku (above), a pre-Columbian civilization that existed between 300 AD and 1100 AD, did not live up to the couple’s expectations. “There is not much left to see,” they said.
The couple mentioned the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia as one of their favourite Unesco sites. Hayley is pictured above at the site.
They said: “The effort and energy to be able to build this city so high in the Andes really impressed us.”
Kotor, a fortified town on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast, also left them stunned. They described it as “incredibly beautiful” and, in a TikTok video, claimed it had “the best views in Montenegro.”
Haley and Zach have been traveling the world full-time since 2022 and are funding their “big trip” with their savings. They said: “We both got jobs right out of college and saved aggressively.
“We have started to make some money through social media, but it is a very small amount.”
Their daily routine typically involves multiple bus rides, hitchhiking or extensive walking to reach a UNESCO site or nearby town.
They said: “The more remote sites are often not easily accessible and this makes planning difficult. Much of the ‘planning’ requires talking to locals as there is not always information readily available online.”
They travel on a budget and stay in hostels, guest houses or couch surfing, which they usually book a few hours before arriving in each city.
The couple have been amazed by several sites, including the mining town of Sewell, which sits 2,200 metres above sea level in the Andes (above)
The couple described Kotor, a fortified town on Montenegro’s Adriatic coast, as “incredibly beautiful.”
Haley is pictured on the left in Upper Svaneti, a region in Georgia’s mountainous area known for its well-preserved medieval villages. Zach is pictured on the right exploring the Bay of Kotor.
While moving so often can be “exhausting,” the couple said, “We love this type of travel, and even when things go wrong, we always laugh about it afterwards.”
What has been your favorite part of the trip? “All the people we’ve met along the way,” the couple said.
‘We’ve had help from complete strangers who have driven us out of nowhere, fed us, and put us up for the night simply because we were in their town and they wanted to meet us.’
Unesco sites They are monuments and protected areas recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for their historical-cultural or scientific value.
Countries that have signed the World Heritage Convention can submit proposals for sites they wish to see recognized and the list is updated annually.
