About us

TL;DR: We’re Jana+Matt. Since 2015 we’re on a mission, an epic expedition, and an unofficial Guinness World Record attempt to become the 1st to visit all [post:whs_inscribed_total!29521] UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

We are Jana and Matthias, together we travel the world as GuideVenturous. Jana is Czech, and Matt is Swedish, born in Germany. We live in Spain.

Since then we have built ourselves a life around that passion. We live for, and love to travel, explore, experience, and learn. This passion for culture, history, architecture, wildlife, the outdoors, and meeting people really is in our hearts.
The Expedition started in 2015 – our Travel Challenge to become the first on the planet to visit all UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This has never been done before. There are currently [post:whs_inscribed_total!29521] of them. We have, so far, travelled to 157 sites across 37 countries and 4 continents. We are documenting the progress to be able to set a Guinness World Record.

We live in Barcelona, Spain. There, our job is to share our passions face-to-face with fellow travellers from all over the world. We are working as professional tour guides hosting our own Barcelona tours. As independent tour guides, we have the freedom to take days off whenever we want to. This way we can travel somewhere almost every month, well at least that’s how it was pre-Covid. The European wintertime is the low season for our work. This allows us to take our expedition outside of Europe on longer adventures.

Under our GuideVenturous motto Discover, Preserve, Educate, Inspire we are promoting active, conscious, responsible and sustainable travelling – Travel With A Purpose. Our adventures and travel guides are documented here on GuideVenturous.com and on @GuideVenturous on Instagram and Facebook aiming to inspire and challenge others to follow in our footsteps.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
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Map Icon for an Inscribed Cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site
Map Icon for an Inscribed Natural UNESCO World Heritage Site
Map Icon for an Inscribed Mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site
Nominated Sites
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Map Icon for a Tentative/Nominated Cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site
Map Icon for a Tentative/Nominated Natural UNESCO World Heritage Site
Map Icon for a Tentative Mixed UNESCO World Heritage Site
Biospheres
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Map Icon for a UNESCO Man-Biosphere Reserve
Global Geoparks
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Map Icon for a UNESCO Global Geopark
RAMSAR Wetlands
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Ramsar Wetlands Convention
World Wonders
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Countries
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Continents
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About the Expedition

Discover

Discover

There is so much beauty in the world! We want to help you DISCOVER the most beautiful and most exceptional things on Earth! Let’s start with the planets 1154 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Each country suggests its own sites to the rest of the world. It’s not for free and it’s not easy so only the best are nominated. The rest of the world, through the UN, then decides. If they agree that the site is of outstanding cultural or natural importance to humanity, it will be listed. That’s a good start, don’t you think?
Calakmul Maya City UNESCO World Heritage Site in Campeche, Mexico
2020/02 Campeche, Mexico

Preserve

Preserve

World Heritage is about preservation. The whole idea was originally born out of a successful project to save the Nubian Abu Simbel and Philae in current Egypt. The USA lead the idea to PRESERVE the world’s superb natural and scenic areas and historic sites for the present and the future of the citizens of the entire world. Yes, the World Heritage Sites really belong to all of us, regardless of where they are located. The heritage is our heritage, humankind. Preservation and sustainability aare natural partners.
Gjirokastër Historic Centre UNESCO World Heritage Site
2020/11 Gjirokastër, Albania

Educate

Educate

How can you preserve and protect something you don’t know exists? How can you be proud of something you are unaware of? We aim to help EDUCATE everyone on the existence of these amazing and outstanding places on Earth. Aiming at a non-traditional and younger audience we use modern media presentation tools and aesthetics to document and present them. This to help build awareness across all age groups and genders. We want to help you find new destinations and possibly a new deeper appreciation and understanding for the sites you already knew about.
Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site in Tehuacán, Puebla, Mexico
2020/02 Tehuacán, Puebla, Mexico

Inspire

Inspire

Most importantly, we wish to INSPIRE and encourage fellow travellers to experience all these amazing existing and should-be UNESCO destinations. They are so unique and diverse there really is something there for everyone to enjoy. By showing them, and by leading by example, we wish for everyone, everywhere to become an active part of this movement. Travel for leisure but consciously, sustainably and with a purpose.
Trang An UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, Vietnam
2017/02 Ninh Binh, Red River Delta, Vietnam

Cultural Tourism Declaration

Heritage and Tourism Managers are encouraged to use these policy guidelines to facilitate and strengthen working relationships between those tasked with managing and promoting sustainable tourism and those tasked with safeguarding and conserving the Site's Outstanding Universal Value.

World Monuments Fund

Sustainable Travel Pledge

Tourism can be transformative for cultural heritage sites. As good stewards of our global cultural heritage, we want to do the most good, the least harm, and have a memorable experience.

@GuideVenturous