# What is the best UNESCO World Heritage Site in the United States?

> Boiling geysers, ancient earthworks, colonial forts and a swamp added only this year all carry the same UNESCO stamp. Choose the one you'd cross the country to see.

*By YPB Team · Published November 7, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-unesco-world-heritage-site-in-the-united-states*

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## Current results (1 vote)

1. **Grand Canyon National Park** — score 1000/1000
   Arizona park protecting the canyon carved by the Colorado River, more than a mile deep, inscribed in 1979.
2. **Yellowstone National Park** — score 748/1000
   The world's first national park, created in 1872 across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, known for its geysers and inscribed in 1978.
3. **Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks** — score 686/1000
   Eight monumental earthen enclosures in Ohio built by the Hopewell culture about 2,000 years ago, inscribed in 2023.
4. **Waterton-Glacier Peace Park** — score 663/1000
   Union of Montana's Glacier National Park and Alberta's Waterton Lakes National Park, the world's first international peace park, inscribed in 1995.
5. **San Antonio Missions** — score 645/1000
   Five 18th-century Spanish missions in San Antonio, Texas, including the Alamo, inscribed in 2015.
6. **Papahānaumokuākea** — score 613/1000
   Vast marine protected area around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, sacred in Native Hawaiian culture and inscribed as a mixed site in 2010.
7. **Historic Moravian Bethlehem** — score 548/1000
   The Pennsylvania part of the Moravian Church Settlements site, founded in 1741 and inscribed in 2024 alongside settlements in Denmark, Germany and Northern Ireland.
8. **Olympic National Park** — score 548/1000
   Washington park combining glaciated mountains, temperate rainforest and Pacific coastline, inscribed in 1981.
9. **La Fortaleza and San Juan** — score 548/1000
   Spanish colonial fortifications of San Juan, Puerto Rico, including El Morro and the governor's residence La Fortaleza, inscribed in 1983.
10. **Chaco Culture** — score 547/1000
   New Mexico complex of Ancestral Puebloan great houses such as Pueblo Bonito, together with Aztec Ruins, inscribed in 1987.
11. **Monticello and University of Virginia** — score 490/1000
   Thomas Jefferson's Charlottesville home and the university campus he designed, inscribed together in 1987.
12. **Taos Pueblo** — score 490/1000
   Multi-storey adobe village in New Mexico, continuously inhabited by the Taos people for centuries, inscribed in 1992.
13. **Cahokia Mounds** — score 490/1000
   Illinois site of the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico, centred on the earthen Monks Mound, inscribed in 1982.
14. **Mammoth Cave National Park** — score 490/1000
   Kentucky park around the longest known cave system in the world, inscribed in 1981.
15. **Hawaii Volcanoes National Park** — score 425/1000
   Park on the Big Island of Hawaii containing the active volcanoes Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, inscribed in 1987.
16. **Mesa Verde National Park** — score 425/1000
   Colorado park preserving Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings such as Cliff Palace, inscribed in 1978.
17. **Poverty Point** — score 350/1000
   Louisiana earthworks of concentric ridges and mounds built by hunter-gatherers more than 3,000 years ago, inscribed in 2014.
18. **Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings** — score 350/1000
   Eight buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright, including Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum, inscribed together in 2019.
19. **Independence Hall** — score 350/1000
   Philadelphia building where the Declaration of Independence was adopted in 1776 and the US Constitution was drafted in 1787, inscribed in 1979.
20. **Carlsbad Caverns National Park** — score 350/1000
   New Mexico park containing more than 100 limestone caves, including the Big Room, inscribed in 1995.
21. **Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge** — score 350/1000
   Blackwater swamp wilderness in southeast Georgia, centred on the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2026.
22. **Statue of Liberty** — score 350/1000
   Bartholdi's copper statue on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, dedicated in 1886 and inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1984.
23. **Great Smoky Mountains National Park** — score 264/1000
   Forested Appalachian park on the North Carolina and Tennessee border, the most visited US national park, inscribed in 1983.
24. **Everglades National Park** — score 264/1000
   Subtropical wetland at the southern tip of Florida, home to American alligators and the Florida panther, inscribed in 1979.
25. **Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay** — score 163/1000
   The Alaskan parks of a glacier-covered wilderness site shared with Canada's Kluane and Tatshenshini-Alsek parks, first inscribed in 1979.
26. **Redwood National and State Parks** — score 0/1000
   Northern California parks protecting old-growth coast redwoods, the tallest trees on Earth, inscribed in 1980.
27. **Yosemite National Park** — score 0/1000
   California park in the Sierra Nevada known for El Capitan, Half Dome and its granite valley, inscribed in 1984.

Tags: usa, travel, landmarks, national-parks, unesco