Explore the world’s first digital UNESCO trail

VisitScotland has partnered with UNESCO to launch the world’s first digital UNESCO Trail. Scotland is the first country to bring together all its 13 UNESCO sites into one trail.

Start by exploring the stunning nature Scotland offers, or if you like to travel into the past, there are many different historical spots, creative hubs and Geoparks.

The trail includes six World Heritage Sites, three Creative Cities: Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, two Biosphere Reserves, and two Global Geoparks.

St Kilda is a group of islands: Hirta, Dùn, Soay, Boreray and Levenish. Their natural habitats have developed and adapted over millions of years.

They also offer unique history – there is a landscape abandoned by an entire community in 1930. There are also preserved archaeological sites and relics, revealing the islanders’ close relationship with their unique natural environment.

While strolling around the streets of the Old Town, surrounded by astonishing architecture, you will get the chance to learn more about the creation of the New Town. There is a new view on every corner.

The monuments here are proof of the everlasting impact that architecture can make. They are a tribute to the skills of the prehistoric people of Orkney who built this site 5,000 years ago. This spot creates a sense of place because you will see how the sites relate to the landscapes around them and imagine how the communities lived their day-to-day lives.

The cotton mill ran from 1785 to 1968. It is a site ahead of its time and is best known for Robert Owen’s social reforms, such as shorter working days, ending child labour under the age of 10, and free medical care for workers in the mill. It has become an example of a purpose-built 18th-century mill village.

This is the Roman Empire’s most northerly frontier. Built on the orders of Emperor Antoninus Pius around 142 AD, the border was lined with 17 forts and patrolled by 7,000 soldiers. The site allows people of all ages to learn more about it in a less academic way through replica distance slabs and Roman-themed playparks.

Considered one of the most iconic structures of its kind, it’s 2,529 metres (8,296 ft) long and over 100 metres high. The red railway bridge was revolutionary as it was the first major engineering structure in the world to be built from mild steel, a more cost-effective and reliable material than Bessemer steel.

The city of design – Dundee is where innovation and creativity collaborate, turning its focus from textile and shipbuilding industries to a multidisciplinary design hub. There is so much to explore in this city, from Discovery Point, where the RRS Discovery is situated, to the Dundee Rep Theatre. Don’t forget to enjoy the views from the dazzling waterfront as well.

This city has left a mark on literature with iconic writers such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns, JM Barrie, Muriel Spark and JK Rowling. In 2004, Edinburgh became the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature.

Glasgow is a UNESCO City of Music, full of music venues, record shops, buskers and live music every week.

The biosphere covers 5,268 square kilometres of southwest Scotland, centring on the hills and moors of the Merrick. It is known for its geology, its landscapes and its wildlife.

Situated in the northwest Highlands of Scotland, Wester Ross is where communities live in harmony with the land and sea. The land takes in beaches, lochs, centuries-old pinewoods, deep glens and mountains.

It’s a destination that offers a variety of different rock geologies, including the oldest rock in Europe, the Lewisian Gneiss, which is about 3 billion years old. The earliest evidence of life anywhere in Europe was also found here.

Shetland allows you to combine having a stroll on an ancient ocean floor, exploring an extinct volcano and walking across shifting sands all in one place. It has one of the best-preserved archaeologies in Europe due to the lack of trees and an abundance of stones.

Ready to explore the UNESCO Trail? Head over to the VisitScotland site.