Tikal

Declared in 1955, Tikal is one of the few sites in the world with a dual UNESCO World Heritage listing (1979), both for its natural value — virtually intact Petén rainforest — and its cultural one, holding as it does one of the largest cities of the Classic Maya period (4th to 10th centuries), with pyramid temples over 60 metres high that still rise above the forest canopy. The city, whose population at its height is estimated at as many as 90,000, was abandoned gradually towards the 10th century in the so-called Classic Maya collapse, a phenomenon whose exact causes — prolonged drought, agricultural overexploitation, conflict between city-states — are still debated. Its temples stood in for the rebel base on Yavin 4 in the first Star Wars film, in 1977.