A cruise down the Gordon River rewards with mirror-calm reflections of World Heritage Area rainforest. Gordon River Cruises and World Heritage Cruises can take you down this ancient waterway stopping off at Sarah Island where you'll get a history lesson as you walk among the ruins of this once notorious convict settlement.

Once the first free settlement in the Americas founded by those who escaped slavery during the colonial period, the town of San Basilio de Palenque still stands today, and with it the unique culture of its inhabitants. A portion of the population still speaks palenquero, a creole tongue that emerged from a mix of several European and African languages, now used almost exclusively in San Basilio de Palenque. Music and dance occupy a place of paramount importance in residents' lives, with the Drums and Cultural Expressions Festival held annually in October. The palenque cuisine deserves a separate mention — a culinary tradition upheld by inhabitants of a small Colombian village has garnered international acclaim, with a cookbook written in the town receiving the highest prize at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2014. If your schedule happens to be too tight for a dedicated day trip (which earns our highest recommendation), try some of the tropical fruit sold by palenqueras in downtown Cartagena. The village was named Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.

Founded in 2001, this museum is devoted to showing the rise and fall of the labor camp system in Russia called Gulag. Here you can find both permanent and temporary exhibitions as well as concerts and events.

This enormous, beautiful cathedral is located by the river and was designed by the architect Konstantin Ton. You can recognise the cathedral by its copper domes that dominate the skyline.