Let’s face it – abandoned places are a seriously cool alternative to overcrowded tourist hotspots. These once-bustling spots now sit frozen in time, slowly being eaten up by nature. They’re like spooky time capsules that tell stories of disasters, money problems, or people just packing up and leaving.
If you’re tired of the same old tourist haunts, these ghost towns offer something way more interesting. From sunken villages to radioactive cities, here’s your guide to mind-blowing abandoned places you can actually visit. Just remember to pack your big girl pants for these eerie visits!
11. Sfentyli, Greece
Hiding under Lake Aposelemis in Crete, you’ll find the ghostly remains of Sfentyli. The village drowned when officials built a dam in the late 1990s. But here’s the cool part – during dry seasons, the water drops and the village rises from the depths like something from a horror movie.
Stone houses, streets, and an old church emerge from the water looking creepy as can be. Locals love to tell stories about stubborn residents who stuck around until water literally reached their doorsteps. Want to explore? Bring waterproof shoes when water levels are low and prepare to splash through a real-life Atlantis.
10. Craco, Italy
Clinging to a steep hillside in southern Italy, Craco looks like the perfect setting for a fantasy movie – which explains why films like Quantum of Solace shot scenes here. Folks abandoned this medieval town in the 1960s after one too many landslides and earthquakes shook things up. The place dates all the way back to the 8th century!
The drive to Craco takes you through the winding roads of Basilicata with some jaw-dropping views of the clay hills around it. You can’t wander freely through the crumbling buildings (safety first!), but guided tours let you check out parts of this spectacular ghost town. The castle and church ruins are some of the most memorable highlights around here.
9. Burj Al Babas, Turkey
Unlike ghost towns with centuries of history, Burj Al Babas is what happens when modern development goes horribly wrong. Here, hundreds of identical mini Disney castles lined up in neat rows in the Turkish countryside. Construction kicked off in 2014 but screeched to a halt when the developers went broke.
The result? A totally bizarre landscape of cookie-cutter fairytale houses, each topped with turrets and fancy Gothic windows – all abandoned before anyone moved in. Something about these empty McMansions feels super unsettling. While it’s not officially open to tourists, plenty of travelers pull over on the nearby road to snap photos of this monument to real estate dreams gone wild.
8. Bokor Hill Station, Cambodia
Perched high in the misty mountains of southern Cambodia sits Bokor Hill Station, where French colonials escaped the coastal heat back in the 1920s. The crown jewel? The massive Bokor Palace Hotel, once the playground of the rich and famous. Abandoned first during the Khmer Rouge’s reign and then again in the early 2000s, these buildings now stand like ghosts from another era.
The frequent fog wrapping around the hotel adds serious creep factor, with the building appearing and disappearing in the mist. Parts of the area have gotten makeovers recently, but many original structures remain untouched. The drive up the twisty mountain road rewards you with killer views of the Gulf of Thailand when the weather plays nice.
7. Villa Epecuén, Argentina
This popular lakeside resort town got completely flooded in 1985 when the nearby salt lake went berserk after a rare storm. The entire town sat underwater for 25 years until the waters finally pulled back, revealing a seriously eerie landscape of salt-crusted ruins.
Today, you’ll find bleached white buildings and twisted metal everywhere – Mother Nature flexing her muscles. The high salt content preserved many buildings in a weirdly perfect state of decay. One stubborn former resident, Pablo Novak, moved back to the outskirts and sometimes gives impromptu tours. The twisted trees and crumbling buildings create a landscape that looks more like another planet than Argentina.
6. Houtouwan, China
Nature went absolutely wild on this fishing village on Shengshan Island. Locals left in the 1990s seeking better jobs on the mainland, and plants wasted no time taking over. Now, thick green vines smother every building, turning Houtouwan into what looks like a real-life Ghibli movie set.
The contrast between concrete buildings and the jungle taking them back makes for some stunning photos, especially during spring and summer. A few enterprising former residents have returned to cash in on curious tourists by selling drinks and snacks. Getting here isn’t easy – you’ll need to catch a ferry from Shanghai, grab a taxi, and then hike up some seriously steep paths. The journey itself is half the adventure!
5. Old Town of Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia
Smack in the northwestern deserts of Saudi Arabia stands the abandoned mud-brick city of Al-Ula, rocking at least 800 years of history. Hundreds of tightly packed houses, built from the same golden stone as the surrounding desert, create a maze of narrow alleys and hidden courtyards. Folks lived here right up until the 1980s before moving to more modern digs.
The desert climate has kept many details in amazing shape, from fancy wooden doors to intricate stone carvings. As Saudi Arabia throws open its doors to tourism, more travelers can now check out Al-Ula. Bonus points if you visit the nearby ancient Nabatean tombs of Hegra – they’re like Jordan’s Petra but without the crowds.
4. Pripyat, Ukraine
This is the granddaddy of all ghost towns. Pripyat emptied overnight after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Nearly 50,000 people called this Soviet-planned city home, and now it’s a time capsule of 1980s Soviet life. That abandoned amusement park with its lonely ferris wheel has become the poster child for nuclear disaster.
You can only visit with guided tours in the radiation exclusion zone, but don’t worry – they’ve got safety measures down. Walking through silent apartment blocks, schools with lessons still chalked on blackboards, and the cultural center with fallen chandeliers hits you right in the feels. Despite the grim history, wildlife has exploded here without humans around – the area accidentally became an amazing nature reserve.
3. Tskaltubo, Georgia
This Soviet-era spa town once had visitors lining up to soak in its radon-carbonate mineral springs. Even Stalin himself regularly chilled here. After the Soviet Union fell apart, the grand sanatoriums and hotels emptied out, although some later housed refugees from the Abkhazian conflict.
Today, these massive neoclassical buildings with their fancy mosaics, columns, and ballrooms sit in various stages of falling apart. Some bath houses still run, so you can enjoy the same treatments that Soviet big shots loved decades ago. Local guides can show you around the crumbling sanatoriums where trees now grow through once-luxurious rooms.
2. Kolmanskop, Namibia
Talk about a boom and bust! When folks discovered diamonds here in the early 1900s, they built a full-blown luxury town smack in the middle of the Namib Desert. We’re talking a hospital, ballroom, power station, and even an ice factory! When richer diamond deposits showed up elsewhere, everyone split. Now, sand dunes pour through doorways and fill entire rooms.
The mix of fancy European architecture and invading sand creates some mind-blowing scenes. Hit up the morning tours from nearby Lüderitz to catch perfect light beams streaming through windows into sand-filled rooms. You’ll need a permit to visit, which helps keep this weird and wonderful place intact for future explorers.
1. Poggioreale, Italy
When a massive earthquake rocked Sicily in 1968, Poggioreale residents just up and left, building a new town nearby. What makes this place special? Unlike most abandoned spots that thieves and vandals have picked clean, Poggioreale still has furniture in houses and equipment in shops. It’s like everyone just stepped out for lunch and never came back.
The town’s grid layout makes exploring super easy, with the main square giving you great views of the damaged church and municipal buildings. Walking these empty streets really drives home how quickly nature can reclaim our spaces. Recently, preservation efforts have begun to stabilize some buildings, and guides lead tours that keep you safe while helping preserve this remarkable time warp.
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