Abandoned Places
Cities and islands the world walked away from.
The most fascinating abandoned places in the world are not off-limits — many are legal to visit with a guide. Explore abandoned cities, ghost towns, deserted islands and forgotten industrial ruins swallowed by sand, forest or radiation. Each abandoned place is rated 1–5 for mystery, mapped, and covered with the practical facts urban explorers need: permitted access, official tours, safety warnings, the best light for photography and the nearest town to stay in. Whether you call it urbex, ruin tourism or abandoned-place photography, this is where to start planning.
4 destinations
Abandoned Places destinations
Pripyat, Ukraine
Pripyat
Pripyat was built in 1970 for the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. Almost 50,000 people lived there. On 27 April 1986, the day after the reactor explosion, everyone was evacuated in a few hours. They were told it was temporary. Nobody moved back.
Nagasaki, Japan
Hashima Island
Hashima, known as Battleship Island, is a small concrete island off Nagasaki. Thousands of coal miners and their families lived here in some of Japan's first big concrete apartment blocks. The mine closed in 1974 and everyone left within weeks. The buildings have been falling apart ever since.
Lüderitz, Namibia
Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop is a German built diamond town in the Namib desert, near Lüderitz in Namibia. It was rich, then the diamonds ran out, and by 1956 it was empty. Sand has poured through the doors ever since. Some rooms are half full of dunes.
Fairbanks, USA
Bus 142 — The Into the Wild Magic Bus
Bus 142 is the abandoned bus where Christopher McCandless died in Alaska in 1992, made famous by the book and film Into the Wild. So many people got into trouble trying to reach it that the bus was airlifted out in 2020. It is now on display in Fairbanks, and the original site is empty.