written by Rough Guides Editors
updated 5.08.2021
Peeling paint, walls dripping with condensation and windows with shattered glass – there's something very eerie about an unlived-in building. From discarded hotels to ghost towns and flooded villages, we've rounded up some of the spookiest abandoned places in the world, for intrepid travellers with a macabre sense of adventure.
Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, where Al Capone was an inmate © Zack Frank/Shutterstock
Abandoned hotel (illustration) © Cristian Lipovan/Shutterstock
Winchester Mystery House, California © Top Photo Corporation/Shutterstock
Bodie Ghost Town, California © Boris Edelmann/Shutterstock
Varosha, Cyprus © Baran Arda/Shutterstock
Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, North Korea © Oleg Znamenskiy/Shutterstock
San Juan Nuevo Parangaricutiro, Michoacan, Mexico © stacyarturogi/Shutterstock
A ships float past the famous Kalyazin Bell Tower © Elena Ignatyeva/Shutterstock
Tunnel at Bunker-42, anti-nuclear underground facility built in 1956 as command post of strategic nuclear forces of Soviet Union © Gilmanshin/Shutterstock
Presidio Modelo Prison on the Isle of Youth, Cuba © Danita Delimont/Shutterstock
For abandoned places of a different era, don't miss our list of the great lost cities of the world.
Maunsell Sea Forts © The Drone Company/Shutterstock
© Anna Vaczi/Shutterstock
© Shutterstock
Hashima Island (Gunkanjima / Battleship Island) © Sitthinart Susevi/Shutterstock
Interior from the famous abandoned Hospital Complex in Beelitz, Berlin, Germany © Pixeljoy/Shutterstock
Underground submarine base in Balaklava, Crimea © Igor Krasilov/Shutterstock