These Are the Creepiest Abandoned Hotels in the World
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The world is filled with beautiful, bustling hotels and resorts where booking a room is either impossible due to occupancy or requires selling a kidney to afford. But if your wanderlust is triggered not by luxury and liveliness, but by tristesse, failure, and decay, you can have your radioactive, graffiti-covered cake and eat it too. In the heart of many tourist destinations around the world, sometimes hidden in plain sight, there are abandoned hotels and deserted resorts for you to explore.
For example, there is the ghostly shell that is Lee Plaza in Detroit. Once a beacon of Art Deco grandeur in the Motor City, built during the golden era of the auto industry, its faded exterior now tells a story of neglect and abandonment. Peering through broken windows, take a gander at the dilapidated once-grand lobby, now decorated with graffiti and noxious debris. Further afield, in the jungles of Cambodia, is Bokor Palace Hotel, a deserted retreat that was once a magnet for French colonists. Today, it stands as an eyesore with a crumbling facade and overgrown gardens.
These sad relics offer a glimpse into a dead world—as a memento mori, perhaps—the more haunted the better. If you’re more wan than winning, these 12 abandoned hotels and deserted resorts will depress you to your heart’s content.
Polissya Hotel, Pripyat, Ukraine
Pripyat was once home to the Pripyat Hotel, which was abandoned following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. This should go without saying, but...don’t book a trip here.
Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, North Korea
Construction began on the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea’s capital during the reign of the Hermit Kingdom’s autocratic founder Kim Il sung in 1987. The goal was to build the world’s tallest hotel, yet, almost 40 years later, it remains unfinished. We wouldn’t suggest seeing this one IRL either.
The Burj Al Babas, Turkey
Among the creepiest entries on our list, this megadevelopment of 587 identical mini castles on the Black Sea had to be abandoned during the 2008 economic crisis.
Kupari, Croatia
This former Yugoslav military resort town was made up of five luxury hotels in the 1960s. They were all abandoned during the Croatian War of Independence in the early 1990s.
Hotel Belvédère, Furka Pass, Switzerland
This little Belle Époque gem overlooking the Rhône Glacier on the side of one of Switzerland’s signature winding mountain roads closed down in 2016. The reason given was a precipitous drop in visitors on account of the glacier dramatically receding.
Varosha, Famagusta, Cyprus
Varosha, once a popular tourist destination, is now an abandoned resort district following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
Hachijo Royal Hotel, Hachijojima Island, Japan
This luxury hotel, one of the largest in Japan, was built on the volcanic island in the Philippine Sea in the 1960s. It was abandoned in the early aughts as tourism numbers plummeted.
Baker Hotel, Mineral Wells, Texas
Built in 1929, the Baker, whose guests ranged from Lyndon B. Johnson to Bonnie and Clyde, was once a luxurious destination known for its mineral baths and grand architecture. In 1972, it closed its doors due to financial difficulties and has remained vacant ever since.
Bokor Palace Hotel, Cambodia
Located atop Bokor Mountain, this hotel opened in 1919 and was abandoned in the 1940s. In 2018, it was finally renovated and reopened its doors.
Hotel del Salto, Tequendama Falls, Colombia
Situated near Bogotá, this historic hotel perched on a cliff overlooking a waterfall was abandoned due to contamination of the nearby river.
Lee Plaza Hotel, Detroit
Originally built in the late 1920s, the quintessence of Midwestern Art Deco, this 16-story relic of the city’s past has been abandoned since 1997.
Sheraton Resort Rarotonga, Cook Islands
In 1987, work began on the Sheraton Rarotonga. Construction was stymied because a local claimed to be the owner of the land. There were also claims of organized crime interference.
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