Wallpaper peeling from the walls, mouldy ceilings and furniture left frozen in time – these popular holiday hotspots were once filled with buzzing conversations and laughter. But they were all then abandoned by their former proprietors. Some have been repurposed, others have been demolished, and some still sit empty, time capsules for urban explorers, photographers and ghost hunters.
From a crumbling cruise ship to North Korea's failed floating hotel, click through this gallery to see astonishing images of abandoned hotels and resorts from past and present...
Overlooking the stunning Tequendama Falls, this hotel opened in 1929. For decades it welcomed thousands of wealthy tourists, who came to see the spectacular waterfall on the Bogota River. Nicknamed 'The Mansion of Tequendama Falls', it was easy to reach by train from the capital city Bogota.
As the Bogota River became increasingly contaminated with sewage and other liquid waste, the tourist numbers slowly dwindled. The hotel closed in the early 1980s and lay dormant for three decades, accumulating moss and rumours of hauntings. More recently, the building reopened as the Tequendama Falls Museum, which showcases the natural wonders of the falls it was originally built to overlook.
Even celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay couldn’t work enough magic to save this hotel and restaurant after it was featured on his Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares TV programme in 2005. Just two years later in 2007, the once-popular family-owned spot in the English city of Derby shut its doors for good, and the site lay abandoned for years.
Over the course of a decade the hotel's 20 rooms and 70-seat restaurant were left to fall into disrepair, and it became a target for antisocial behaviour. Photographed here in 2017, the decor remained much as it was when the last guests checked out, with beds made, curtains drawn, doors ajar and fixtures still in place.
The abandoned building may now be entering its last days, as developers have been plotting for some time to tear the hotel down and replace it with a block of flats. Derby City Council initially refused their proposals, but in early 2024 the hotel's demolition was approved. A date has not yet been set so the hotel still stands – for now.
Built in the Art Deco style, and designed to look like a ship, this hotel opened in 1932 beside the railway station in the French town of Cerbere, and originally had a tennis court on its roof. Its proximity to the Spanish border meant that it had to close during the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War, and it never really recovered. It closed down for the final time in 1983.
Now a listed historic monument, part of the building has been restored and converted into holiday flats, with the Art Deco features still intact. The original owner's great-grandson is still in charge, and puts on events including dance workshops and cinema screenings to keep the building alive.
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A kosher establishment particularly popular with wealthy Jewish families, Grossinger’s built a reputation as a luxurious summer retreat for New Yorkers in the upstate Catskill Mountains. It became the first ski resort in the world to use artificial snow in 1952, and during its heyday the hotel hosted big names like Elizabeth Taylor and Jackie Robinson. The resort slowly lost its luxurious lustre when the advent of affordable plane travel meant New Yorkers could just as easily break in Charleston or Miami.
Grossinger's supposedly inspired the resort in smash hit 1987 rom-com Dirty Dancing, but the hotel itself was closed and abandoned the year before the film came out. Its ice rink, swimming pool and tennis courts were left to the elements, and were slowly reclaimed by the forest. Many of the buildings were demolished in 2018 and a fire gutted much of what was left in 2022.
Salton Sea in California was home to several bustling resort towns in the 1950s, including Salton City and Bombay Beach. Its name suggests a coastal location, but it's actually a desert lake southeast of Palm Springs that formed in 1905 when the Colorado River overflowed from an irrigation project into a deep basin in the desert floor. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and the Beach Boys were once found in the Sea's resorts.
Through the second half of the 20th century, Salton Sea went from beach paradise to environmental disaster. Overflow from farms saw pesticides and pollutants flood into the lake, devastating local wildlife, while drought and changes in local water management saw it slowly dry up, releasing more toxic dust from the exposed lakebed. Unsurprisingly, tourists stopped coming, and now only abandoned remnants of its motels, diners and boat ramps remain.
The Lee Plaza opened in 1928, facilitated by local developer Ralph T Lee, as an upscale residential hotel. However, both Lee and the hotel suffered during the Great Depression and both were bankrupt by 1935. The hotel scraped by for a couple of decades, became an old peoples' home in the late 1960s and closed completely in 1997. Once a symbol of luxury with a ballroom adorned with crystal chandeliers, the building instead became a symbol of Detroit's decay.
Detroit has started to bounce back in recent years, and so too has the hotel. After several years of wrangling, the city housing commission sold the vandalised building to developers in 2019. Renovations are now finally underway, with a view to turning the building into a high-rise apartment block.
Originally opened in 1953, this resort became extremely popular after it appeared in the 1961 Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii. It closed in 1992 after sustaining significant damage from Hurricane Iniki, and lay shuttered for decades. Hyatt attempted to reopen the resort in 2018, but the project collapsed. Now developers are trying again, and refurbishments started in early 2024 with a view to reopening in 2026.
One of the pioneers of Croatian tourism, Kupari holiday village was expanded significantly during the 1960s to be a retreat for Yugoslavian military officers and their families. But when the Croatian War of Independence broke out in 1991, the resort was heavily bombed. Once-thriving swimming pools and hotels – such as the Hotel Pelegrin, once the largest hotel on the Adriatic coast – were left to graffiti artists, vandals and the weather.
The enormous site became a popular destination for urban explorers, and the saga surrounding its possible redevelopment has dragged on for years. The site is still an ideal resort location, but numerous owners, building restrictions and piles of paperwork have made restoration complicated. For now, the battered buildings still stand derelict.
Part of the Bokor Hill Station – a complex of French-colonial buildings constructed in the 1920s atop Bokor Mountain in Cambodia – this majestic hotel served as a mountain retreat for European elites while Cambodia was under French rule, but was abandoned in the 1940s. It fell into disrepair and, barring a renaissance as a casino in the 1960s, was used as a stronghold by political groups until the early 1990s.
Modern infrastructure has brought tourists back to the mountain, and the moss-covered, hollowed-out building has now enjoyed a grand restoration by Sokha Hotels and Resorts. In 2009, the rebuilding project broke ground and the new Bokor Palace Hotel officially opened in 2018, with two restaurants and 36 opulent rooms.
Located by the spectacular Puente del Inca rock formations and hot springs in the Argentinian Andes, this hotel was built in 1925. Every room in this luxury retreat had its own spa until it was destroyed by landslides in the 1960s, and it's lain abandoned ever since. Now only a small part of the original building (pictured here) survives, washed orange and green by the minerals of the mountain.
Built between 1936 and 1939, this beach resort spanned an astonishing 2.8 miles (4.5km) along a lagoon on the isle of Rugen in the Baltic Sea. A particularly striking example of the Brutalist architecture preferred by the Nazi regime, the eight enormous holiday buildings were intended to provide recreation to Nazi party members, and collectively became known as the Colossus of Prora. Construction was never finished, and the buildings were never used for their intended purpose.
Since the Second World War, the buildings have been used by the Soviet army, the East German army and finally the modern German army. Controversially, some of the buildings have now been repurposed as a residential development and holiday resort, which includes one of the world's largest youth hostels. A section also now houses a museum about the complex's dark past.
These futuristic holiday homes were built in 1978 and initially marketed at US military officers with East Asian postings, but construction was abandoned in 1980 before they were finished thanks to financial troubles and the deaths of several workers. The so-called 'UFO houses' resemble the Futuro houses found elsewhere in Taiwan – pod homes dreamed up by Finnish architect Matti Suuronen as dwellings that could be easily and quickly mass-produced.
These Smartie-shaped pods became an unlikely tourist attraction thanks to their distinctive appearance, but quickly became overgrown and covered with graffiti. The so-called 'pod city' was demolished in 2010, apparently to make way for a seaside holiday resort and water park, and now little trace of them remains.
Originally founded as a tavern in the Pocono Mountains, this resort had two outdoor pools shaped like wedding bells and was particularly popular with honeymooning couples. It reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s, with red-carpeted rooms, heart-shaped Jacuzzis and a golf course, but finally closed in 2009 after decades of decline when its co-founder Frances Paolillo died aged 102.
The county took over the estate due to unpaid taxes, but repeated appointments with the wrecking ball and at least two fires mean there's now almost nothing of the resort left. The hotel briefly hit the headlines in 2014 during the manhunt for murderer Eric Frein, who killed a state trooper in an attack on a police barracks and was rumoured to be hiding out there.
North of Kobe in Japan, the Maya Hotel sits atop Mount Maya, and was originally built in 1929. A great example of Japanese enthusiasm for Western Art Deco architecture prior to the Second World War, the hotel has been opened and closed several times during its long life. During the war its roof was fitted with anti-aircraft guns and it was damaged by air raids.
Sometimes called Japan's 'Queen of Ruins', the hotel was reopened in the 1960s but closed after being damaged by a typhoon and mudslide. It opened yet again as a student centre in the 1970s, but never really took off and was shuttered yet again after an earthquake in 1995. In 2021, the site was registered as a cultural property by the Japanese government.
First established as a health retreat in the early 20th century, Gagra was intensely developed as part of the 'Soviet Riviera' along the coast of the Black Sea during the 1920s. The resort town was immensely popular with holidaying Soviets, but also served as a rehabilitation site for wounded Soviet soldiers during the Second World War.
In its heyday the town had its own railway station, theatre and beachside colonnade, and was filled with stunning holiday homes. However, many of these were abandoned in the late 1980s when tensions grew between different communities in the region. The resort suffered heavy damage during the Abkhazian-Georgian war in 1992.
This elegant building started life as a hunting lodge, but was made into what it is today by an Italian marquis in the mid-19th century. The resulting castle showcased beautiful Arabesque design and boasted 365 rooms – one for each day of the year. Set amid the glorious Tuscan countryside, the castle was redeveloped into a luxury hotel in the post-war era but was abandoned in 1990.
Its elegant tiling and colourful murals are still a joy to behold, but the building has not been well looked after and is in dire need of attention. A local committee is attempting to save the castle – and has in the past held events there – but for now the building remains dilapidated and closed to the public.
Check out these incredible pictures of tourist attractions that no longer exist
Before the Turkish invasion in 1974, Varosha – situated in the southern quarter of Famagusta in Cyprus – was a thriving holiday destination filled with resorts and hotels. Thanks to its stunning sands, it was once known as the 'Las Vegas of the Mediterranean' and attracted Hollywood celebrities ranging from Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton to Brigitte Bardot.
When the Turkish army arrived, Varosha's inhabitants fled as quickly as its tourists, and it's sat abandoned behind barbed wire ever since. Varosha remains a military zone, although Turkish authorities controversially started allowing Turkish tourists to visit parts of the beach in 2017, and have since opened up parts of the town. The hotels, however, remain empty and abandoned.
Dubrovnik, Croatia’s most popular tourist destination, is a thriving city that attracts millions of visitors every year. In the late-1980s the Hotel Belvedere was one of its crown jewels, with 200 rooms, a helipad and even its own private dock. But the five-star resort was abandoned during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991 when Dubrovnik was besieged at the start of the conflict.
Just above the seashore with views over sea and city, this sprawling resort has stood abandoned ever since and has fallen victim to vandalism. However, part of the hotel was used during the filming of season four of Game of Thrones – specifically the now-infamous trial by combat scene between Oberyn Martell and the Mountain. There are plans afoot to revamp the Belvedere by demolishing its empty shell and building an equally glittering resort in its place.
Another abandoned holiday resort in the Pocono Mountains, Buck Hill Inn was founded in 1901 by a group of friends from Philadelphia, and expanded rapidly to become a luxury retreat, with tennis courts, an outdoor pool and a golf course all added over the years. But the hotel failed to modernise and financial troubles and several fires led to its closure in 1990.
The much-loved hotel still cut an impressive figure on the hillside, but its historic stonework would have taken vast sums of money to properly restore. The inn and its 400 rooms were demolished in 2016, 25 years after its closure. All that's left of the site today is a grassy field.
One of the first high-rise buildings in the city, the Divine Lorraine first served as a luxury apartment complex before reopening as a hotel in 1900. In 1948 the hotel was bought by spiritual leader Reverend MJ Divine (known as Father Divine), who turned it into one of the first fully racially-integrated hotels in the USA. It closed in 1999 and was reduced to a hollow shell, with almost no windows or doors remaining. In 2016 the building was turned into luxury apartments, but it is still known as the Divine Lorraine Hotel.
Opened in the early 1990s to lure tourists to the then under-visited islands of the Azores, Hotel Monte Palace operated for just a few years before it was shuttered and abandoned. Since then, the massive mountaintop resort has become a popular destination for urban explorers keen to photograph its crumbling shell, dilapidated rooms and stunning vistas of the Sete Cidades lake.
Broken and defaced, you would never know to look at the hotel today that it once offered the pinnacle of luxury. The ghostly five-storey building was bought by a real estate group in 2018 who planned to redevelop the hotel into a new resort by 2021. So far not much has happened, and the hotel remains in ruins.
Built in the 1960s, Kozubnik was a Communist Party holiday resort complete with swimming pools, saunas, restaurants, bars and even a bowling alley. Situated in the valley of Mala Puszcza (meaning Little Wood) in southern Poland, it boasted an idyllic location surrounded by hills and thick forests.
After communism fell in Poland in 1989, the resort was sold to a private company, who closed the hotel when it went bankrupt in 1996. Much photographed over the years, the graffiti-covered complex has now been purchased and is being redeveloped into a large block of flats.
Built in 1868, this spa resort in the Ardennes region closed when a new, more modern spa facility opened up nearby. Built in the mock-Italian style, its grand fittings and fixtures are still in remarkable condition, with high ceilings adorned with colourful paintings banded with white and gold, and marble statues topping Neoclassical columns. The building has proved popular with urban explorers and has been heavily photographed.
The hollow shell of the Royal Hotel is all that remains of Linda, a ghost town in western Tasmania. Towards the end of the 19th century it was a thriving mining town that lived off the nearby North Mount Lyell Mine, but after the mine was bought out in 1903 the town immediately began to decline. The Royal Hotel was renowned for its raucousness and had a reputation for brawls.
The hotel was burned down and rebuilt in 1910, hit headlines when a young man was stabbed there in 1925 and repeatedly breached liquor licensing laws. But its notoriety could not save it and it finally closed in the 1950s. It's lain abandoned ever since, but was bought by a family from Melbourne in 2020 who have opened a cafe by the hotel, and have ambitious plans to eventually restore it.
Built by the Intercontinental Hotels chain in 1960, the Ducor Palace Hotel had 106 rooms and for many years was one of the finest and most luxurious hotels in West Africa. It closed in 1989 due to political turmoil – just before the outbreak of the first Liberian Civil War – and since then has been repeatedly damaged by fighting, looting and squatting, leaving it in the state of disrepair you see today.
Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie once stayed here, but it's hard to believe that now. Towering above the Liberian capital, the hotel can still be seen by visitors, and its 10 floors still serve up excellent views out over the Atlantic. Pictured here is the hotel's circular driveway, just below the site that once held its popular French restaurant.
Isolated in the Philippine Sea, around 178 miles (286km) south of Tokyo, Hachijo Island was once known as 'the Hawaii of Japan'. Designed to accommodate visitors during a tourism boom in the early 1960s, the Hachijo Oriental Resort was thought to be Japan's largest resort and boasted a pool table, plunge pool and an entrance hall adorned with a marble staircase and chandeliers. But in 2006, thanks to dwindling tourist numbers, the magnificent Baroque building checked in its final paying guests.
Today the hotel lies in ruins by the roadside and is the preserve of adventurous explorers and squatters. The elegant, sculpted water fountain and well-decorated bedrooms sit empty, but for the plants slowly creeping in through the walls and windows. Many of the rooms remain as they were left, with clothes folded, bedding untouched and pans hanging on hooks.
A little over 30 years ago, this shabby-looking abandoned hotel started life as a glitzy new floating resort over Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. With 176 rooms, a nightclub, two restaurants and even a tennis court, it was designed for divers looking to stay in the heart of luxury near the reef. But it was beset with problems from the get-go: it was struck by a cyclone a week before opening, it cost vast quantities to maintain, guests suffered seasickness and it coped poorly with bad weather.
After moving to Vietnam’s Saigon River and reopening for a longer, more successful stint, it was moved once again and reopened in 2000 in the picturesque Mount Kumgang area in North Korea. Yet in 2008, the shooting of a tourist and subsequent political tensions in the area forced it to close. In 2019, Kim Jong-Un visited and ordered that it be demolished, and in 2022 South Korean intelligence reported that the sentence had been carried out.
A once-thriving resort in the Bang Bao Bay on an island in southern Thailand, Koh Chang Grand Lagoona Resort hasn't seen any visitors check in since 2016. This seven-storey cruise ship turned floating hotel, named The Galaxy, was once the resort's flagship offering, with 70 bedrooms serving up varying levels of luxury. After the resort closed, the so-called 'ghost ship' soon became a popular tourist attraction in its own right.
The ship is now rusted beyond repair and is an eerie place to explore as most furnishings, crockery and decor have been left behind. It's developed a reputation for hauntings and spooky tales, and a regular stream of ghost hunters and explorers still trickle through its doors. The rest of the resort is equally abandoned, with beachside amenities, cabins and a pool all left behind.
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