Abandoned Cities: 5 Places Where Time Stood Still

Sometimes a trip needs a little adrenaline. And you don’t necessarily have to parachute, paraglide over the city (which is also very cool!) or provoke local bandits by walking alone in dark alleys. You can simply visit an abandoned city and wander through deserted streets, trying to understand why people once left this place. In this article, we’ve gathered 5 abandoned cities that you can include in your next travel itinerary.

Houtouwan Village

The place is nestled deep on Shengshan Island, not far from Shanghai. As recently as 2000, life was bustling here, with fishermen scurrying back and forth. Now the village is practically deserted; residents are as rare as a five-leaf clover. The houses are semi-abandoned, nature has enveloped the stone houses and become the rightful owner.

Tours are brought here, but you can also explore on your own by arriving by ferry. The remaining residents don’t pay much attention to tourists, but still, before wandering into someone else’s house, even if it looks abandoned, make sure it’s truly deserted.

Craco

Between Naples and Bari lies the rock city of Craco. Centuries ago, monks hid here from sailors. Thus, a city began to emerge within the contours of the rock. However, nothing lasts forever, and the mountain is slowly crumbling, driving away people who had settled there to live out their old age.

Today, tourists and filmmakers visit the town; Craco has already appeared in Quantum of Solace and some other films. You can get there by car or train. In the latter case, you need to take a train from Bari station to Pisticci Scalo station, which is 20 km from Craco. Then you transfer to a bus.

Wünsdorf

Not quite a city, more of a district. It has a rich military history, serving as a key headquarters during World War II and later becoming a closed military base during the Cold War. Now you can take a tour and see what the old schools, bunkers, and theaters looked like. In Germany, the place is considered a "Forbidden City," so some structures have been preserved in decent condition.

To get there, take a train from Berlin’s main station to Wünsdorf-Waldstadt station; the journey takes an hour.

Oradour-sur-Glane

This is a French village that suffered during World War II. At that time, only a little over 600 people lived there. Although it is partially destroyed, not abandoned, it is still not closed off to tourists. Now it is an open-air museum that holds many memories. A modern Oradour was built nearby, while the old one remains a corner of history.

The nearest relatively large city is Limoges. Buses run from there, taking about half an hour.

Bodie

One of the best-preserved ghost towns in California. Hundreds of years ago, gold was mined here, but then it ran out, the railway was dismantled, and the city’s development stopped. In the 1960s, the town reopened as a national park.

It’s amazing how well even the window panes have been preserved — they are intact! Furniture, household items—everything awaits your attention and admiration. Bodie is like a portal to the world of the Wild West, just without all the thematic hustle and bustle.