40 Interesting But Forgotten Places Photographed By Urban Explorers

Lots of us fantasize about a life filled with travel and adventure. While discovering new lands may be out of reach for most of us nowadays, there’s still plenty of excitement to be found in exploring abandoned places.

Enter the hugely popular r/urbanexploration online group, where urban adventurers from across the globe share photos from their expeditions. We’ve gathered some of the most awe-inspiring pics posted by members of this community. Take a look below to see what they’ve uncovered.

#1 Abandoned Church In The Woods

Image source: reddit.com

Nonna_SoF: If video games have taught me anything there’s loot near by.

#2 Aqueduct, Arkadia

Image source: luucylouu

#3 Abandoned Church In Italy Overtaken By Plants

Image source: romanrobroek

#4 Amazing Talent

Image source: straydog1964

#5 I Drove Over 1,000 Miles This Weekend To Visit An Abandoned Mine. It Was Worth It

Image source: kenfagerdotcom

#6 This Throne Made Of Human Remains In The Forbidden Catacombs Of Paris

Image source: brokenbonessociety

#7 I Found This In An Abandoned House

Image source: Freaktography

Paul Scheermeijer: And you share on social media….. wealthy but not smart…

#8 Bennett School For Girls In Millbrook, NY. It’s Been Closed Since 1978

Image source: Thereaper29

#9 Abandoned Historical Palace In Portugal

Image source: citromviasz

#10 Abandoned Hospital, The Oculus

Image source: Dethscare

#11 Abandoned Houses With Beautiful Sunset

Image source: shesmagic_

B: Sandy Hook NJ. It’s old Coast guard housing, the base is still there but the houses were abandoned years ago They were selling them for next to nothing but you have a certain amount of time to fix them up

#12 Free Alcohol In Abandoned Supermarket

Image source: generalkossmosa

Jrog: Well, the photo was taken during an urban exploration in the Fukushima Red Zone. The radiation there is not crazy high, but still five to ten times higher than the normal and enough to build up to dangerous levels within a few months.

#13 A House Devoured By A Hundred-Year-Old Banyan Tree

Image source: Juju1990

#14 Abandoned Mall In Bangkok

Image source: nav_15

Nonna_SoF: Looks well populated to me.

#15 Would You Want To Live In This Abandoned Valley? (North Italy)

Image source: BWT_Urbex

#16 Abandoned Presidents Heads In A Rural Virginia Field

Image source: Thereaper29

Jrog: 42 10-tons, 6 meters-high statues built for Presidents Park in Williamsburg, Virginia. The park unsurprisingly closed down in 2010, and when they had to vacate the lot the statues were stored on the private property of one of the owners. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/president-heads

#17 Abandoned Party Mansion Deep In The Maryland Forest

Image source: reddit.com

#18 Frozen Staircases Of Abandoned Soviet Residential Buildings In A Ghost Town Beyond The Arctic Circle

Image source: syndicat1128

#19 Walking Through A Train Tunnel To Reach An Abandoned Mining Town

Image source: HeGoneUp_InTheUrr

#20 Nature Taking Over A Pool In An Abandoned Mansion

Image source: Thereaper29

#21 A Mental Health Hospital In Scotland

Image source: Emptyspacesuk

Jrog: Lennox Castle (Glasgow, UK). Built by David Hamilton between 1837 and 1841 for Lord John Lennox Kincaid, whose family owned it until 1927. It later housed the Lennox Castle Hospital, a school for people with learning difficulties. The place was known for abysmal living conditions, overcrowding, mistreatment of patients, and was abandoned in 2002. It burned in a fire in 2008, leading to the collapse of the wooden ceiling, floor slabs and extensive damage to the wall masonry

#22 “Colored Only” City Pool, Filled In

Image source: aTwitchUponTheThread

Val: Umm, hopefully because everyone was finally able to swim together?

#23 The Interior Of A Power Station Cooling Tower

Image source: Schurke-

#24 Found In The Desert Outside Of Roswell, New Mexico

Image source: Vikingwithguns

#25 Abandoned Schoolhouse In Southern Idaho With Blossoming Lilac That Has Long Outlived The Building

Image source: dancing_all_knight

TheNewJenBrady: I’ve taken a photo of this same building! Or one that looked very similar. It was a house though, had some old furniture in the area behind the concrete foundation on the right there and a huge pile of bat dung on the ground by the front door. Southern Idaho near the border with Utah. It was the only place still standing from an old town. Lots of other foundations hidden in the sagebrush behind the house.

#26 I Had To Bribe A Guy To Access An Incredible Abandoned Water Park In Vietnam

Image source: DannyMThompson

Paul Scheermeijer: Best money spend

#27 I Dragged My Friend Along To An Adventure In The Tokyo Stormwater System. He Was Impressed

Image source: ringinator

Nonna_SoF: Cool, but not forgotten. Also before entering any drainage area make sure you know the catchment area and check the weather upstream. Some systems can get flash flooding from storms that seem far away.

#28 Inside Of An Abandoned Bank

Image source: silent-skreams

#29 One Of Many Waterfalls Under Manchester, UK

Image source: p4ulpowers

Nonna_SoF: And tetanus, lots and lots of tetanus.

#30 Abandoned Winemaker House In Portugal

Image source: citromviasz

#31 Church From The 1800’s

Image source: drr4545

#32 Abandoned Mansion That Belonged To A Former Corrupt Police Chief Of Mexico. His Yearly Salary Was $1300

Image source: heretogethelp

#33 This Is One Of The Most Beautiful Bathrooms In An Abandoned Chateau

Image source: abandonedplaygrounds

#34 Abandoned House In The Republic Of Karelia, Russia

Image source: reddit.com

#35 The Lobby Of A Closed Down Motel On Route 66

Image source: crazycockerels

Soal Devereaux: That table lamp is amazing!

#36 Abandoned Middle School, Massachusetts

Image source: Bunbuns123abc

#37 Old Train Abandoned Deep In The Mountains

Image source: TheAjalin

#38 Abandoned Trains In Pennsylvania

Image source: nav_15

Jrog (edited): The former “Windber Trolley Graveyard”. A collection of disused trolley carts bought by an Edward Metka, a civil engineer and transportation enthusiast, stored over one mile of tracks on the grounds of a dismissed coal mine’s repair shop in Pennsylvania. After failing to gather resources to restore the vehicles -of which only a handful have historical interest and most are in terrible state- the trolleys remained abandoned and in disarray until Metka sold the whole collection for scraps in 2023, leaving a channel open for any museum who wanted to preserve parts of it. The collection is not at the site anymore.