Tourists don't flock to Pripyat or Bodie, and sun seekers don't line the pristine sandy beach in front of the tourist resort of Varosha. These are abandoned places, where the slowly decaying facades of houses, tower blocks, hotels and shops stare mournfully over silent streets and deserted squares.
There's something deeply spooky about towns nobody lives in anymore. Give them a thousand years and, if the rubble remains, they become tourist hotspots, buzzing with new life and echoing to the sound of hawkers and guides.
But in this list we've colleted 10 more recently ruined towns: desolate, unloved and gradually succumbing to the ravages of rain, sun and advancing years. There's an incongruity at the heart of these abandoned places: everything here speaks of human lives, but life has been taken away.
Which all begs one crucial question, of course. Why have these towns been left to crumble into dust? Each tells a unique and ghostly story.
Pripyat, Ukraine
In the course of a couple of decades, the town of Pripyat was born, expanded into a bustling centre of 50,000 souls, and died. The dying came about in the course of a day or two.
One word explains it: Chernobyl. In the April of 1986, a day after an explosion rocked the nearby nuclear facility, the city was abandoned. It remains so to this day. The buildings still stand proud and tall, textbooks lie open in crumbling classrooms, and calendars are pinned to apartment walls. But only the click-click-click of the occasional Geiger counter interrupts the sound of the wind whistling through empty streets.
Kadykchan, Russia
When the Soviet Union collapsed in the late 1980s a number of Russian towns and cities collapsed with it. The mining town of Kadykchan is one of the most striking.
The townspeople were moved out in just two weeks, leaving the relics of ordinary life — toys, books, ornaments and clothing — strewn through the decaying buildings.
Varosha, Cyprus
Varosha, a suburb of the city of Famagusta, is a typical Mediterranean resort of high-rise hotels standing on the edge of a pristine yellow beach. The only thing missing is people.
It wasn't always so. Varosha used to be the top tourist destination in Europe, and a favourite holiday haunt of the rich and famous. In 1974, at the height of its popularity, the Turkish army invaded Cyprus and Varosha came under Turkish control. The resort was quickly abandoned, and has remained off-limits ever since.
From the distance, Varosha looks like any other resort. Only up close is it obvious that nature is reclaiming the crumbling hotels and empty swimming pools. The tourist resort has become a ghost town.
Belchite, Spain
Belchite in the Zaragoza province of Spain was the site of a bloody battle between Republican and Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War. The heavily bombarded town was abandoned, and after the war was left untouched as a 'living memorial'.
The ghostly streets and ruined buildings have no tourist facilities, but attract thousands of visitors every year. The town is also a favourite haunt of filmmakers looking for a truly spooky setting.
Oradour-sur-Glane, France
There is a new village to the North West of Oradour-sur-Glane, where 2000 people get on with their busy lives. But much of the original village still stands, its ruined buildings and burned-out cars left as a memorial to the terrible events of 66 years ago.
Today they call Oradour-sur-Glane the martyred village. On 10 June 1944, 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were murdered by the German Waffen-SS. The men were rounded up, shot in the legs and then covered in fuel and burned. The women and children were herded into a church that was set alight. The German officer in charge considered the massacre just reprisal for resistance activity in the area.
Sanzhi, Taiwan
Arrive unexpectedly at Sanzhi and you might think you'd chanced upon a secret Government prototype for a settlement on Mars. The futuristic pod village was actually designed in the 1970s as a luxury holiday resort for wealthy businessmen and American generals. After a series of fatal accidents during construction, the entire project was abandoned, leaving behind a series of ghostly — if somewhat space age — dwellings.
Tyneham, England
"Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly."
So read a note on the church door when the village of Tyneham in Dorset was abandoned in 1943. But the people never did come back. Tyneham was used as a temporary firing range during the war, but was purchased by the Ministry of Defence in 1948 and has been used for military training ever since. The church and schoolhouse have been preserved, but the rest of the buildings have gradually been reclaimed by the surrounding countryside.
Kolmanskop, Namibia
Kolmanskop was a town that rose from the desert, and today the desert is taking it back. In 1908, diamonds were found nearby, and Kolmanskop was built straight on the shifting dunes, complete with school, theatre, hospital, casino and exclusive residences for a new generation of wealthy mine owners.
A drop in demand put paid to all that. By the late 1950s Kolmanskop was abandoned, and the sand began to creep inexorably through creaking doors and cracked windows. Today, much of the town has been swallowed up — with the rest sure to follow.
Bodie, California
There are many ghost towns associated with the Californian gold rush, but the rise and fall of Bodie was spectacular. Gold was discovered nearby in 1876, and by 1879 the new town had a population of 7,000 people, two banks, several newspapers, a Chinatown, a red light district and a jail.
At the start of the 20th century, the gold began to run out and the town declined. By the 1940s, it was virtually abandoned. Today the town is a National Historic Landmark, but thankfully not some cheesy Wild West tourist attraction. Dust cakes the inside of the old saloon, a 1927 dodge van sits abandoned next to the petrol station, and the interiors of the houses remain exactly as they were left.
Battleship Island (Gunkanjima), Japan
Until the 1960s this small island was one of the most densely populated places in the world. Today, its abandoned high-rise blocks and concrete stairwells slowly crumble into the ocean.
Gunkanjima was once a mining settlement, created to exploit stocks of coal found under the ocean floor. When the Japanese economy started to replace coal with petrol in the 1960s, the island was abandoned. A small portion of the 'ghost island' has recently been reopened to tourists.
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