Abandoned luxury destinations that are sitting on hard times (14 Photos)

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Flickr/roadsidepictures

There’s something endlessly fascinating about a once-thriving resort, spa, or relaxation complex that somehow finds its way into looking like the setting of a horror film. In most cases, these abandoned places were the pinnacle of technology and popularity, but couldn’t compete with human nature, war and mother nature.

More places to add to the list of creepy places to go explore.

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Twitter/ejspurrell

The Deertrail Resort
Sooke, British Columbia
Nestled in the middle of the Sooke Potholes Provincial Park on Vancouver Island, are the remains of an elegant chateau that never saw completion. Construction started in the 1980s, and was meant to have over 200 luxury rooms, a pool and spa, and a giant Timber lodge with the largest fireplace in Canada. There were also winding stone cases that would tie the resort into the canyon and offer a rustic and natural experience.

Money, however, ran out, and the resort was left to crumble. In 2004, the property was acquired as parkland and all the woodwork and lodge building were torn down, leaving the stonework in place. The property was then fenced off and left alone. That doesn’t deter explorers and Canadian graffiti artists, though.

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Atlas Obscura/maryannemoll

The Puerto Azul Resort
Ternate, Philippines
In its heyday, the Puerto Azul Golf and Country Club was a pleasure destination for travellers from all over the globe. Opened in the 80’s, it was considered the “golf capital of the world” with over 300 rooms. It was an exclusive destination for high rollers and experts. Then, it all collapsed.

Unfortunately, the changing tastes and trends of the rich moved their interests away from this older resort, to new ones that were opened nearby. Azul couldn’t compete and began shuttering parts of the resort, leaving them to look like an apocalyptic movie set.

There’s talks of revitalizing the old parts, but odds are, the jungle will just take them over further.

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Wikipedia

Dino Island
Praia a Mare, Italy
Just off the coast of Calabria, is this tiny little island. Once, it was connected to the mainland by a land bridge, but erosion wore it away. But seeing how gorgeous it is, many had grand plans for it.

In the 50’s, a private group purchased the island and began to construct a luxury resort. But, as with everything else on this list, the plans failed and all that’s left are some tiny huts and an empty restaurant.

Today, you can boat over and explore several underwater grottos and chill on the empty, but stunning, piece of land.

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Wikipedia

Hotel Angst
Bordighera, Italy
During the 19th century, this sleepy town was one of the most indulgent attractions for the elite, when hitting up the Italian riviera. With palm trees, olive trees, seaside breezes, this was a prime destination for British travellers.

This hotel, was erected by a Swiss entrepreneur by the name of Adolf Angst, near to a railway station that had a rail line that travelled all the way to London. Construction lasted from 1887-1914, and offered state-of-the-art suites, billiards rooms, ballrooms and even Queen Victoria made plans to visit.

Sadly, WWI meant that Angst was to be a military hostpital and it never recovered financially after that. WWII saw it occupied by the Nazis, and it fell into ruin, once they pillaged and plundered it.

Now, it stands empty, but still stunningly gorgeous.

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Atlas Obscura/mom0la

Ruins of The Hampton Springs Hotel
Perry, Florida
This rotting pool used to be a part of a luxurious hotel and spa. In the late 1800s, a local resident was directed to a sulphur spring by native Indians, and he found that the water eased his wife’s rheumatism. So he, and several other gentlemen, purchased a grant and formed the Hampton Springs Hotel and Mineral Company.

The resulting hotel and spa had 100+ rooms, elaborate fountains and gardens, a covered pool, golf and tennis courts, stables, a casino, ballroom, outdoor dance pavilion and railroad station. They also had a bottling plant for the healing waters.

The hotel burned down in 1954 and the area was left abandoned. All that’s left of the hotel is the pool, still filled with the healing spring water.

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Atlas Obscura/cherv33

Eyrie House Ruins
Holyoke, Massachusetts
At it’s heyday, this hotel on the top of Mount Nonotuck was the place to be seen. Now, it’s an old ruin.

Opened in 1861 by William Street, it had amazing views of the Connecticut River, Mt. Tom, and a fine dining establishment that drew hundreds of people a day. But competition being what it is, he had several hotels in the area that started to poach his regulars. In 1893, he began to build a new hotel to replace the deteriorating Eyrie House.

In 1901, he was alone up on the mountain, and decided to build a funeral pyre for two deceased horses. The fire grew out of control and before he knew it, the mountain top was in flames and took out Eyrie House and the new construction.

Now, it’s all just stone walls that you can explore when you visit the Mt. Tom Reservation.

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Flickr/theboyds

The Marconi Hotel
Marshall, California
This hotel is an endlessly fascinating, but largely forgotten place in California, built by the man who invented the radio.

Guglielmo Marconi hired an engineering company to build a hotel at the historic Marshall trans-Pacific receiving station in 1913, for his staff and their visitors. There were cottages, a library, games room, a lounge and a dining hall, as well as a power station, transformers and radio transmitters. When WWI hit, the military took over the site and held onto it for some time.

In the 60’s, the property housed the “Church of Synanon” – a cult that was suspected of hoarding weapons and attempted murder.

Now, the hotel sits empty and falling apart.

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Atlas Obscura/luke-j-spencer

White Lake Mansion House Ruins
White Lake, New York
Built in 1848, this is the oldest remaining vacation hotel in the country. Owned by the Kinne family for over 80 years, this place was opulent and a prime resort for Manhattanites.

It actually operated up until the 1970’s, when destination vacation towns fell out of popularity and places like the Catskills and the Poconos started to see less and less traffic.

So the hotel was abandoned, where it still stands today, waiting for the wrecking ball, or a revitalization plan.

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Flickr

Hot Lake Hotel
La Grande, Oregon
This turn of the century resort once attracted visitors from around the world, with it’s healing waters and medical innovations. In fact, the Mayo Brothers (of the Mayo Clinic fame) were frequent visitors.

The original building was erected in 1864 as the Hot Lake Resort. Torn down in 1884, a new, modern building was constructed in 1903, with bathhouses, 100 guest rooms and a spa. It was then renamed the Hot Lake Sanitorium and had medical wards, offices and a dance hall. It was a booming resort until 1934 when a massive fire destroyed the wooden parts of the hotel.

After the fire, the property became a nurses training centre and flight school for WWII, and even was used as a morgue in the winter for a typhoid epidemic. By 1953, the hotel was operating as a nursing home, an insane asylum, and a restaurant, until being abandoned in 1991.

Oh, and it’s one of the most haunted places in America.

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Wikipedia

Prora
Binz, Germany
While history knows Adolf Hitler to be a monster, it also has him down as a huge believer of vacation time. In the 1930’s, he commissioned a dystopian complex of resort cells, meant to house German workers on holiday.

Sitting on Rügén Island, 8 identical buildings sit on the beach. Every room along the 3 mile stretch had an ocean view, but were starkly utilitarian in decor. It was supposed to be an affordable holiday place for the average German worker.

Except, when WWII started in 1939, all planning and construction stopped and the 10,000 rooms remained empty. During the dregs of the war, the complex remained empty. In the years after, refugees and the elderly found themselves housed there, but by the 1990’s, it was completed deserted.

Now, some of it is gallery space, some of it is a hostel. The rest is empty.

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Slate/Atlas Obscura

The Salton Sea Resort
Bombay Beach, California
Once upon a time, this was a bustling resort. You could swim, water-ski and golf during the day and party all night. Today, it’s an apocalyptic wasteland of salt flats, abandoned buildings and the petrified corpses of fish.

The Salton Sea was an accidental creation when the Colorado river swelled in 1905, breached a levee and created the largest lake in California. Developers soon jumped on it and built hotels, yacht clubs, homes and schools. For a while there, it was THE premiere destination.

By the 70’s, the ecosystem started to deteriorate. With no rain or drainage, the water began to get polluted and salty. Fish began to die, the birds left, and soon, the people did too.

Now, there are some residents that still live in the area, but it’s pretty much a desolate wasteland and pure nightmare fuel.

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Wikipedia

El Hotel Del Salto
San Antonio del Tequendama, Colombia
In 1923, this building was erected as a mansion and functioned as a hotel from 1928 until it’s abandonment in the early 90’s.

It was a popular place to visit for the locals, with stunning views of the Tequendama Falls, but with the Bogota River becoming contaminated in the 70’s and 80’s, no one wanted to visit anymore.

The mansion became a popular site for suicides until it was purchased by the Institute of Natural Sciences at the University of Colombia and opened as a museum.

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