PripyatA planned Soviet city became an abandoned time capsule after Chernobyl.8 min / Easy Hashima IslandA former coal-mining island off Japan now stands as a dense concrete ruin.8 min / Easy Centralia, PennsylvaniaAn underground mine fire drove most residents from an American town.8 min / Easy CracoA medieval Italian hill town was abandoned after landslides and earthquakes.7 min / Easy KayakoyA deserted village in Turkey preserves the aftermath of population exchange.7 min / Easy KolmanskopA Namibian diamond town was abandoned to the desert sands.7 min / Easy Bodie, CaliforniaA gold-rush town survives in a state of arrested decay.7 min / Easy Plymouth, MontserratA volcanic eruption buried the capital of Montserrat in ash.8 min / Easy Varosha, FamagustaA resort district became fenced-off after conflict in Cyprus.8 min / Easy Oradour-sur-GlaneA destroyed French village was preserved as a memorial after World War II.8 min / Medium AniA ruined medieval city near the Turkish-Armenian border once held many churches.8 min / Easy MervA Silk Road oasis city preserves layers of empires in the desert.8 min / Medium Great ZimbabweA stone-built city challenges old myths about African history and trade.8 min / Medium TikalA Maya city rises from the rainforest with temples, plazas, and stelae.8 min / Easy Angkor WatA vast temple complex anchors the remains of the Khmer Empire.8 min / Easy TeotihuacanA monumental Mesoamerican city holds avenues, pyramids, and unresolved origins.8 min / Medium Mesa Verde National ParkCliff dwellings preserve the architecture of Ancestral Puebloans.8 min / Easy HerculaneumA Roman town was preserved by the same eruption that buried Pompeii.8 min / Easy PompeiiVolcanic ash froze a Roman city into an archaeological snapshot.8 min / Easy Akrotiri (prehistoric city)A Bronze Age Aegean settlement was preserved beneath volcanic ash.8 min / Medium DoggerlandA submerged prehistoric landscape once connected Britain to continental Europe.8 min / Medium PavlopetriAn ancient submerged town offers a rare look at Bronze Age urban planning.7 min / Medium L'Anse aux MeadowsA Norse site in Newfoundland proved pre-Columbian European presence in North America.8 min / Easy Nan MadolA city of basalt islets and canals rises from a Micronesian lagoon.8 min / Medium ChoquequiraoAn Inca site in Peru remains more remote and less visited than Machu Picchu.8 min / Easy Sukhothai Historical ParkRuins of an early Thai capital preserve temples and royal memory.7 min / Easy Leptis MagnaA Roman city in Libya preserves grand architecture at remarkable scale.8 min / Easy EphesusA major ancient city holds theaters, streets, and one of antiquity's great libraries.8 min / Easy PersepolisThe ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire remains carved in stone.8 min / Medium BabylonThe Mesopotamian city became a symbol of empire, myth, and archaeology.8 min / Medium Kowloon Walled CityAn extraordinarily dense, largely self-governed Hong Kong enclave was demolished in the 1990s.9 min / Medium FordlandiaHenry Ford's planned rubber settlement in the Amazon struggled against ecology, disease, and cultural conflict.9 min / Medium AghdamWar emptied an Azerbaijani city for decades, leaving extensive ruins before reconstruction began.8 min / Medium BelchiteThe ruins of a Spanish town destroyed in civil war stand beside the settlement built to replace it.8 min / Easy PyramidenA Soviet mining settlement on a Norwegian Arctic island remains preserved after its abandonment.7 min / Easy KadykchanA remote Russian coal town was emptied after the Soviet Union's collapse and a fatal mine explosion.7 min / Easy Wittenoom, Western AustraliaAn asbestos mining town was closed, removed from maps, and gradually dismantled because of contamination.9 min / Medium North Brother Island, East RiverAn island between New York boroughs holds the ruins of a quarantine hospital and rehabilitation center.8 min / Easy Rhyolite, NevadaA desert gold-rush boomtown rose quickly, collapsed, and left striking ruins near Death Valley.7 min / Easy Villa EpecuenFloodwater submerged an Argentine resort town for decades before receding to expose its remains.8 min / Easy San Juan ParangaricutiroLava from Paricutin buried a Mexican town while its church tower remained above the black rock.8 min / Easy KuldharaAn abandoned village in Rajasthan became surrounded by stories of a sudden departure and a lasting curse.7 min / Easy Humberstone and Santa Laura Saltpeter WorksTwo Chilean company towns preserve the remains of a once-global nitrate industry.8 min / Medium