7 Lost Places in the U.S. and Europe you can visit legally

Exploring and photographing at a Lost Place is something special for me. It's the mysterious beauty of decay that draws me to such places. And visiting these abandoned places also taught me how fast nature would take back human-made structures.

Research for lost places takes quite a bit of time, and once I managed to find such a place, I typically try to find the owner and try to get photo permission. In many cases, the paperwork involved includes paragraphed, that I mustn't share any details about who the owner is or where the place is located.

But fortunately, there are several lost places that you can visit easily and legally. Easily and legally in this context, means that you book a photo tour online or on-site.

So in this blog post, I'll introduce you to 7 Lost Places that you can easily and legally access - always minding the strictly confidential, top-secret, and classified codex of urban explorers: Take nothing but photos (shot on iPhone) and leave nothing but footprints.

Beelitz Heilstätten, the abandoned sanatoriums in Germany

Beelitz Heilstätten is a vast area of more than 60 buildings that were finished and opened around 1900. It contained sanatoriums for lung diseases and other non-infectious illnesses. During World War II, it was transformed into a military hospital. Once the Second World War ended, Russians took ownership of the area. Over time, some of the buildings were abandoned, and the entire area was left in 1994, and all buildings started to decay.

I've been to Beelitz a few times, and much of the area is not accessible anymore. It was bought by an investor who renovated some buildings and sold them.

A view at the Beelitz Canopy Walk.

But there's still a part of the original, decayed, sanatoriums accessible through the Beelitz Heilstätten Canopy Walk. From there, you can either explore the decayed buildings from a safe distance or take one of the guides tours.

Abandoned Immigration Hospital on Ellis Island

I guess everyone knows about Ellis Island. Usually, a visit to the Statue of Liberty Island and Ellis Island is on the bucket list of travelers visiting New York.

While one half of Ellis Island contains an immigration museum, the other half contains the abandoned immigration hospital. And luckily for us explorers, the abandoned Hospital on Ellis Island is accessible through a guided hard hat tour.

The open door at the hard hat tour at Ellis Island

The Ghost Town Viivikonna in Estonia

Viivikonna is a former town in Estonia, close to the Russian border. It was built around the 1930s as a home for oil shale workers. But after the oil shale mine dried up, people left Viivikonna, and many buildings started to decay.

A collapsed and abandoned building in Viivikonna

So basically, Viivikonna is almost ghost town. I mention that because there are still around 50-100, mostly elderly, people live there in poverty. So, while you can, in theory, visit Viivikonna, be respectful to the people who still have to live there. A few buildings may look like they're still inhabited. And they are.

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

As I'm one of the "older years of construction" and live in the heart of Europe, I experienced the Chernobyl disaster. I still remember the 2-4 weeks right after the incident. We were asked to stay inside (sounds familiar?). Back then, fresh groceries were scarce goods for a few weeks, because they had to be destroyed because of possible radioactive contamination. But luckily, we had enough toilet paper.

So in 2016, almost exactly to the day of the 30th anniversary of the disaster, I had the chance to spend a day inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and to explore Zalyssia, Pripyat and a few other villages.

An abandoned theatre in Prypiat in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

One thing I still remember is that it was eerie silent in the zone. And occasionally, you'd hear a dosimeter sounding an alarm.

You can visit Pripyat and Chernobyl by booking a guided tour.

The abandoned Town Pool Hall in Leipzig, Germany

Due to the collapse of the roof, the town pool hall in Leipzig had to be closed around 1990. The city had no money to repair it, and so it had to be abandoned entirely. From this place, the most famous photo spot is the former first-class Sauna.

The abandoned Sauna in Leipzig

As with many other lost places in this article, you can see the abandoned town pool Hall in Leipzig during a photo tour. And as a bonus, there's another lost place in the above article, about an hour from Leipzig.

The once forbidden City in Wünsdorf, Germany

Also near Berlin is the formerly forbidden city of Wünsdorf. The town always had a bit of a military background; that's why it is probably called the "forbidden city." When the NS regime came to power in Germany, the headquarter of the German army was located here. Once the NS regime was defeated, Wünsdorf became the Headquarter of the Red Army outside of Russia with more than 30.000 soldiers.

They transformed Wünsdorf into a self-contained city with a direct train connection to Moskau. Once the Russians left Germany in 1994, the forbidden city started to decay. While a few 1000 Germans moved back to some regions of the town, a district named "Zossen" continued to deteriorate.

A swimming pool in the forbidden City Wünsdorf

Once a forbidden city, tourists can now visit and explore the forbidden City of Wünsdorf.

The abandoned Kolga Manor in Estonia

Kolga Manor is an abandoned neo-classicist Manor House built around 1820. Allegedly, due to lack of funding, it was abandoned a few decades ago.

Inside Kolga Manor in Estorina

The entire area is still privately owned, and some rooms inside the manor are still used. But you can book a guided tour right at Kolga Manor and experience the majestic beauty of one of the oldest manors in Estonia