Welcome to The Urban Explorer blog! We have stories about urban exploration from around the world, from interesting public places to hidden, exploded bunkers with rebar pointing all the wrong ways. The Urban Explorer has explored 245 places in 30 countries. You can also click on the map below to see where in the world they took place.
The Urban Explorer articles appeared originally in the Blogspot Planetskier series, at TGR posts, or at the Relaa website. See also the articles about skiing, climbing, cycling, caving, flying, swimming, and saunas.
All urban exploration-related articles:
| Abandoned metro station with high voltage barriers Kymlinge, the ghost station on the Stockholm underground. A station for the planned but never completed suburb near Kista's technology-oriented neighborhood. A station where only the dead are said to exit, and where only the long lost ghost train, the "Silverpilen" travel. A station with underground platforms and additional space underneath. Full story September 2024, Kymlinge Station, Stockholm, Sweden Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Railways) | |
| Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun I visited the Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, as well as the Ravne tunnels few kilometers away. The pyramid is remarkably pyramid-looking green mountain and the tunnels are .. well, more about that later. Both are in the small town of Visoko, 35 kilometers outside Sarajevo. The claim is that the pyramid is a concrete-covered man-made structure built by an ancient civilization 29 000 years ago. And that the tunnels were also man-made network leading under the pyramids, and only later filled in. And that there are health benefits to all of this. Long story short: lots of pseudoscience, but of course a nice mountain to visit. And it is always pleasant to be wet, dark underground tunnels. Even if the the support beams are rotting... Full story May 2024, Tunnel Ravne, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun, Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Ruins); Caving (Basic, Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Ruins); Climbing (Mountain) | |
| Through the grey stone In Finnish we have this expression, "läpi harmaan kiven". It translates literally as 'through the grey stone'. It represents sisu, another Finnish concept: going through no matter what. Even through rock. Here Harri-Pekka Pietikäinen demonstrates the concept. Full story May 2024, Korkbergetin lohkareluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Fagerkullan bunkkeri, Kirkkonummi, Finland Caving (Basic, Rock-Gneiss, Morphology-Boulders, Morphology-Crack); Caving (Basic, Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers) | |
| Dobrun caves It was a good try. I think. Or maybe I should have pushed harder. But ... it was getting difficult to stay on the slope, even with some smaller trees around me. But in the end I turned around, and did not reach the Dobrun cave in the mountains of eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina... the slope was loose gravel, and getting steeper on every step. No sign of paths. I do wonder though, I could *see* the cave but not reach it! And reportedly monks have lived in the cave, is there another path? Full story April 2024, Dobrun Cave, Dobrun, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dobrun Party Cave, Dobrun, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Dobrun railway tunnel, Dobrun, Bosnia and Herzegovina Caving (None, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Caving (Basic, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-River); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels) | |
| Lago di Como tower ruins Castello Baradello is a fortress on a nice hill above present day Como, with great views of the city and the lake. Fortresses on this site date back to the 6th century, although the current fortress was rebuilt in the 13th century. This is also the site of the original settlement in Como. Full story January 2024, Castello Baradello, Como, Italy Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Towers) | |
| Tower of Velate The Velate tower is in town of Varese northwest of Milan. It is in ruins, only two sides of the tower remain. Full story January 2024, Tower of Velate, Varese, Italy Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Towers) | |
| Grotta San Giovanni Mystery Grotta San Giovanni is near Lecco and Lago di Como, in northern Italy. As you can see from above, the views are wonderful! But there's a mystery: did this cave inspire Leonardo da Vinci's painting Madonna (or Virgin) on the Rocks? Full story January 2024, Grotta San Giovanni, Lecco, Italy; Grotta San Giovanni side cave 1, Lecco, Italy; Grotta San Giovanni side cave 2, Lecco, Italy; Grotta San Giovanni cemetery side cave, Lecco, Italy Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Urban-Exploration (Other) | |
| Sunken church Interesting. A sunken church, abandoned in the face of rising waters for a dam built in 1952. The Old Mavrovo Church is repeated submerged, and as a result has been considerably damaged, e.g., the roof has caved in. Full story December 2023, Old Mavrovo Church, Mavrovo, North Macedonia Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites) | |
| Screaming Underground I've been here many times before, but doing it with my friends this time made me realize an annoying thing. We visited the Itäkeskus swimming hall, a wonderful underground creation. But... one of the nicest pools in a rock-dug hole was painful when kids were screaming at the full power of their lungs. And it is a massive echo chamber. In fact, the entire swimming hall is quite bad at acoustics; hard surfaces for the sounds to bounce off. Full story September 2023, Itäkeskuksen uimahalli, Helsinki, Finland Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Indoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers) | |
| A Finnish Caving Buffet If your caving friend was coming over for a weekend, what would you show about the Finnish caving scene? Here's our menu for a caving buffet, covering everything from ice saunas to block caves to cracks in granite, mines, limestone caves, to salmon meals to ... did I already mention saunas? Not to forget Sibelius for dessert! Full story September 2023, Viking Glory, Stockholm, Sweden; Luolavuoren luola, Turku, Finland; Rotkoluola, Kaarina, Finland; Itäkeskuksen uimahalli, Helsinki, Finland; House Arkko, Kauniainen, Finland; Högberget, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Ansabunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland; Korkbergetin lohkareluola, Kirkkonummi, Finland; Hvitträsk cliff, Kirkkonummi, Finland Sauna (Normal, Steam, Other); Caving (Basic, Rock, Morphology-Crack, Morphology-Boulders, Equipment); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Crack, Equipment); Sauna (Normal, Steam); Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Travel; Caving (Basic, , Rock, Equipment, Morphology-Erosion); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Granite, Morphology-Boulders); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites) | |
| Mine sauna I've been here before, but it is always refreshing: the Tytyri kaivos keeps having less miners but more and more tourists and elevator researchers. This time we found a treasure: a sauna in the depths of the mine, on level 80. Full story September 2023, Tytyrin kaivos, Lohja, Finland Sauna (Normal); Urban-Exploration (Mines) | |
| Venice again, no skiing, just heat Many years ago, I tried to find some skiing inVenice. No luck, could not score any snow from local skating rinks, so was unable to plaster the Calatrava Bridge with snow... sad... or maybe good. This year we went back there. Full story July 2023, Venice, Italy Skiing (None); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites) | |
| Predjama Castle I had only heard about the Postojna Cave before coming to Slovenia. But it turns out that there are many caves (of course) as well as many very interesting or famous cave sites. Right next to the Postojna cave, a 10 minute car ride away for instance is the Predjama Castle, which is world's largest castle built in a cave. Full story July 2023, Predjama Castle, Postojna, Slovenia Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Urban-Exploration (Military, Castles, Historic-Sites) | |
| Walls of Piran Piran is a medieval town on the coast of Slovenia. A wonderful town, clearly retaining its historic parts. The protective walls of the city date back to the 7th century, and can be toured for a nominal fee. Much recommended. Full story July 2023, Walls of Piran, Piran, Slovenia Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Castles); Flying | |
| Northern Croatia swim On our tour of Slovenia's Piran, we also peeked on the Croatian side, and had a swim in the Polynesia Beach in the town of Umag. Little did we know that the ruins we started our swim from were actually the ruins of the Sipar Castle from A.D. 1000 or thereabouts. Some have even called this place the Atlantis of Sipar. Interesting! Full story July 2023, Polynesia Beach, Umag, Croatia Swimming (Outdoor, Waterbody-Sea, Water, Beach); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites, Castles) | |
| One kilometer walkway tunnel This tunnel appeared on my walk while visiting Rotterdam. I was walking from my hotel to the conference venues, as a like to do to keep my step counts up :-) And as one expects, there are some waterways to cross in the Netherlands cities :-) I thought there'd be a bridge though. But no, it was a tunnel. It was only in the tunnel and later in Wikipedia that Maastunnel is actually 1070 meters long that crosses the Niewwe Maas. Full story May 2023, Maastunnel, Rotterdam, Netherlands Urban-Exploration (Tunnels) | |
This is the 1th set of articles. The next sets are set 2, set 3, set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, and set 11.