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 258 places in 33 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:
| Swimming hall on floor -8 Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere. I was told there was a swimming hall here, an underground one. Usually there'd be some signs but now I see nothing, at least not at the parking lot. But the map points to the yard of the nearby apartment block, so after walking just 50 meters I see the entrance, a small concrete building is the only thing that sticks out above ground. Full story April 2025, Hervannan uimahalli, Hervanta, Tampere, Finland Swimming (Waterbody-Pool, Indoor); Sauna (Normal); Caving (Man-Made, Basic, Rock); Urban-Exploration (Bunkers) | |
| Caves around Annecy, France I had a chance to visit Lac d'Annecy and surroundings last weekend. It is a wonderful area, much closer to nature than the bustling megacity Geneve nearby. Lakes, mountains, and .. caves! Visited three very different caves, Grotte du Grand Pertuis that was only reachable by boat from the lake, Grotte de l'ermitage by high up above the lake and under a church (where the founder of the monastery and church lived for 40 years), and finally closer to Geneve and on the mountains, Grotte du Diable, a mud-infested pit of the devil. Very nice! Full story April 2025, Grotte du Grand Pertuis, Talloires-Montmin, France; Grotte de l'ermitage, Talloires-Montmin, France; Grotte du Diable, Le Sappey, France; Roselet islet, Duingt, France; Abandoned restaurant, Le Sappey, France Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Karst); Urban-Exploration (Historic); Urban-Exploration (Buildings) | |
| Terelj's Crystal Cave(s) I tried hard. Very hard. To find more caves than the 100 Monks Cave... but it was difficult. After long period of Internet searching, I settled on visiting the Crystal "cave", even if it was just an abandoned man-made mine. It was nearby though, also in Terelj, and not 17 hour drive away so that's a positive :-) But my first guide was unable to take me to this place, so I looked for another guide company. A got the whole deal, the driver, the guy who speaks English to me, and the local guide who knows where the mine is :-) Full story February 2025, East Crystal Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; West Crystal Cave, Terelj, Mongolia; Tiny roof cave among boulders, Terelj, Mongolia; A crack in a cliff, Terelj, Mongolia; Cow shed roof cave, Terelj, Mongolia Urban-Exploration (Mines); Caving (Basic, Man-Made); Hiking; Urban-Exploration (None, Mines); Caving (None, Man-Made); Caving (Basic, Rock); Hiking; Hiking | |
| Cité de Carcassonne What a wonderful ancient, wall-surrounded fortress and a medieval village on the top of a hill! Carcassonne is a city an hour south of Toulouse and an hour north of the mediterranean coast. Cité de Carcassonne is the old town. Full story December 2024, Cité de Carcassonne, Carcassonne, France Urban-Exploration (Castles, Historic) | |
| La Canya dels Pujols Caves + 1, Andorra. La Canya dels Pujols, a hundred-meter cave about 80 meters above the riverbed below. Full story December 2024, La Canya dels Pujols, Margineda, Andorra; La Canya dels Pujols side cave, Margineda, Andorra; La Balma de la Margineda, Margineda, Andorra Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown, Surveying); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites); Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Unknown); Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites) | |
| 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) | |
| Fort George What a wonderful visit in an 19th century fortress, a museum, and an excellent restaurant. With a view. And a sunset! Full story August 2024, Fort George, Vis, Croatia Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Castles, Military, Historic-Sites) | |
| Dinosaur footprints Dinosaur Valley State Park is a national park service area hosting easily viewable dinosaur footprints. Much recommended! The park is in Glen Rose, Texas, about 130 km from the Dallas Forth Worth airport, about 1.5 hour drive if there's no traffic. Full story July 2024, Dinosaur Valley State Park, Glen Rose, Texas, USA Hiking; Travel; Urban-Exploration (Historic) | |
| Vancouver beach swim While on a conference in Vancouver, I had a wonderful walk on one of the days. Partially because I had been exposed to Covid and did not want to infect anyone, so walked around and connected over the net to the meetings. It turned out that I did not get the infection, though, phew. Full story July 2024, Inukshuk Point, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; English Bay Beach, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Urban-Exploration (Historic); Swimming (Waterbody-Sea, Beach) | |
| 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) | |
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.