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.
More urban exploration-related articles:
![]() | Burg Hohenzollern It is an imposing, massive castle on top of a high hill. Worth a visit! Full story May 2023, Burg Hohenzollern, Hechingen, Germany Urban-Exploration (Castles) | |
![]() | Dockyard Garden Dockyard Garden is an old dry dock in the Yokohama harbor, cornered between some of the highest skyscrapers in Japan. Doors have been cut to the sides of the massive rock walls protecting the dock, to build access to nice restaurants at the bottom. Full story March 2023, Dockyard Garden, Yokohama, Japan Travel; Urban-Exploration (Harbours) | |
![]() | Enoshima Caves Only in Japan: They have a "candle lending service" at cave. And it is not like it is a dark, lightless place even without the candles - the Enoshima cave has lighting, but obviously the candles are a remarkable addition to the experience. On the other hand, since the candles are actual candles with actual fire, there is now a need to have a fire alarm system, if somebody accidentally sets the cave on fire... Full story March 2023, Enoshima Island, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya Cave, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya Cave 2, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya mini cavelet 1, Fujisawa, Japan; Enoshima Iwaya mini cavelet 2, Fujisawa, Japan; Shinto Shrine, Fujisawa, Japan Caving (Basic, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Erosion, Showtour); Caving (None, Rock, Rock-Limestone, Morphology-Erosion); Hiking; Travel; Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites) | |
![]() | New ZIF-25 bunker in Siuntio! We had heard a rumor of a potentially previously unknown bunker in Siuntio. Let's call it the Hoivakodin Bunkkeri (Retirement Home Bunker). It turned out to be accessible -- if you don't mind passing through pieces of concrete hanging by rusting, twisted rebar. And it was a massive one! Another ZIF-25 model bunker, i.e., a two-floor bunker with several entrance tunnels and a side mountain gun port. Full story March 2023, Hoivakodin bunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland; Ansabunkkeri, Siuntio, Finland Urban-Exploration (Bunkers) | |
![]() | Slava Ukraini! I saw something today that I didn't realize actually existed in our neighborhood. It takes maybe half an hour for me to get from where I live to Siuntio, and there's a nice castle, the Sjundby Castle (or Manor). It was built starting from 1417, by the rapids on the Sjundbyån river. It is not open to the public so maybe that explains why I haven't heard about it. Full story March 2023, Sjundbyn linna, Siuntio, Finland Urban-Exploration (Historic, Castles) | |
![]() | Tower and Cave in Alíartos A random discovery while driving through Greece's small mountain towns. A massive hole by the road, with a tower on of the rock hill. This was so sudden that I didn't even think of registering the location or stopping. And I was in a rush to get to the ski area anyway. Full story (TGR version) February 2023, Πύργος Αλιάρτου, Alíartos, Greece; Σπηλιά Αλιάρτου, Alíartos, Greece Urban-Exploration (Ruins); Caving (Basic, Rock-Limestone, Surveying) | |
![]() | Wiesliczka Salt Mines Wiesliczka is a suburb of Krakow. Under it is a massive salt mine, extending to a depth of approximately over 300 meters, with the total length of labyrinth passages spanning over 287 kilometers. The use of the site dates back to the 13th century, where the locals would harvest salt from brine (salt concentrate) wells dug on the wetlands. Later in the same century the wells started to be extended as deeper mine shafts and tunnels. Wiesliczka is not just a mine, it is a massive underground world and site of art and history. It is also a well-deserved UNESCO World Heritage Site. Full story January 2023, Wieliczka Kopalnia Soli, Wieliczka, Poland Urban-Exploration (Mines); Caving (Man-Made, Basic, Rock-Other, Showtour) | |
![]() | Communism is closed, so is the museum We went to the Krakow Museum of Communistic Poland... it wasn't open, and neither is communism. Would have been very interesting to tour this, but oh well. Full story January 2023, Museum of Communistic Poland, Krakow, Poland Urban-Exploration (Historic-Sites) | |
![]() | Kalemegdan Park Castle There's a castle at the Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade, the Belgrade Fortress. Full story December 2022, Belgrade Fortress, Belgrade, Serbia Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Military, Castles) | |
![]() | Refresher course in communism and nuclear bunkers I've been here before, but a refresher course is always good, plus I have the next generation with me, useful course for him as well. The Prague's communism and nuclear bunker tour is a good reminder of what oppressive things went on during the eastern block years in Czechosloakia and elsewhere. Fortunately, those times are past us. But in 2022, you can still feel the nuclear-bomb threats being made ... you guessed it, from the east. Full story July 2022, Parukarka Park bunker, Prague, Czech Republic; The Cold War Museum, Prague, Czech Republic; KGB Museum, Prague, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Travel | |
![]() | Castles, castles... Czech edition I had an opportunity to visit castles in Czech Republic this summer. The first one we went to was Hrad Trosky, the ruins of an amazing two-tower steep clifftop castle. What a magnificent, for defense business -only castle! The second castle, Hrad Kost was a more full-service one, and was used as an administrative base. With a torture chamber, of course. (Is there any other kind of administration???) Full story July 2022, Hrad Trosky, Rovensko pod Troskami, Czech Republic; Hrad Kost, Libošovice, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Castles) | |
![]() | South Czechia castles Rabí and Kašperk Our trip to Czechia concluded with a road trip to the Kašperk and Rabí castles. Both are medieval castles, partially in ruins and partially restored. Kašperk's two-towers-on-a-steep-hill design reminded us very much of the Trosky castle that we had seen a few days earlier. Full story July 2022, Hrad Rabí, Sušice, Czech Republic; Hrad Kašperk, Kašperské Hory, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Castles); Travel | |
![]() | Vrnik Quarries Otok Vrnik is a small island close to Korcula (town) and the Korcula island. Otok Vrnik's history revolves around quarries ... the whole island is a quarry. Since the activity has stopped hundreds of years ago, there's little that you can see today, but there are some places where big walls of rock are still visible. Full story July 2022, Vrnik Quarry, Vrnik, Korcula, Croatia Urban-Exploration (Quarries) | |
![]() | Anna Mine 60 kilometers southwest of Prague is a historic mining area of Příbram. There's mining museum at Mine Ševčinský. There's also two mines that you can actually visit, the Hornické muzeum Příbram – Vojtěšský důl (Vojtěšský mine) and the Hornické muzeum Příbram – Anenský důl (Anna Mine). The latter involves a small train journey in mine carts... Full story July 2022, Hornické muzeum Příbram, Anenský důl, Příbram, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Mines, Historic); Travel | |
![]() | Mali Kozjak hike Mali Kozjak is a mountain ridge in Split, Croatia. Near the airport, in fact. I had seen this on a previous trip, and it looked interesting... was there a hike? After perusing through the Wikilocs and Starves of the world, and some (maybe not enough) local advice, it seemed like there's a nice walk up via the Planinarski Dom Putalj mountain hut. I chose to hike up a bit further north so that I could descend to the hut. But boy did that generate some headache! Full story (TGR version) June 2022, Planinarski Dom Putalj, Kaštel Sućurac, Croatia; Svrka Sv. Luka, Blaca, Croatia; Veli Vrj radar station, Vučevica, Croatia; Orlovo gnijezdo - Planinarsko sklonište, Kaštel Kambelovac, Croatia; Gojača Beach, Kaštel Sućurac, Croatia Climbing (Mountain); Hiking; Urban-Exploration (Military, Buildings); Swimming (Water, Waterbody-Sea, Beach) | |
![]() | Sutro Baths Tunnels The Sutro Baths were luxurious swimming pools on the San Francisco seafront, in an almost all glass building, built in the 1890s. Complete with salt and freshwater pools, slides, and 30 swinging rings, and a springboard. It was served by two rail lines, one of these being the Sutro Railroad, another creation of Adolph Sutro, a famous engineer and industrialist and mayor of San Francisco! In the 1900s the facility fell into disrepair and it burned down in 1966. Today only ruins remain, including the pool basins, a settling pool, and tunnels. Full story (TGR version) May 2022, Sutro Baths, San Francisco, USA Urban-Exploration (Ruins, Tunnels); Caving (Basic, Man-Made) | |
This is the 3th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, and set 2. The next sets are set 4, set 5, set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, set 11, and set 12.
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.