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:
Gorgas Creek Cave Cave in a park in Philadelphia? Unreal... Full story (TGR version) July 2019, Gorgas Creek Cave, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Caving (Man-Made); Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Quarries) | ||
Corporate sauna in a Russian harbour I attended a workshop at a private corporate facility in Kirkkonummi, and it turns out that there was both a very nice sauna, swimming place, as well as ruins from the Russian occupation times: a railroad leading to a rock, almost disappeared harbour pier. Nice surprise! Full story June 2019, Corporate Sauna, Kirkkonummi, Finland Sauna (Normal); Swimming (Indoor, Outdoor, Water, Waterbody-Pool, Waterbody-Sea); Urban-Exploration (Ruins) | ||
Leppävaara mining Today's abandoned mine exploration was in Leppävaara. Full story June 2019, Kaivoskallion louhos, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Kaivoskallion siirtolohkareen alusluola, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland Urban-Exploration (Quarries); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Banksy tunnel While in London, we happened to walk through the Banksy Tunnel, a pedestrian walkway tunnel where graffiti is ... tolerated if not legal. Pretty nice! Full story May 2019, Leake Street, London, United Kingdom Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Boozetunnel Booze tunnel in Helsinki... not from prohibition times but built between Alko's factory and warehouse. Decommissioned, now as a reserve shelter. The tunnel is underneath the Ruoholahti mall, in floor -6... deep under everything else. So deep that it is even underneath the kid amusement park Hoplop in floor -5 :-) Full story May 2019, Ruoholahden kauppakeskus, Helsinki, Finland Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Underground Tallinn I had an opportunity to visit Tallinn for a couple of hours yesterday, and the obvious question was whether there'd be anything underground to visit. And there is, Kiek in de Kök bastion tunnels. But, they were closed on Monday. Luckily, however, we run into an old bunker under the Tallinn Meremuuseum. Full story April 2019, Tallinna linnamüür, Tallinn, Estonia; Bunker under Eesti Meremuuseum, Tallinn, Estonia Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Leppävaara fortifications Jarmo and I visited the Leppävaara area fortifications, inspired by Tony Hagerlund's excellent blogs about them. There's plenty of trenches and also bunkers! These are World War I era fortifications built in a circle around Helsinki. We also found a small natural cave under a boulder! Full story April 2019, Bunkkeritunneli 1, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeritunneli 2, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri, Vallikallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 1, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 2, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Siirtolohkareen luola, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Bunkkeri 3, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Romahtanut bunkkeri 4, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Iso bunkkeri, Laturinkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 1, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 2, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland; Tykkiasema 3, Nupukivenkallio, Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Abandoned fish factory On our search for thermal baths in Iceland lead us to Hjalteyri on the northern shores of Iceland, north of Akureyri. We found an abandoned fish factory with storage tanks for fish oil and herring. It was fun to explore, luckily there was no rotten fish smell left :-) Full story March 2019, Hjalteyri, Iceland Urban-Exploration (Industrial, Silos, Smokestacks) | ||
R2-D2 bunker A bunker. A ventilation shaft. R2-D2 mod. What's not to like? Full story (TGR version) March 2019, R2-D2, Folimanka Park, Prague, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Communism and bunker tour Lets say that the tour guide was not a big fan of communism. Full story (TGR version) March 2019, Parukarka Park bunker, Prague, Czech Republic Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Train to HEL I took the train route to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport this morning, wanting to both see the deep underground station and to test the route should my 27-year old car some day not work :-) Full story February 2019, Helsinki-Vantaa, Vantaa, Finland Urban-Exploration (Tunnels, Railways) | ||
The Milan Cathedral Janne and I visited the cathedral of Milan, Duomo di Milano. This magnificent piece of art, construction, and religion was a wonder to visit, particularly from the upper floors and roof. The cathedral took a whopping 600 years to complete, and is the fourth largest church building in the world. Full story January 2019, Duomo di Milano, Milan, Italy History; Urban-Exploration (Ruins) | ||
Länsimetro, finally Given that I like underground places, it was surprising that it took me a year to visit Länsimetro, the new subway towards west from Helsinki. The new stations are spectacular and modern. Full story December 2018, Tapiola, Espoo, Finland; Iso-Omena, Matinkylä, Espoo, Finland Urban-Exploration (Railways) | ||
Fortifications in Laajalahti I recently blogged about a possible new cave in Laajalahti. But I didn't go there to look for a cave, I wanted to see the fortifications from before World War I, built by the Russians. I found many, including many small bunkers that one can easily visit. Full story December 2018, Laajalahden bunkkeri 1, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 2, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 3, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 4, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 5, Espoo, Finland; Laajalahden bunkkeri 6, Espoo, Finland Urban-Exploration (Bunkers); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
Kungsträdgården Walked through the Kunsträdgården underground station again today. While the "greek findings" in the station are fake, they are nice! Full story November 2018, Kungsträdgården subway station, Stockholm, Sweden Urban-Exploration (Tunnels) | ||
The Leaking Tunnel of Pisa... Pispala I've heard stories about the logging tunnel through Pispala, but today I finally got an opportunity to go see it myself. Full story (TGR version) November 2018, Pispalan uittotunneli, Tampere, Finland; Pispalan ensimmäinen uittotunneli, Tampere, Finland Urban-Exploration (Tunnels); Caving (Man-Made) | ||
This is the 5th set of articles. The previous sets were set 1, set 2, set 3, and set 4. The next sets are set 6, set 7, set 8, set 9, set 10, and set 11.
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.