In the Netherlands, where I live, buildings that are abandoned get boarded up. Belgium is a two-hour drive from my home, but you can also go to France, Germany, Austria and further and further. Hotels and plane tickets add up.

The former East Germany, which used to be divided by the Berlin Wall. There are a lot of abandoned buildings there.

Also, in the skiing areas in the Czech Republic or in Germany. At one point people went skiing and hotels popped up, but when people went elsewhere they had to close down. In Austria, there’s a ski town that’s almost completely abandoned.

The Netherlands doesn’t really have castles like they do in Italy and Poland. They cost a lot of money and, especially when they deteriorate, renovation costs are pretty high. The renovation costs are then higher than the worth of the buildings, so then it just keeps on deteriorating. Even demolishing is more expensive than leaving it to rot.

Pretty sweet, right? All we get here is overgrown zoos and torn down industrial buildings.

Here are our fav five: