Burj al Babas, Ghost town in Bolu Province, Turkey.
The development comprises 732 identical castle-styled villas with Gothic architectural elements arranged in uniform rows across hilly terrain near Mudurnu, each featuring three stories and pointed towers.
Construction began in 2014 under Sarot Group with 2,500 workers, but the project declared bankruptcy in 2019 leaving 583 incomplete structures that remain unoccupied since.
The complex name references Ottoman-era Babas thermal springs and targeted prosperous buyers from Kuwait and additional Gulf nations seeking Turkish luxury resort properties with spa facilities.
Located halfway between Istanbul and Ankara, the site requires advance permission for visits while security personnel monitor the premises preventing unauthorized access.
Natural hot springs beneath the property reach temperatures of 150 degrees Fahrenheit (68 degrees Celsius) and were originally intended to supply thermal facilities within the planned resort but remained unutilized.
Location: Bolu Province
Website: https://burjalbabas.com
GPS coordinates: 40.44722,31.20083
Latest update: November 27, 2025 20:37
This collection brings together locations that challenge the norms of conventional tourism. It offers the chance to discover places where nature, history, and human activities have created astonishing sites: a complex of 732 unfinished villas in Turkey, a Mexican island where hundreds of dolls are hung in trees, a Canadian lake with mineral-formed multicolored basins, and a Polish forest of 400 pines with mysteriously bent trunks facing north. The route also includes unique human-made creations, such as an art installation representing an isolated Prada store in the Texas desert, or the Japanese village of Nagoro where an artist populated the streets with 350 dolls after the residents left. Geological phenomena are also featured, including Darvaza crater in Turkmenistan, which has been burning continuously since 1971, the Great Blue Hole in Belize, a 124-meter-deep underwater cavity, and Colombia’s Caño Cristales river that changes color to red, yellow, and green from July to November. These destinations provide a different perspective on our planet and invite exploration of lesser-known facets of our world.
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