14 Tourist Attractions That Were Super Popular Once Upon A Time, But Are Now Forgotten Or Abandoned

Did you ever know of a place that seemed like everyone was traveling to, only to stop hearing about it as time went on? Have you ever wondered what became of that place?

Well, Reddit user FrozenOppressor recently asked, “What once-popular tourist destinations are now largely forgotten or abandoned?” And the responses are both nostalgic and fascinating. Here’s just a few:

1.”The Catskill Mountains in upstate New York! Formerly a huge tourist destination for mainly Jewish residents of NYC, nowadays, it’s littered with defunct resorts and abandoned buildings. It’s quite economically depressed nowadays.”

2.”Acapulco used to be a celeb hotspot, but now struggles with safety issues and natural disasters. It’s trying to bounce back, but recovery takes time. Places like this show how fragile tourism can be.”

3.”Whitsundays in Australia. Used to be a huge tourist draw card, but has never really recovered from a cyclone.”

4.”Alexandria, Egypt. It was a popular travel destination for ancient Greeks and Romans. Roman emperors visited Alexandria. It’s not a popular destination anymore.”

5.”Beirut used to be called ‘The Paris of the Middle East.’ Between 1955 and 1975, Beirut was known for its culture, French architecture, world-class food, fashion, art, and glamorous lifestyle with luxury hotels and clubs that made it a ‘jet-setter’s playground.’ Famous guests included Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Marlon Brando, Brigitte Bardot, royals like King Hussein of Jordan, and the Shah of Iran and his wife Princess Soraya.”

6.”The Hippie Trail, where young white Western men and women would, often solo, backpack starting in Turkey, going into Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and ending in India in the ’60s and early ’70s. Thousands and thousands of white Europeans and Americans made this trip from the Boomer generation.”

7.”The Black Forest in Germany. It started out as a romantic nature spot for the high society in the late 1800s with some of the fanciest hotels in the world. Then came the skiing tourism. The high society went elsewhere, and the middle class moved in, hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter. But with prosperity after the war, people wanted to travel outside the country, and destinations like Italy and Spain became more popular. Nowadays, you can’t even ski there anymore thanks to climate change. The hotels have mostly fallen into dereliction and abandonment.”

8.”Check out the Riverview Park amusement park on Chicago’s Northside. It ran from 1904 to 1967 and was essentially Chicago’s Coney Island.”

9.”Bad Homburg, Germany. Used to be — 120ish years ago — a spa town close to Frankfurt that attracted visitors from all of Europe. Especially aristocrats. The English royal family, the Russian Tsar, and the German Emperor went there to probably do disgusting spa treatments (the smelly water still flows today) and gamble at one of Europe’s oldest casinos. They also built an Orthodox and Anglican church, as well as a separate train station for royals. Still a cute city today, but largely dead when it comes to tourism.”

10.”Rhyl, Wales is a sketchy little seaside town that was once apparently a thriving destination.”

11.”Duluth, Minnesota. The North Shore still has its appeal for outdoor activities, but Duluth is a shell of its former self. There isn’t a whole lot to do compared to its heyday.”

12.”The Saltair off the Great Salt Lake! There used to be a train that would take people out there. A beach and a big ‘salt palace’ for concerts and events. My grandparents met because their parents were both vendors on the salt beach. The salt palace burned down, and the lake got REALLY stinky. Now, they have raves and concerts in a replica building, but it’s no longer the destination it used to be.”

13.”Scotland: a chain of open-air seawater swimming pools along the shores of the Forth. Portobello, Cockenzie, North Berwick, and Dunbar. They were a huge draw between the wars, with brilliant Art Deco designs and sometimes wave machines. All closed now, mainly in the 1960s.”

14.”Blackpool, England. A popular holiday destination for the English in the Victorian era. Now it’s seen as fairly grim. The area has the highest rates of antidepressant use in the UK.”

Are there any former tourist attractions not included in this list that you would add? Let us know in the comments!

Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.