Germany’s Lost Places in Check: How Expensive is a Visit to the Most Popular Abandoned Locations?

They offer a glimpse into the past, the time of the buildings has stood still for years and often marked by their sudden abandonment: So-called Lost Places gain more and more popularity in Germany. The sights are also popular on vacation and can be visited throughout Germany. We took a closer look at the publicly accessible Lost Places and determined where visitors have to dig deep into their pockets, which places can be visited free of charge and which ones cause the greatest excitement. To do this, we compared the admission prices and Google ratings of a total of 56 lost places in Germany.

Visitors to the former Hotel Fürstenhof in Eisenach, Thuringia, have to dig deep into their pockets. With a price of 70 euros per adult, the former spa hotel, which revives the GDR era, is the most expensive Lost Place in the comparison. A glimpse into the old army testing facility at Mellensee in Brandenburg is available for 20 euros. With an entrance fee of 17 euros, a visit to the Völklinger Hütte ironworks is similarly high. Visits to the Hugo colliery in North Rhine-Westphalia and the House of Officers in Brandenburg cost 15 euros each. To embark on a discovery tour of the Beelitz sanatoriums, 12.50 euros per person must be paid.

How much the entrance fee is for all the Lost Places, you can find out in this table:

Those who want to explore the infamous places but don't want to spend any money will find what they are looking for here. Among the 14 building complexes accessible free of charge are the Blumenthal colliery, the Hünx ammunition depot, a historic sewage treatment plant in Krefeld and the tank cemetery in Aachen. Interested parties can also take a look at a former children's clinic and children's sanatorium in Harzgerode, Saxony-Anhalt, free of charge. In the capital, Urban Explorers get their money's worth for free when visiting the Prussian district court prison in Berlin.

An overview of Germany's Lost Places can be found here:

In terms of the most popular places to explore, the Hünx Ammunition Depot and the Kummersdorf Army Test Site lead the ranking with a rating of 4.8 stars each. Eight other lost places, including the Karl von Müller barracks, the Knappenrode briquette factory and the Chemnitz-Hilbersdorf railroad depot, follow close behind with 4.7 stars each.

There is the most to explore in North Rhine-Westphalia, where a total of 17 of the Lost Places surveyed can be found. There is also a large selection in Brandenburg, where 13 places are located. Seven abandoned complexes are in Saxony-Anhalt, and five are in Thuringia.

You can see the number of Lost Places per federal state as well as the ratings here:

This is what we examined:

For the comparison, the official entry conditions and prices as well as the Google ratings of so-called lost places were determined. The ratings included places with at least ten ratings. Lost places are places that are abandoned or overgrown, but still physically accessible. A total of 56 places were taken into account.