18 Creepy Underground Places That Are Open to the Public
Beneath cities and landscapes around the world, there are places most people were never meant to see. Old tunnels, shelters, crypts, and mines still exist, and some are open to the public. These sites weren’t designed for comfort or beauty, and time hasn’t softened them. What you see underground often feels untouched, not because it was preserved, but because it was forgotten. Here are eighteen places you can visit if you’re curious enough to go below the surface.
Bounce Below, Wales, UK
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In North Wales, there’s the weirdest trampoline park in the UK, Bounce Below, which sits inside a cavern the size of a cathedral. But Bounce Below has nothing in common with a regular kids’ zone. It is rigged inside a decommissioned slate mine with multilevel nets. Visitors bounce under colored lights in a vast hollow space that still smells faintly of minerals and time.
Desert Cave Hotel, Australia
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Coober Pedy’s scorching heat pushed the entire town’s functions underground. This hotel, built into the rock, offers air-conditioned comfort inside tunnels. The contrast between cool silence and desert heat gives it a surreal quality, like the building is hiding from the sky. Some find it absolutely fascinating, but to some, it may give out a creepy vibe.
Kish Qanat, Iran
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This underground water system, built nearly 2,500 years ago, runs for miles beneath Kish Island. Fossils are part of the decor, and the air stays unnaturally still. It may not scream tourist attraction, but it might be the oldest thing you’ve ever walked through.
Greenbrier Bunker, West Virginia, USA
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The guest list here once included every U.S. lawmaker, just in case the world ended. This Cold War bunker, hidden beneath a luxury resort, was secret until 1992. Now you can stroll past blast doors and austere dorms where panic once had a floor plan. It’s survival with wall-to-wall government beige.
Berlin Underground Bunkers, Germany
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Some tunnels don’t age well. Beneath Berlin’s streets are relics from air raids and Cold War paranoia, with metal doors, brittle signage, and corridors that feel like time gave up halfway. It’s like walking through a panic attack, historically preserved.
St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral Catacombs, New York, USA
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Underneath this historic Catholic church in Manhattan lies a crypt housing ornate tombs and passageways. It is lit with just enough glow to read the names. The catacombs hold the remains of old New York families and include people who mattered once.
Salina Turda, Romania
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Sure, it’s a theme park now, with a Ferris wheel, bowling alley, and rowboats floating on an underground lake, but the cavern still carries echoes of its salt-mining past. The sheer scale is absurd. You play games where people once labored, and the quiet doesn’t always feel like it’s minding its business.
Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland
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A few miles outside Kraków, this old salt mine runs deep under the ground and covers miles of carved passageways. Inside, you’ll find chapels, sculptures, and chandeliers, all made from salt by the miners themselves. The mine handled centuries of labor before becoming a tourist site.
Brno Ossuary, Czech Republic
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Roughly 50,000 skeletons were placed here during centuries of disease and overcrowding. The space sits under St. James Church, with bones arranged neatly along the walls in narrow passageways. Built in the 1600s and 1700s, it was later sealed off and mostly forgotten. In 2001, it was uncovered during restoration work. Today, it’s open to visitors and ranks as the second-largest ossuary in Europe, just behind Paris.
Rådhuset Metro Station, Sweden
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Most subway stations don’t feel like they’re judging your life choices. Rådhuset’s bare rock walls are painted the color of an argument and lit like a low-budget sci-fi set. You’re not in danger, but you wouldn’t be surprised if something slithered by. The metro is functional, yes, but it lacks a comforting vibe.
Seattle Underground, Washington, USA
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Seattle rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1889, which left the old city beneath its current streets. Tours guide visitors past dusty storefronts and glass light wells. Here you will witness a strange double-layered city where time and bad plumbing stood still.
Capuchin Crypt, Rome, Italy
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Beneath a Roman church lie rooms decorated with the bones of nearly 4,000 monks. Arranged into geometric patterns and decorative elements, the bones create beauty from death, which only adds to the lingering discomfort visitors often carry with them.
Alcatraz Island, California, USA
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The main prison gets the headlines, but it’s the solitary confinement cells underneath that linger. These tiny, sound-dead chambers feel like they were built to make people forget they existed. Today, tourists step inside for a photo. Most don’t stay long. It’s hard to pretend you’re alone when it feels too real.
Basilica Cistern, Istanbul, Turkey
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Step inside and everything feels off by half a second. This underground reservoir, initially built to store water for the Byzantine capital, has marble columns, still water, and a darkness that doesn’t go away with light. Two Medusa heads sit casually under pillars, because nothing says “safe space” like cursed stone decor.
Balaklava Submarine Base, Crimea
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There was a time this place didn’t show up on maps. It was even invisible to satellites and invulnerable to bombs. The base once serviced Soviet submarines with nuclear ambitions. Now you can tour the dry docks and tunnels that hum with old paranoia. It’s a museum now, but the walls haven’t fully accepted the peace.
Edinburgh Underground Vaults, Scotland
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The vaults under South Bridge were reopened in the ’80s and now host ghost tours. The stone arches sweat with moisture and possibly regret. Voices are sometimes heard, and the shadows don’t always move right. It’s hard to ignore the creepiness when the air starts to feel thick, like someone’s waiting to say something.
Eastern State Penitentiary, Pennsylvania, USA
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The point of this experimental prison was solitary confinement for inmates in echoing stone cells. Long since abandoned, the prison’s architecture now exaggerates its own decay. Tours warn of cold spots and apparitions, but the real unease comes from the silence that feels engineered.
Paris Catacombs, France
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Under the streets of Paris, miles of tunnels hold the remains of more than six million people. The bones were transferred here in the late 1700s as cemeteries overflowed. Most of the network is closed off, but a small section is open to the public. Inside, the layout is methodical—skulls and femurs stacked with care—but the space feels cold in a way that’s hard to place.