The Holiday Resorts that Time Forgot

The holiday resorts that time forgot: Bankrupted and ravaged by war... eerie images capture the world's abandoned hotels

• Varosha, in Cyprus was once a bustling beach town where glamorous holidaymakers swarmed the beaches
• But in 1974, the town was invaded by Turkish troops and its population - once 40,000 strong - disappeared
• Now hotels with broken windows line the beach, signs forbid photographs and Turkish soldiers stand guard
• The ravaged resort  is just one example of the empty shells left behind when resorts fall to rack and ruin

By Emily Payne for MailOnline

Published: 10:08 GMT, 7 May 2015 | Updated: 10:51 GMT, 7 May 2015

It was once a bustling beach town where holidaymakers swarmed the beaches. The shores of Varosha, in Cyprus, were even graced by glamorous films stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot. 

But in 1974, the town was invaded by Turkish troops and its population - once 40,000 strong - disappeared to nothing. Now the resort cuts a desolate figure: hotels with broken windows line the beach, signs forbid photographs and videos and Turkish soldiers stand guard.

While some believe that north Cyprus' election of Mustafa Akinci as leader could see a positive change in the area, progress has yet to be seen. Varosha is just one example of the empty shells left behind when resorts fall to rack and ruin

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The deserted buildings of the once thriving tourist area of Varosha in the Turkish-occupied north of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus

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The beach town was deserted after being invaded by Turkish troops in 1974, its population - once 40,000 strong - disappeared to nothing

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Varosha, once the stomping ground for glamorous stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Brigitte Bardot now cuts a desolate figure

The Polissya hotel, in the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine is a striking reminder of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. 

Originally built in the 1970s as accommodation for guests visiting the nearby Chernobyl Power Plant, the hotel was half destroyed as a result of the explosion. 

Travel companies now offer tours to the hotel, which has become one of the city's most famous attractions, having starred in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Tourists are still required to have radiation testing, despite the disaster happening almost thirty years ago.   

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The Polissya hotel, in the abandoned city of Pripyat, Ukraine is a striking reminder of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986

In Alaska, a giant igloo stands on the George Parks Highway, between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Graffiti stains the outside and windows are boarded up. Building for the Igloo Hotel, near Cantwell, began in the 1970s, but failed to meet the building regulations of the time. 

The four-story structure was left to the elements and has deteriorated over time, making renovation work an expensive prospect. A padlock once barred passers by from entering, but with even a rudimentary security system going to rack and ruin, pedestrians are free to wander in. 

Meanwhile, derelict hotels dot the city of Mosta, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Siege of Mostar peaked in 1993 during the Croat-Bosniak conflict lasting eighteen months as fighting took place as Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia. 

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Graffiti stains the deserted Igloo Hotel in Alaska, on the George Parks Highway, between Anchorage and Fairbanks

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The four-story structure was left to the elements and has deteriorated over time, making renovation work an expensive prospect

Moss grows inside the stately ruins of the Hachijo Royal Hotel on the island Hachijojima off Tokyo, once known as the Hawaii of Japan.

The hotel, which opened in 1963, was once the country's biggest hotel, but now stands empty, after closing around ten years ago. 

In Detroit, a culture of ruin fascination has grown around a city left to bankruptcy after the failings of its motor industry. Despite high crime levels, tourists flock to see its decayed buildings, and there are even tours to see abandoned buildings such as the car factories, the train station and deserted churches. 

The Lee Plaza hotel, is a vacant high-rise building, now registered a historic site by the state of Michigan. 

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The main lobby of the Fox Hotel, in upstate New York - not its real name - where the floor is sinking and a staircase slants to one side

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Moss grows inside the abandoned Hachijo Royal Hotel on the island Hachijojima off Tokyo, which was once known as the Hawaii of Japan

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Greenery sprouting between single beds at the Hachijo Royal Hotel, which is thought to have closed around 2005, and was left to rot

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A derelict hotel in Mosta, Bosnia and Herzegovina, left to decay after the Siege of Mostar in 1993, when the country declared independence from Yugoslavia

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This hotel (location undisclosed) was damaged by scrappers and Airsoft players who smashed holes in the walls with sledgehammers

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The fifteen-floor derelict Lee Plaza Hotel, in Detroit, which was first constructed in 1929 and has stood empty since the 1990s

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A deserted sofa and television inside the Lee Plaza in Detroit, where wallpaper peels off the walls and a teddy bear is left abandoned

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The former ballroom at the Lee Plaza Hotel in the once thriving - and now bankrupt city of Detroit, where properties fall into ruins and decay

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The abandoned Hotel Eddystone, on Park Avenue, Detriot is now on the National Register of Historic Places

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Dechambeau Hotel and Post Office, Bodie State Park, ghost town, mining town, Sierra Nevada Range, Mono County, California

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Surfers walking past the abandoned Fistral Bay Hotel, Newquay, Cornwall, which called an eyesore by local residents