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Early Saturday morning on 26 April 1986, the 1,000-ton lid blew off reactor four at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, lofting deadly radioactive material into the atmosphere. The resulting ethereal dawn lightshow would be last that some in the nearby town of Pripyat would ever see. Sand was dumped onto the smouldering nuclear inferno by helicopter and a few weeks later the site was encased in a concrete sarcophagus, but the damage had been done. Two power station workers were killed immediately by the fire. Of the deaths that can be directly attributed to radiation exposure from the accident, 28 were emergency workers who knowingly went to their doom, succumbing to this invisible killer within a few months. A further 106 workers exhibited symptoms of acute radiation poisoning, while thyroid cancers…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+5 CURRENCY Uzbek som Kazakh teng TOP TIP Expect a buttock-numbing eight-hour taxi ride to the Aral Sea from the nearest city, Nukus in Uzbekistan. In 1960 the Aral Sea was the fourth-largest lake in the world. The vast inland sea on the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan had a thriving fishing industry that employed 40,000 people and provided one-sixth of the USSR’s entire fish catch. Just 60 years later, what was once a body of water larger than Sri Lanka has shrunk to less than half the size of the Falklands. The rest of the once-mighty lake is a toxic desert. The collapse of the Aral ecosystem was a man-made disaster. Soviet engineers were to blame, having diverted the two rivers that fed the Aral Sea…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC-4 CURRENCY Bolivian boliviano TOP TIP To get the most out of your visit, why not read Guevara’s book, Guerrilla Warfare, before you go? In 1966, Che Guevara embarked upon his last, ill-fated adventure – a failed revolution in Bolivia that would ultimately lead to his execution. Having previously played a leading role in the Cuban Communist Revolution, Guevara had fallen out with Castro and left for the Congo, where he failed to inspire a socialist rebellion. Dejected, he turned his attention to Bolivia, a country with vast natural resources, rife with poverty and underdevelopment, seemingly ripe for revolution. With a long history of resistance to colonial power, and bordering five countries, it seemed like the perfect launchpad for Guevara’s international revolution. His idea was to set…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+7 CURRENCY Cambodian riel TOP TIP Stalls selling snacks can be found near the entrance, but avoid eating and drinking when wandering around. Few people visit this beautiful Southeast Asian country specifically for its Killing Fields, but if one day you find yourself enjoying the mountains, beaches, temples and rivers of Cambodia, make sure you put by at least one day to experience one of the country’s most important historical sites. The Killing Fields of Cambodia have a story to tell, and as harrowing as it may be to hear, to understand present-day Cambodia it’s crucial that we listen to the stories of its dark past. Whether you know a little or a lot about the Khmer Rouge regime and the atrocities that took place between 1975…

ST SYMPHORIEN MILITARY CEMETERY Pay your respects to the first and last casualties Location: Saint-Symphorien, Belgium Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Euro A moving illustration of the futility of the First World War, the military cemetery in the small village of St Symphorien holds the bodies of the first and last British soldiers killed in action – although their deaths occurred within just a few miles of each other, they were separated by four years of slaughter. It is also the last resting place of Private George Price, a Canadian, who was killed by a sniper’s bullet at 10.58 on the morning of 11 November 1918, failing to see out the conflict by just two minutes. TYNE COT Be moved by the scale of Britain’s biggest war cemetery Location: Passendale, Belgium…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+9 CURRENCY Japanese yen TOP TIP For cheaper travel, be sure to order a Japan Rail Pass before visiting the country. The 6 August 1945 began like any other day. With Japan the only remaining Axis power left in World War II, air raid sirens had become commonplace. However, this day would be unlike any other in history, one of horror and anguish hitherto unknown. At 8.15am, for a moment, it was as though the earth froze and Hell’s gates themselves had been hurled open. With a blinding flash, the world’s first nuclear bomb had been dropped over Hiroshima. The bomb unleashed a four-square-kilometre firestorm, raging at 7,000 degrees Celcius, vaporising tens of thousands of civilians and incinerating buildings, followed by a supersonic blast, smashing tens of…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+1 CURRENCY Euro TOP TIP There are plenty of walking tours on offer in Berlin, which will take you on a tour of the essential post-war sites. To pause now next to the monumental Brandenburg Gate is to find yourself standing on what was once the fault-line running through the heart of Europe. The point where two competing ideologies of the 20th century, capitalism and communism, clashed as they balanced on the ruins of a third, defeated and discredited, dogma – that of National Socialism. The death strip of the Berlin Wall that once surrounded the Brandenburg Gate is no more. Gone are the border guards of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR) tasked with shooting traitors escaping to the West – replaced with selfie-shooting tourists and street…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC-9 CURRENCY North Korean won TOP TIP Be sure to pay respect to North Korean laws and customs or you could face very severe consequences with limited consular assistance. At the end of World War II, the Japanese were defeated and ejected from Korea, which was instead occupied by the Americans in the south and the Soviets to the north. Soon after, the communist North Korean leader Kim Il-sung – a hero who had previously fought the Japanese using guerrilla warfare – launched a bloody civil war which would later result in a de facto division of the country into two halves. North Korea has since developed into an increasingly totalitarian society, presided over by Kim Il-sung’s successors, his son Kim Jong-il and grandson Kim Jong-un. From…

LES CATACOMBES DE PARIS AH, PARIS. THE EIFFEL TOWER, THE LOUVRE, THE SEINE… AND SIX MILLION SKELETONS IN THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS OSSUARY Location: Paris, France Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Euro You’d expect a lot of interesting things 20 metres beneath the streets of a city centre with as much history as Paris, but perhaps not the bones of six million people. This enormous ossuary was created when Parisian cemeteries, ripe with centuries of the dead – including thousands of victims of the plague that had wiped out nearly half of the city’s population in 1466 – began to burst at the seams. The pivotal moment came when Les Innocents spilled its grim occupants into the basement of a popular restaurant in 1780. The authorities quickly closed five of the…

HO CHI MINH’S MAUSOLEUM THE RESTING PLACE OF VIETNAMESE REVOLUTIONARY LEADER, HO CHI MINH, IS ONE OF THE MOST VISITED ATTRACTIONS IN HANOI, A TESTAMENT TO HIS ENDURING LEGACY Location: Hanoi, Vietnam Time zone: UTC+7 Currency: Vietnamese dong The popular leader of Vietnam, known by his people as Uncle Ho, has been lovingly preserved for them to pay their respects to on a regular basis. For many this is not merely a gruesome way to pass the time, but instead a pilgrimage site that demands veneration. However, it is also high on the list of dark tourist attractions, as well as for ‘cult-of-personality’ tourists, who often coincide in their choice of holiday destinations. Like Lenin, Ho Chi Minh did not want a mausoleum, nor did he wish to be embalmed.…

As the Sun sets, its light extinguished by the rising horizon, darkness descends and a looming oblivion pulls all in sight into its oppressive grip. The witching hour is close. Buildings and places that are innocuous by day assume a sinister veil, as dreams and nightmares occupy the minds of those sleeping nearby. Across Europe, some of the most haunted castles start to come to life, their corridors ringing with the shrieks of their long-dead residents, dungeons still echoing with the moans and groans of its last victims and the gardens trampled by the memory of demonic animals. For thousands of ghost hunters across the world, the thrill of catching a glimpse of these ghostly shapes is too thrilling to resist. As the night descends and the castles unveil their…

Location: Salzburg, Austria Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Euro With a history that stems all the way back to the 12th century, it’s no surprise that Moosham Castle has a past that would send shivers down any spine. Popularly known as the Witches’ Castle, Moosham was home to some of the darkest moments in Austrian history. Between 1675 and 1690, its spooky walls were at the heart of the Salzburg Witch Trials, where those accused of witchcraft were tried, tortured and condemned. Over the 15 years of trials, more than 130 people were condemned to death, while countless more suffered horrific torture, brutality and abuse at the hands of their captors. Curiously, most of the people tried and accused of witchcraft were men, and the accusers weren’t particular about who their…

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Time zone: UTC Currency: Pound Sterling Set foot in the grounds of Edinburgh Castle and you might hear the soft whistle of pipes, seemingly playing from right beneath your feet. This tune is apparently the haunting memory of the Lone Piper, who disappeared on an errand hundreds of years ago. Upon discovering secret tunnels under the castle, a young boy was sent to investigate. Instructed to play his pipes continually, the piper stepped in, his pipes a sign of his progress. When his music suddenly stopped, a search party was released – but there was no sign of the boy. Just one of the many ghosts to haunt Edinburgh Castle, it is no wonder the area is considered to be so haunted. The site where Edinburgh Castle…

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LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+1 CURRENCY Euro TOP TIP Hire a tour guide or get hold of an audio guide to really make the most of what the vast site has to offer. At the foot of a volcano in southern Italy lies one of the ancient world’s most famous cities. For hundreds of years it lay forgotten, buried under layers of ash and dirt until it was until it was found, over a millennium later. Pompeii’s demise should have been obvious right from the start – the city that would become famous for being buried in a volcanic eruption was built on a spur that had been formed by a prehistoric lava flow. Pompeii was a prosperous town, densely populated with 10,000 to 12,000 people, one-third of whom were slaves,…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC +5 CURRENCY Turkmen manat TOP TIP To enter Turkmenistan you will need a letter of invitation, which can be acquired through travel agents. On this occasion the Kremlin hasn’t denied responsibility for setting the world on fire, although the exact date when this Hadean pit was punched into the ground is still up for debate. Around 40 years ago (50 if you’re a local Turkem geologist) during the Soviet occupation of modern Turkmenistan, the Russians were drilling at what they thought was the site of a large oil field near the village of Darvaza when their rig, camp and a huge circumference of desert around it collapsed into a deep crater. While peering over the edge and considering whether this would be a good time to…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+9 CURRENCY Japanese yen TOP TIP Aside from the health risks, people who stumble into the exclusion zone can be arrested and fined. It was mid-afternoon when the first disaster struck the Japanese prefecture of Fukushima. At 2.46pm local time on 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake – the fourth-largest since records began in 1900 – occurred 43 miles east of Japan. The shifting bed of the Pacific Ocean triggered a tsunami, the waves of which travelled as far as six miles inland when they breached the coast a little under an hour after the initial earthquake. The tsunami not only devastated a long stretch of Japanese coastline, it also led to a second disaster when 13-metre high waves crashed over the sea wall of the…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC-6 CURRENCY US dollar TOP TIP If you’re using Dallas Area Rapid Transit trains, use West End Station for Dealey Plaza. On 22 November 1963, US President John F Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, were riding in a motorcade in Dallas with the Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nellie. As they travelled through the city’s Dealey Plaza, shots rang out. A detour followed to Parkland Memorial Hospital; Connally was seriously injured but survived, but 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital, the president was declared dead. Kennedy’s violent death at the hands – most, although not all, believe – of Lee Harvey Oswald has become mythologised, endlessly debated and is the subject of numerous books and films. As the subject of fiction, including Norman Mailer’s…

MANASSAS Education is a key part of this Virginian battlefield site Location: Virginia Time zone: UTC-5 Currency: US dollar It was in Virginia, in July 1861, that the Union and Confederate armies fought for the first time, on fields near Manassas that overlooked Bull Run. Just over a year later, they met again, on the Manassas plains, with the Confederates being the victors on both occasions. Today, the site is run by the National Parks Service (NPS), which offers walking tours that guide visitors through either the first or second battles. There are also living history demonstrations during the summer season. Archaeological work continues at the site, with a Civil War surgeon’s burial pit being one of the most recent excavations. GLORIETA PASS The ‘Gettysburg of the West’ saw the…

NORMANDY Revered sites of D-Day and the Normandy Campaign attract thousands Location: Normandy, France Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Euro The turning point of World War II in the West famously occurred on 6 June 1944, when 150,000 Allied soldiers assaulted five landing beaches in French Normandy, initiating the campaign that hastened the end of Hitler’s Nazi regime and liberated much of Europe from oppressive military occupation. Operation Overlord was a vast undertaking involving Allied forces on land, sea and air. The beaches and battlefields where the liberation effort began are well preserved and memorialised, and the final resting places of the thousands of Allied soldiers who gave their lives for victory are locations of beauty and reverence not to be missed. STALINGRAD The Red Army triumphed over the Nazison the…

LOCATION: TIME ZONE UTC CURRENCY Pound sterling TOP TIP Be prepared for both rain and shine, even in the summer months – Northern Ireland is known for its rain. The past can be a tricky thing in Northern Ireland. For centuries, tension brewed between Catholics and Protestants, between Loyalists and Republicans, between neighbours and colleagues. In the 1970s, it erupted into something akin to a 20th-century holy war. From the streets of Belfast to the Medieval walls of Derry, there was violence in the form of gangs and car bombs, with two sides facing off against each other. On the one side were those who wanted to be a part of the United Kingdom – the so-called Loyalists – who were mainly Protestants. On the other were the Republicans, their…

Location: Rome, Italy Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Euro The Romans, it seems, bought into the idea of placing the city’s dead in vast burial grounds beneath the streets long before the Parisians. As far back as the 2nd century CE, the bodies of Pagans, Jews and early Christians were taken to bespoke caverns excavated underneath Rome. Early Christians preferred burial to the pagan custom of burning but, as Christianity was forbidden by Roman law, they had to place their dead in secret vaults outside the city walls. When Christian persecution finally ended in the 4th century and its followers could practise their faith in the open, Roman Christians continued to use catacombs under the city, right up until the 5th century. Rome’s catacombs represent ancient and dedicated burial sites, much…

Location: Red Square, Moscow, Russia Time zone: UTC+3 Currency: Russian ruble Vladimir Lenin is widely considered to be one of the most influential and controversial political figures of the 20th century, having instigated the Bolshevik Revolution and ultimately creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Although he tried to undermine the dictatorial power that the Soviet Government wielded through his ‘Testament’, his name will forever be linked to his mass-murdering successor, Joseph Stalin and, to this end, his mausoleum has become a popular macabre attraction. Situated in Moscow’s Red Square, Lenin lies within a red granite and black labradorite step-pyramid, frozen in time. This went against his wishes as he did not believe in the process of embalming, but after his passing 10,000 heartbroken citizens sent telegrams to the Soviet…

The gloriously ornate Château de Brissac has dominated the Loire Valley for centuries. Built initially as a castle in the 11th century, it was rebuilt in the 1400s, and then again in 1611. It is this 17th-century style that we see today, commissioned by the first Duke of Brissac, Charles II de Cossé. However, behind this impressive Baroque façade, the hidden secrets of the château’s tragic past are kept. A double murder that took place in the 15th century has haunted residents, with the vision of the Green Lady terrifying visitors. After the château was rebuilt in the 1400s, Jacques de Brezé, the son of the man that commissioned the redesign, inherited the building. Jacques married a woman named Charlotte, the favoured illegitimate daughter of Charles VII of France. Yet…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+1 CURRENCY Danish kroner TOP TIP As well as a museum, Dragsholm Castle is also a hotel, so you can rent a room for a night. Built in about 1215 by the Bishop of Rosilde, Dragsholm Castle’s history is as rich and interesting as it is morbid. During the Middle Ages, the castle was overhauled and thoroughly fortified, making it the strongest castle at the time. As a testament to its strength, it stood resolute against the fiercely destructive armies of Christoffer, Count of Oldenburg, during the Count’s Feud of 1534 to 1536. After the Reformation that followed, Dragsholm Castle fell into the hands of the state, where it was transformed into a prison for noble and high-ranking prisoners. Here, each prisoner received a cell built especially…

Location: Co. Offaly, Ireland  Time zone: UTC  Currency: Euro Claimed to be the most haunted site in all of Ireland, Leap Castle hides a dark and treacherous past behinds its walls. Allegedly built on the site of a druid initiation site, which was chosen for being the crossing of two Ley lines, it is claimed that the barrier between the physical and spiritual realms are particularly thin here, resulting in paranormal activity that exaggerated the aura – both good and bad. Even before it was built, the castle was bathed in blood, condemning the site to negative paranormal activity. Built by the O’Bannon clan in the 13th century, the family was in the midst of a dilemma – two brothers contested each other’s claim as chieftain. To solve the issue,…

WOLF’S LAIR – ADOLF HITLER Steeped in Nazi history, Wolf’s Lair is a top destination site for dark tourists Location: Poland Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Polish złoty Hidden in the forests of north-eastern Poland, Wolf’s Lair attracts more than 20,000 visitors annually who wish to walk in the footsteps of Hitler and his high-ranking officers. Dark tourists will make for Bunker 13, the Führer’s personal shelter, which is comprised of shadowy, sinister corridors and tunnels. The ruins of Bunker 3 are also where Stauffenberg attempted his ill-fated assassination plot. Goring’s bunker is the best preserved and brave tourists can climb it to see where the flak gun placements were positioned. Of all the dictator’s secret locations, Wolf’s Lair is by far the darkest. VILLA TORLONIA – BENITO MUSSOLINI The fascist…

We have always been interested in the dark side of life: it’s part of human nature to explore the sometimes unsavoury aspects of our existence in order to understand what makes us tick as a species. Many of us gravitate towards the ghoulish and macabre even if we can’t quite vocalise or explain why it is that we are drawn to darker subjects. We seek them out in newspaper stories, exhibitions, museum artefacts and television programmes. True crime remains a popular subject for podcasts – Criminal, Serial, My Favorite Murder and Unsolved are just some of the recent series, and even the BBC initiated a podcast series based on the discovery of an unknown body at Saddleworth Moor, called The Body On The Moor (with an update provided when the…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC-5 CURRENCY US dollar TOP TIP If you intend to visit the museum, be sure to buy your ticket ahead of your visit, as queues can get long. Ground Zero, a term normally used to denote the hypocentre of a nuclear explosion in atomic testing, is almost certainly the most popular dark tourist attraction in the entire world, with millions of people visiting the site every year. Standing on the spot where nearly 3,000 people were killed during the worst terrorist attack in modern times clearly pushes the location to the top of the dark tourist sites, but this is far more than your typical macabre setting for ‘rubberneckers’. 11 September 2001 was a devastating point in history where time itself seemed to stop and, for the…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+5 CURRENCY Russian ruble TOP TIP The famous Trans-Siberian railway stops at Yekaterinburg. It takes 26 hours to reach from Moscow. A round 12 miles north of Yekaterinberg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, a place which sits on the liminal borderlands between Europe and Asia, is one of the most infamous sites in 20th-century history: the dump site of 11 persons murdered in cold blood for political motives. A secluded spot among pines and silver birches, for almost 60 years this was an unknown crime scene, a totalitarian state’s dirty little secret. For in this muddy meadow lay the last tsar of Russia, his wife, children and a small retinue of servants, including their physician. Executed by firing squad in the early hours of 17 July 1918 at Ipatiev…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC-5 CURRENCY US dollar TOP TIP The 72 Street metro subway stop takes you directly to the Dakota and Strawberry Fields. The Dakota building at West 72nd Street is one of the most exclusive addresses on the island of Manhattan. It always has been. Commissioned by Edward Clark, the co-founder of the Singer sewing machine company, the lawyer and property developer employed renowned architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh to design the fashionable apartment dwelling for NYC’s upper classes. Clark’s grand scheme was to transform the entire Upper West Side, at the time largely empty, into the city’s elite enclave. Apartment-living in this period was frowned upon by rich folk, so the Dakota had to be grand enough to draw interest. The multi-roomed luxury apartments – 65 in total…

“Hollywood filmmakers attached to army divisions brought back the most heartbreaking reels of footage featuring piles of dead bodies strewn like garbage. Human beings stared blankly at the camera, teetering unsteadily, looking like skeletons” LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC +1 CURRENCY Polish złoty TOP TIP Although entry to the grounds is free of charge, pre-booking online is essential to visit. Auschwitz sits 31 miles west of Kraków. To the casual outsider it would appear to be little more than a nondescript industrial hub; a type of provincial backwater barely registering as it flashes by in a blur of rural and industrial landscapes on a journey taken by rail or car. Nothing would catch the eye or particularly stand out. It wouldn’t have been a destination on a tourist map or somewhere…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+5 CURRENCY Russian ruble TOP TIP You’d be better off hiring a guide from Perm, as finding the museum yourself or using public transport can be tricky. In 2008, a Moscow television station ran an opinion poll. The aim was to find – and declare – the greatest Russian of all time. Joseph Stalin, was, for a good majority of the campaign, the frontrunner. The producers were alarmed by this surprise showing, and then concerned at this unexpected leaning. In a bid to stop it, they pleaded with voters to pick somebody else. In all, 50 million Russians voted in the poll, and many of them claimed Stalin as their man. Although eventually pipped by Saint Alexander Nevsky, Stalin’s popularity led to a discussion in the country,…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+2 CURRENCY Rwandan franc TOP TIP The entire nation of Rwanda is at high altitude; travellers with respiratory conditions should plan accordingly. A quarter of a century ago, the spectre of genocide stalked the countryside of Rwanda, a small nation in East-Central Africa. Ethnic violence between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes erupted in a frenzy of death and destruction that claimed the lives of an estimated 800,000 people. Since those difficult 100 days in 1994 the nation has struggled to grasp the implications of such terrible carnage and subsequently made tremendous progress in reconciliation. Still, those who lost their lives must be remembered, and memorial sites are scattered across the country. Significant among them are the Kigali Genocide Memorial located in Gisozi, just ten minutes from the…

PRZEMYSL Tour the ring of forts surrounding the city stronghold Location: Przemysl, Poland Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Polish zloty Within weeks of the war beginning, a Russian invasion of East Galicia left the fortress town of Przemysl an isolated Austro-Hungarian island in enemy territory. Constantly bombarded and slowly of defence until it surrendered after six months. At one stage more than 40 distinct forts surrounded the city; remnants of many survive in the woods despite attempts to destroy them prior to the surrender. Don’t miss the main square, in which sits a statue of The Good Soldier Švejk, hero of the anti Hašek. TRENCH OF DEATH See how the Great War descended into the slog of trench warfare Location: Diksmuide, Belgium Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Euro The Battle of the…

MAMAYEV KURGAN The epic monument to the world’s greatest battle Location: Volgograd, Russia Time zone: UTC+4 Currency: Russian ruble Dedicated to the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad (now called Volgograd), this epic memorial complex commemorates the world’s largest ever land battle. Built in 1959, it rises 820 metres up a flight of steps, ramps and squares, decorated by sculptures that tell the story of the battle. The largest and bloodiest battle in human history, it involved millions of participants, killing 800,000 Axis soldiers and more than 1 million Soviets in just six months. Among the monuments is the staggering statue The Motherland Calls!, a colossal female figure representing the spirit of the motherland, defiantly raising a sword in her hand, ready to turn the tide of the Eastern Front.…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+7 CURRENCY Vietnamese dong TOP TIP When visiting the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, avoid public holidays and arrive early to evade lengthy queues. In 1954, after eight years of fighting, the communist leader Ho Chi Minh finally put an end to the near century of exploitative French colonial rule in Vietnam. Later, as the communist North Vietnamese Viet Cong pushed south, the Americans staged a false flag attack in 1964 as a precursor to military action – eventually launching a full-on invasion. In the subsequent decade-long war the US would drop three-times as many bombs as it did during World War II, only to withdraw with nothing to show for its 58,000 dead soldiers, and millions of dead Vietnamese – including hundreds of thousands of civilians. To…

HOUSE OF TERROR This beautiful building on a leafy Budapest street belies what’s inside Location: Budapest, Hungary. Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Hungarian forint When you visit the ominously named House of Terror, you enter the belly of the beast – the HQ of Hungary’s secret police, both fascist and communist. You begin your journey through time at the top floor of the building, where you’ll learn about the political conditions in the country that led to a secret police being formed. As you descend, you’ll see exhibitions on Hungary’s two regimes of terror and learn about 20th century Hungarian history, before ending your visit in the dungeon-style basement. It was here that victims were imprisoned, tortured and eventually killed. NKVD MEMORIAL MUSEUM OF POLITICAL REPRESSION HISTORY Look into the lives…

Location: Hunedoara, Romania Time zone: UTC+3 Currency: Romanian Leu The truth about the history of Translyvania’s Corvin Castle can be hard to pin down. Steeped in creepy lore and lurching legend, perhaps its most famous connection is to Vlad the Impaler, Romania’s ruthless 15th-century prince of Wallachia. The prince was known for his trademark move, impaling his enemies on stakes, which was perfected while pursuing control of Wallachia. The region had been wrested from his father by nobles who later assassinated him. Meanwhile, Vlad and his younger brother were away at the court of Ottoman Sultan Murad II, as collateral to their father’s support for Ottoman policies. While many will controversially think of Bran Castle as the home of the infamous Vlad the Impaler, Corvin Castle’s link to the famous…

Location: Wierschem, Germany Time zone: UTC+1 Currency: Euro If you visit the 12th-century castle at Eltz, you’ll have to pass through the guarded gates at its entrance. This guard, though not visible to all, has paced the grounds of Eltz since her brutal death many centuries ago. Owned by the same family that built the fortress 33 generations ago, the castle was once home to a young lady named Agnes Eltz. A daughter among many sons, Agnes grew up around the 16th century, pretending to be a warrior with her brothers rather than a princess. But like may girls of her age and status, Agnes was destined for an arranged marriage from a young age. Her parents’ spouse of choice was the knight of Braunsberg. The pair met several times,…

LOCATION TIME ZONE UTC+1 CURRENCY Czech koruna TOP TIP If you want to arrange to stay the night, get in touch with the castle directly – they’ve been known to give permission. About 50 kilometres away from Prague stands a castle that seemingly serves absolutely no purpose. Houska Castle was built in the 14th century by the Bohemian ruler Ottokar II. The castle changed hands several times, enjoying a Renaissance redesign in the late-16th century, before falling into disrepair in the 18th century. By the 20th century, the curious legend of Houska Castle had attracted the attention of one particular group of people: the Nazis. Unlike other fortresses of the period, it wasn’t meant to house the king. The castle wasn’t near any trading route and there was no access…

ALCATRAZ FEDERAL PENITENTIARY Welcome to ‘The Rock’ Location: San Francisco, California, USA Time zone: UTC+8 Currency: US dollar All those films set in this San Francisco Bay prison island haven’t prepared you for your first impression of Alcatraz: the prison’s a lot smaller than you expect. But that doesn’t make it a disappointment. Unlike many former maximum-security prisons, it has a history that dates back to the US Civil War and, since its closure in 1963, it’s been preserved as a museum. It began as a military fort before being converted into a military prison, then a federal prison in the early 20th century, where some of America’s most notorious criminals were held. Al Capone gradually lost his mind in this place, though that can be attributed to untreated syphilis…