Places helitua Wants to Go

In the middle of an extremely unforgiving and desolate high desert is the most secret military facility in the world.

Odd outsider art installations surround a Gold Rush-era ghost town.

One of the world's tallest statues is also one of its most hated.

Some Moscow residents once claimed the bizarre, contorted mass of metal on top of the building was used to manipulate minds.

An unusual abandoned church damaged in World War II sits in a small village outside Moscow.

What was once the base for Russia's first nature reserve is now a ghost town, right on the shore of Lake Baikal.

An abandoned town of skeletal wooden homes.

The tallest hotel in Europe.

A dormant lightning machine equal to all the power in Russia.

Siberian ghost town built by gulag prisoners.

A Marxist summer camp full of fantastical statues lies tucked away and forgotten in the forests of Moscow.

Abandoned castle was once a grand example of Russian privilege, built exclusively to win a frivolous bet between noblemen.

A sculpture park of the tossed aside relics of the USSR, from Stalin to a massive Soviet emblem.

Legends of time travel and magical woodland creatures bolster the natural charm of this verdant sanctuary in the midst of Moscow.

It's hard to believe the dizzying patterns covering this abandoned mine are completely natural.

The world's second-largest excavated hole.

Nightmarish example of the unintended consequences of weapons testing.

This Russian religious complex is a Frankenstein's chapel that includes influence from almost all the major faiths.

A little church on a tiny island looks like something from a fairy tale.

This building holds the embalmed remains of the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution.

Moscow's other, lesser known kremlin is a fairytale-like cultural complex modeled after Old Russia.

An 18th century wonder of the world, lost in WWII, re-created at the Catherine Palace.

Stunning examples of Russia's 18th-century wooden architecture.

This ancient village and its adjoining cemetery have a beautiful history of death and remembrance.