15 Mysterious Yet Wonderful Places You Wish You Could Visit But You Can’t
From clubs exclusive to rich tycoons and the social elite to interesting islands off-limits from tourists to prevent contamination, we count 15 places you’d absolutely like to visit once, but you have almost no chance to do so.
1. Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway
This one was built out of fear that all those sci-fi scenarios about the end of the world might actually come true. This vault, build on a secluded island in the North Sea, is home to over 250 million crop seeds shipped from gene banks worldwide with an estimated cost exceeding $9 million dollars. You can’t enter the vault – nobody can, but researchers, plant breeders and other groups can request seeds from the depositing gene banks. If you WERE to enter it, you’d see the biggest hope for agriculture in the event of a polar ice cap melt or similar Earthly disaster.
2. Mezhgorye, Russia
A closed military town at the foot of Mount Yamantau, believed by the United States to be a large secret nuclear facility owned by the Russians.
When questioned, the Russians give inconsistent answers like, it’s a mining site, no, it’s a treasury, no, a food storage area – and then finally they said, yep, nuclear bunker in the event of apocalyptic war! It’s believed to house nuclear weapons, and as much as we want to visit it to inspect, we aren’t allowed – Russian newspapers claim it to be part of the Dead Hand initiative – to automatically launch nukes if a bunch are about to strike THEM.
3. Fort Knox – Kentucky, USA
The location of a fortified vault building, the United States Bullion Depository located in Kentucky, used to store large portions of gold and precious items. Today it holds 4,500 metric tons of pure gold, built inside granite walls, protected by a blast-proof door, weighing 22 tons and 21-inches tick, 30,000 soldiers patrolling with tanks, personal carriers, attack helicopters and artillery. In order to enter you need a 10 part secret code held by 10 different people all in different locations – there’s a reason we have the saying “as impenetrable as Fort Knox”
4. The White Gentlemen’s Club – London, UK
Established in 1693, this is a club exclusive for British men with notable members Prince Charles, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge and the British Prime Minister. For hundreds of years, a famous betting book has seen notable figures gambling on not just sport, but political developments even during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Women who approach the club are always denied membership, including the model for the central character in the BBC television series and one of the best chefs during the early 1900s: Rosa Lewis
5. Woomera Prohibited Area, Australia
An Australian military testing range covering nearly 124,000 square kilometres – and although that area is restricted, the nearby town of Woomera is open to the public. You’ll want to go there for one reason, but also want to stay away for another – it’s highly prospective, significant quantities of minable gold, iron ore, opals and uranium that the general populace can’t reach. Due to the amount of unlaunched war material lying around though, it’s basically a minefield, so even if you could get around the military presence to mine, chances are you’ll get your face blown off – not a great way to spend your weekend.
6. Aldwych Tube Station – London, UK
A subway station active during World War II, also used as an air raid shelter and hiding place for National Gallery artworks. In 1994 the trains stopped running and now the entire station is unused, a monument to early 1900s society with vintage tracks, an old lobby and ancient elevators. On occasion it’s open for tours, but for 99% of the time people just break in to take photos.
7. The Queen’s Bedroom – London, UK
You’ll find this in Buckingham Palace, the British Queen’s official London residence first established in 1705. Even though the place is heavily guarded, one man managed to break in and hide in the Queen’s bedroom in 1982. To date, he’s one of the only men to see the interior without an official Royal Family invitation or building permit – and if you’re just some random shmo like me, then there’s little chance we’ll see it this lifetime.
8. Jiangsu National Security Education Museum, China
This is basically the real-life James Bond exhibit – top secret documents and gadgets from the history of Chinese espionage. It includes things like, guns disguised as lipstick, hollowed-out coins to conceal documents and maps hidden in a deck of cards. The only people allowed to enter this museum are Chinese nationals, entirely because they don’t trust foreigners with their sensitive spy information – which is fair enough.
9. Lascaux Caves, France
Located in France, one of the most important archaological finds – that of cave paintings and perfectly preserved footprints from human beings that lived tens of thousands of years ago. Due to the fear of fungal infection from human presence, these caves have been closed to the public for some time and on rare occasions only a small group of people escorted over elevated ramps can visit for minutes at any given time. You can learn more about it in the documentary “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” one of the few pieces of photography allowed in the cave network.
10. Poveglia Island, Italy
A small island near Venice that many claim to have had such an intense, violent history that it’s now haunted. It was once a dumping ground for the sick, dying and deceased, and when the Bubonic Plague arrived in 1348, it became a quarantine zone with Venice exiling many ill people there. It was immolated when the Black Death swept through, a hospital for the mentally ill was established and shut down and currently it’s now closed to both locals and tourists.
11. Club 33, Disneyland CA
A private club located in Disneyland that costs 40 thousand dollars for membership and $10,000 in yearly costs. The reason it costs so much? It’s like a secret backdoor Disneyland but with a liquor license and 14-year waiting list, props from Disney films everywhere, animatronics and complimentary valet parking. You enter the club by buzzing an intercom concealed in a hidden panel in the doorway, then you take the antique-style glass lift to any of two giant dining rooms. This is a great place if you’re an ultra-rich tycoon.
12. Air Force One, USA
The official plane of the President of the United States, first designed during 1953 with many replacements ever since. It comes with an electromagnetic pulse shield that can fly through highly irradiated zones from nuclear fallout, deploy missiles, jam radars, and it doesn’t need to land to refuel. During the events of 9/11, then-president George Bush was flown around in Air Force One and even detected threats from other passing airliners which later turned out to be miscommunication.
13. Surtsey, Iceland
An Icelandic island that only came into existence about 50 years ago following volcanic eruptions in the area. Despite its young age, the island already plays host to over 90 species of bird with new plant species evolving at a rate of 2-5 per year. Humans carefully monitor the islands progress from a small hut, ensuring no outside seeds or unwanted visitors turn up to hurt the naturally evolving ecosystem – they even had to dig up some potatoes a bunch of kids planted for a laugh.
14. Area 51, Nevada, USA
And yes, I’m sure a lot of you are relatively close by to this Nevada military site 83 miles north of Las Vegas. Officially, it’s a U.S owned military airfield whose primary purpose is to test experimental aircraft and weapon systems. Unofficially, we know it as a super secret Alien landing strip filled with the dead corpses of a 100,000 deceased martians that all landed on a certain day in 1947.
15. Room 39, North Korea
A rumoured secret government organisation in North Korea dedicated to maintaining the foreign currency slush funds of Kim Jong – fancy talk for money laundering. Though its activities are seen as illegal, it holds as much as $5 billion in funds and not TECHNICALLY supported on an official level even though it’s critical to Kim Jong’s seat of power. Today, it fetches over a billion dollars each year through criminal activity and no, they won’t let you inspect their papers or affiliated locations – so don’t plan a vacation there!
Text From Danger Dolan
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About The Author
Manaal
A co-founder at InyMiny, Manaal is a party animal. She loves to cook, travel to exotic places and follows the 'No Tomorrow' cult! Adventure is her turn on as she believes that there is no feeling like the thrill you get from an adrenaline rush. Her motto in life: Get ready to take that leap of faith, because It's NOW or NEVER.
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