The once thriving European seaside town 'left to rot' is now haven for dark tourism

A stunning North Cyprus town once frequented by the Hollywood elite has become a haven for dark tourism after being left abandoned for decades.

Despite the likes of Elizabeth Taylor holidaying here in the 1960s, the beach town couldn't look further from neighbouring resorts like Paphos after war ravaged the region in 1974.

Varosha, Famagusta, once attracted wealthy visitors from across the world to laze on its beaches looking over the crystal Mediterranean Sea.

However, after the Turkish Army invaded on July 20 1974, communities were torn apart and its 15,000 residents were forced to flee.

Its once thriving streets were fenced and blocked off by the Turkish military, turning it into a barren wasteland with ransacked businesses and desolate streets that locals never returned to.

It is still heavily militarized, but tourists are slowly returning after Turkey and Northern Cyprus decided to open part of Varosha to visitors.

More than 1.8 million tourists have visited the ghost town since its reopening in October 2020, according to statistics released in 2024, but for an entirely different reason than in the 1960s.

Hubert Faustmann, a professor at the University of Nicosia, told The Express how operators began to gear towards dark tourism.

They explained: "The section found itself in the top tourist sites in terms of dark tourism, so they started to open up certain parts of Varosha, and it's now a tourist destination with guided tours, with e-bikes, vehicles and coffee shops.

“Varosha is being used as a tourist destination, as a tourist attraction, without a single inhabitant prior to 1974 returning. It's changed in the sense that it's open to the public, but it's not open for return."

Dark tourist blogger and founder of The Morbid Tourist, Louise Joy, told The Mirror that TikTok is also contributing to the rise in dark tourism.

She said: "Traditionally, dark tourism is visiting places associated with death and tragedy. The individuality on TikTok [helps] people seeing stuff that is different and you don't necessarily see that out there offline, like in books."

Varosha's lack of residents was discussed in Oslo by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), when Piero Fassino, an Italian senator who visited in mid-May, presented a report to the group during the meeting, stating he hoped it could be rejuvenated into a "living town" again.