The Abandoned Hotels of Kupari

Five hotels built in the 1960s, once frequented by Yugoslavia’s military elite, sit crumbling into the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic Sea. They’ve now been abandoned for decades.

The once-exclusive holiday resort saw thousands of Yugoslav officers and their families in its heyday. In the early 1990s, during the Croatian War of Independence, the Yugoslav Army destroyed the former beach paradises. After looting each of the five buildings, they systematically burned the hotels down, floor by floor.

The hotels—Grand, Kupari, Goričina, Goričine II, and Pelegrin—had enough room for 1,600 guests at a time. A nearby campsite could hold over 4,000 more. They boasted private villas too, and even President Josip Broz Tito had a holiday home at Kupari. The resort wasn’t built exclusively for the military elite, but as its popularity grew, booking became increasingly difficult unless one had connections.

Today, the shells of the buildings are overgrown with ivy, weeds, and trees. The beaches that stretch out before the ruins remain popular, the effects of war are still visible to the locals and tourists who frequent the beautiful waters of Croatia.