50 Abandoned Hotels That Are Frozen in Time

28. Hotel Haegumgang – North Korea (formerly Australia)

Originally built off the coast of Queensland, Australia in 1988, Hotel Haegumgang was the world’s first floating hotel—an ambitious experiment in offshore luxury. Shaped like a cruise liner but permanently moored, it featured restaurants, bars, saunas, and 200 rooms, all bobbing above the Coral Sea. Despite its novelty, the concept struggled financially and was sold and relocated to Vietnam, and then again to North Korea as part of a short-lived tourism venture with South Korea. Today, the hotel rests eerily on the coast of Mount Kumgang—abandoned, rusting, and fenced off from the public. Its faded paint peels in the salty air, and barnacles cling to the lower hull. Windows are dark, corridors empty, and the dream of a floating paradise has become a ghost ship marooned by failed diplomacy and political tensions. For decades, it changed hands and countries—but never found a permanent home. Now it floats in silence, a monument to ambition unmoored.