Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
31 Cities Across The Globe That Have A Fine Facade, But Actually Hide Dark Energy Underneath
Interview With Expert
The thought of traveling sends me into a dreamy frenzy, and adrenaline starts to gush through me. Every new country or city leaves an imprint on me, whether I like it or not. After all, not all journeys have joyful endings, as some can leave us unsettled.
When a netizen asked travelers to expose the cities across the globe that gave off “dark energy,” they spilled the tea. You should definitely check the compiled hotlist below if you love dank places. If not, then you know which cities to avoid on the next trip, so just scroll down!
More info: Reddit
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Dubai, UAE.
One of the tallest hotels looks like a purple eye of Sauron at night. Superficially beautiful/ritzy in the tourist zones at first, but you slowly feel whole city has a dark side they don’t want you to acknowledge. Both in the ritzy parts and when you step outside of them.
RELATED:
#2
Las Vegas.
WalkingEars responded:
I’ve only been to the airport there but even the airport was kind of grim, with slot machines and nowhere you could really get comfortable. I had a long overnight layover and it was very surreal
#3
Sorry here is another American city but honestly the only one that comes to mind - Provo, Utah.
While these cities give a disturbing vibe, some people get strangely attracted to them. Meanwhile, other folks would think twice before venturing into such places. To know more about them, Bored Panda interviewed Saee and Nikhil, avid travelers who document their travel stories on their Instagram, apparentlytrippy.
While they have traveled to over 25 countries, the number of cities is too many to count, as every country has multiple touristy spots. Speaking about such dank places, both said they would rather explore them firsthand than rely on assumptions. After all, it's very subjective, so each individual is bound to experience a city in a different way.
#4
Thunder Bay, Ontario. Everyone was mad. Never got flipped off or yelled at so many times in my life, for just existing. Had a guy follow me home in his car to my house to scream at me. Weird AF.
#5
Mexico City has a dark, edgy, artistic vibe. In the best way possible. Halloween-ish energy.
It’s one of my favorite cities in the world.
#6
Berlin, just had an ominous, dark cloud hovering over it vibe. I went to museums, parks, galleries, and couldn’t shake it. I temporarily forgot about it at HB beer hall but that was after a few beers 😂.
sturmwesen 3 hours ago
we are planning to go there next month. any sights/museums we should skip or niche things we should see? we tend to go to weird museums, botanic gardens or markets/secondhand shops normally and not to spend too much time on the classics
As they have traveled to tons of cities, we asked the couple to speak about what gives a "dark energy" to a place. Saee explained that this vibe is usually evident in a place's history, architecture, or even the culture of the people who live there. She elaborated that when a city has seen a lot of "life" (wars, industrial booms, or old-school noir-era crime), it develops a personality that's hard to miss.
"Essentially, dark energy is just tension. It’s the friction between a city’s glittering skyscrapers and its crumbling backstreets. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, though! For many artists and night owls, that edge is exactly what makes a city feel authentic and alive, rather than just a boring, sterile grid," Nikhil added.
#7
Juba, South Sudan.
I lived in SSD for years and liked it, but Juba had extremely tense energy. It always felt like something was about to pop off. Extreme inequality, tons of drunk and heavily armed soldier, and the occasional d**d body in the street. All of the NGO compounds had razor wire, and we weren’t allowed to go anywhere alone. I witnessed a violent r**e and a stabbing from my window.
Rural SSD is absolutely beautiful, though, with lots of unique traditions and foods.
#8
I would say La Paz, Bolivia had really "good" dark energy and Santo Domingo, DR had really not so good dark energy.
#9
Sofia had that "something's off" energy when I was there. The whole city felt 80% deserted.
Glen Ellyn 9 hours ago
It's in Bulgaria for folks who don't know (I had to look it up myself.)
Nikhil gave a perfect example, mentioning Prague and its famous Gothic architecture. "It's like stepping into a moody, real-life fairytale. It’s totally fascinating because everything feels so dramatic and ancient. Walking past the giant gargoyles and sharp arches makes you feel like you’ve traveled back in time to a world of knights and mystery," he noted.
However, Saee highlighted how all that old stone also gives off a heavy, haunted vibe. As the buildings are so dark and tall, they cast long shadows and create chilly, narrow alleys where the sun never quite reaches. She believes this gives the city a bit of a "dark energy," as if the walls are keeping secrets from hundreds of years ago. It’s a cool, slightly spooky feeling that makes the city feel deep and a little bit magical, she added.
#10
Rio Turbio - Argentina. Weird mining town, big junkyard and piles of trash at the entrance of the town, graffiti all over about water pollution or something. All that tucked in the middle of Patagonia, one of the most amazing places I've seen.
#12
Honestly? Jerusalem.
lolzzzmoon responded:
I loved it, lived and visited there, but there is definitely a heavy, heavy weight of serious trauma and pain and suffering there. It’s buckling under the weight of all those religious traditions. But the stone buildings and mid eastern ancient vibe are amazing. Almost got blown up there once too. Suicide bomber. Definitely got tense energy.
Ye Olde Dirty Grumpy 19 hours ago
This city needs to be radioactive glass so NO ONE will covet it anymore and 3 religions can quietly disappear.
Another city the couple mentioned was Berlin, a magnet for history buffs. Saee pointed out that the city has reinvented itself, blending sleek modern offices with the scars of the war. She believes that there’s a gritty, creative pulse in Berlin that feels incredibly resilient. Moreover, it’s a place that doesn’t hide its wounds but uses them to fuel a world-famous art and club scene that’s unlike anywhere else.
However, Nikhil spoke about how the heavy history creates a thick, dank energy you can almost feel in the air. "Standing at spots like the Holocaust Memorial or the former Gestapo headquarters, you're reminded of the intense trauma the city has endured. Even the massive, grey Soviet-style apartment blocks and the empty spaces where the Wall once stood give off a cold, lonely vibe," he commented.
#13
Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. It has a (slightly exaggerated) reputation for being one of the most dangerous cities anywhere, and it was really creepy to see all the buildings surrounded by heavy fencing.
All the locals I met were really nice though.
Der Kommissar 22 hours ago
Everyone I have ever met who has been there was frightened, including people in the armed forces who have seen action
#14
Ballarat, Australia. A very dark history of endemic child a***e and cover up by the Catholic Church. With around a 40% s*****e rate of the Catholic boys school classes where the worst of the a***e occurred. The catholic buildings loom over the city from every hill like a spectre and the local cathedral gates are covered in coloured ribbons in memorial for the victims. When the church tried to remove the ribbons the public complained and put up more. Now they leave them
Tourists visit because it's a historic gold rush town, but I found it creepy and sad.
#15
Valparaiso, Chile. Nothing like you read on the internet. A port chaotic city, very dodgy. Gave up going up hill, many people wandering around, very suspicious. Definitely had a dark energy.
Lastly, the couple mentioned that certain unethical practices in some cities give them a disturbing vibe. "No matter how much these places try to hide it, you can blatantly make out things like social injustices, exploitation, or even systemic segregation. It creates a feeling of exclusion and coldness, where the city feels like it was designed to keep people apart rather than bring them together," they concluded.
Just thinking about such cities gives me goosebumps. Alas, only humans are capable of ruining something completely beautiful. Anyway, dear readers, that's it from our end. Now we leave you to scroll through the rest of the list at your leisure. Also, if we have missed out on any such places, don't forget to write about them in the comments section!
#16
Not American, but when I traveled to USA, it was Elko, Nevada. Maybe this is more of a town than a city?
#17
Gary Indiana.
Maroontan reposnded:
This is really niche, but I bought my car at a dealership in Wisconsin and drove it back to New York. I passed Gary, Indiana for about 40 or 50 miles, and it felt super sus. But come to think of it, I think the dealership might have put something in my head about violence in that area or what not.
Michael Largey 1 day ago
Gary is a city built by the steel industry at the start of the 20th Century and abandoned by that industry by the end of it. The dealership was quite right. Poverty, crime, and violence rule Gary.
#18
Gold Coast, Australia on the surface it looks like a camel driver's dream, let loose and party style, yet scratch just underneath the surface and mate she is devoid of any type of good nutrients and plagued with substances, fraudsters, and superimposed personalities from drifters/grifters. You name it Gold Coast has it.
#19
Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
TavernTurn responded:
I was about to write this. The sheer number of fully grown white men holding the hands of 9/10/11 year old girls and boys. It made me absolutely sick. I will never ever go back.
#20
Tel aviv.
MItermin8or- responded:
I absolutely loved Tel Aviv when I was there a little over a decade ago. Had great energy and some of the best vibes I’ve ever felt in a city. The nightlife was solid too, especially for that part of the world.
#21
Abu Dhabi. It's one of the only places I don't want to go back to. The vibe was just off to me.
#22
Johannesburg felt very off to me, I didn’t care for it at all. I had already visited a number of other parts of South Africa and loved a lot of them, so I wasn’t expecting to feel that way.
(Also it was quite literally dark with the rolling blackouts that were happening at the time).
#23
I'm going to interpret dark as spooky.
Prague. Beautiful city, especially during the day. During the night it is mostly romantic, and yet there are some corners here and there that feel like a ghost is about to jump you from behind.
#24
Tulum and Playa del Carmen. I joke that every time I went I had to pay the Mexico tax. First time my wallet got stolen. Second time I was in a cartel shoot out. Third time I had to pay off some cops.
And that was pre-pandemic. I don’t want to know what the energy is like now that it’s over run by normies and influencers.
MeowZedong 1 day ago (edited)
I find that in every city I'm involved in a cartel shoot out, I end having to pay off some cops. It isn't a Tulum and Playa del Carmen thing. It just comes with being a camel driver.
#25
Nashville.
bigdonk2 responded:
I’m from Tennessee, and I’ve always attributed it to the extreme wealth inequality, while being imbedded in a deeply religious zeitgeist is so deeply unsettling
Michael Largey 1 day ago
Some Christians regard Jesus's "Blessed are the poor" as a commandment to create as many as posible.
#26
Dundee in the 90s. It's better now. But my god it was a dank place then. (not in the gen z definition!)
A dank city centre with a dank shopping mall with 10 different dank schemes around it.
I worked in the casino. Usually nights. So I probably wasn't seeing the best of it.
It's really come up in the world though. Was there last year and it was quite lovely.
James Twong 1 day ago
Brown is a colour I always associate with Dundee. There's a certain brownness to it.
#27
Naples.
BullfrogDelicious754 responded:
Yep. We really like Naples actually. It’s such a weird, macabre city, and if you look closely there’s all this morbid religious stuff hidden away in the churches and streets there.
Michael Largey 1 day ago
Any religion centered on a public e*******n is bound to have its morbid size.
#28
Surprisingly, Bali. Lovely place but there was this weird "I feel like I'm missing something (dark)" energy about it that I can't quite explain. The people are great too, super friendly, it's relatively safe and I didn't even stay for long and there's genuinely no logical explanation for it, but I felt something off about it? Didn't feel the same when I went to other parts of Indonesia though, just Bali. 🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️🤷🏽♀️.
#29
Belfast.
OdderGiant responded:
One of the safest cities in the world, now, and lovely in many areas, but it does have a very dark history.
Michael Largey 1 day ago
My family are Catholics living in the Belfast area, and any safety they feel is very new and highly relative.
#30
San Jose, Costa Rica was very weird. Nobody on the streets at night. The place we stayed at was nice and we went to a nice lively restaurant. But beyond where the cabs were lined up and on the several miles ride back to the hotel we saw virtually no one. Pisa, Italy was not great either. It was filthy and lots of creepy people, all of whom seemed to be eying you up and down and up to no good.
#31
Edinburgh, no question about it. The gothic sandstone buildings, castle, statues and multiple graveyards give the city a dark and mysterious energy.
Related on Bored Panda
