(photo courtesy of 2nk)

There are only a few forgotten cities I have visited in my lifetime – perhaps the most interesting one was the Bokor Hill Station in Cambodia, which was abandonned during the Second World War.  

The Hill Station is the highlight of a visit to the Bokor National Park. 

Once there, the Hill Station offers magnificent views of the surrounding area. You can see the ruins which include the Bokor Palace Hotel and Casino (photo), a beautiful old Church, and the Black Palace. Most of the buildings, which were built in the early 1900's are still standing, which gives the place a very surreal feeling. The buildings are in horrible condition; damaged by war and have since been stripped of any valuable materials.  

The resort was built by the French colonial settlers as a retreat from the capi.jpgtal city Phnom Penh. The area is of historic and cultural importance. Recently, the movies City of Ghosts (2002) and R-Point (2004) were filmed there.

The park is massive and many trails are overgrown and not maintained. I'd highly recommend hiring a guide or ranger, if you are wanting to explore off the regular track visited by tourists. The road to reach the hill station is undergoing a 30-month rebuild at the moment, but when I visited it was in horrific condition; you will require a driver and guide from the nearby city of Kampot.