From Cisterns to Temples, These Twelve Underground Worlds Are Open for Exploring

Although the lives of humankind play out on the surface of the Earth, for millennia people have explored what lies beneath. Some had a practical reason for venturing underground—quarrying stone for building material, digging out cisterns or mining salt. Others were drawn there for spiritual purposes, building shrines or transforming natural caves into temples of worship.

Whatever the motive, the drive to experience the subterranean world seems to be a universal one. The number of places around the globe where people have looked under the surface to find safety, religious ecstasy or solutions to early technological challenges is astonishing. Some historical underground spaces have even taken on new identities in the modern era, transforming into amusement parks, art galleries and restaurants in recent years.

From Romania’s Salina Turda to California’s Forestiere Underground Gardens, these 12 incredible underground worlds are open for exploration.

Actun Tunichil Muknal

San Ignacio, Belize

“In Classic Maya civilization, caves were considered portals to the underworld,” says Maya archaeologist Andrew Kindon. Actun Tunichil Muknal was uncovered in the thick, tropical jungle of Belize’s western Cayo District in 1989. Inside, researchers discovered a network of caverns rich with ritual artifacts over 1,000 years old: tools, weapons, ceramic vessels with ceremonial “kill” holes to release the spirits within them, and even cave formations modified into altars and otherworldly images. The remains of more than a dozen people have been found inside the cave, including the so-called Crystal Maiden, a sacrificial victim now believed to be a 17-year-old boy whose calcified bones sparkle in the light.

“Actun Tunichil Muknal is one of many caves in the region that likely served as sites of important spiritual pilgrimage,” says Kindon, and while it’s one of only a few open to the public,…