Canada is the second largest country on earth — and it left behind some of the most extraordinary abandoned places in the world. A British Columbia tuberculosis sanatorium whose buildings still stand above Kamloops Lake. A Quebec company town frozen in 1927 when the pulp mill closed overnight. A floating McDonald's restaurant built for Expo 86 and left to rot in Vancouver harbour. Here are the 5 best abandoned places in Canada, selected from our Abandoned Places Map Canada — 2,500+ GPS locations across Canada.
Why Canada Is One of the World's Best Countries for Urban Exploration
Canada's abandoned places span the full breadth of the country's geography and history — Victorian-era institutional campuses in Ontario, Quebec company towns abandoned overnight when resource prices collapsed, BC mining communities in the Coast Range and Atlantic outport settlements where entire fishing communities simply left. The combination of vast geography, extreme climate and the resource-extraction boom-and-bust cycle created a density of abandonment unique in the developed world.
1. Tranquille Sanatorium – Kamloops, British Columbia — 1907 Tuberculosis Hospital Campus Above Kamloops Lake, 20+ Buildings Still Standing, BC's Most Famous Abandoned Place (Known Location)
Built in 1907 on the north shore of Kamloops Lake as a tuberculosis sanatorium, Tranquille grew into a complete self-sustaining campus — hospital buildings, staff residences, a working farm, an abattoir and a powerhouse, all serving the isolation treatment of TB patients in the BC interior. After the TB epidemic ended, the campus was converted to a school for people with developmental disabilities before closing in 1983. Over 20 original buildings still stand on the Kamloops Lake shore, the Thompson River landscape visible behind the decaying institutional architecture. The most famous and most extensively documented abandoned place in British Columbia — and arguably in all of Canada.
🔗 Learn more: Wikipedia – Tranquille Sanatorium
2. Val-Jalbert – Québec — 1901 Company Town Abandoned Overnight in 1927, 70+ Buildings Still Standing, One of the Best-Preserved Ghost Towns in North America (Known Location)
Val-Jalbert was built from scratch in 1901 by the Ouiatchouan Pulp Company beside the spectacular 72-metre Ouiatchouan Falls in the Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec — a complete company town with a pulp mill, worker housing, a church, a convent school and all the infrastructure a self-contained community needs. When the mill closed in 1927 the residents left almost overnight, taking their possessions and leaving the buildings intact. Over 70 original structures still stand, stabilized and maintained as a provincial historic park — worker cottages, the company store, the convent, the mill machinery and the falls visible behind. One of the most completely preserved abandoned company towns in North America and the best abandoned place in Quebec.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Best Abandoned Places in the USA →
3. The McBarge – Vancouver, British Columbia — McDonald's Floating Restaurant Built for Expo 86, Adrift in Burrard Inlet for Decades, Canada's Most Unusual Abandoned Place (Known Location)
The Friendship 500 — universally known as the McBarge — was a custom-built floating McDonald's restaurant commissioned for Vancouver's Expo 86 World's Fair, serving Big Macs from a barge moored in False Creek to the 22 million visitors who attended the fair. When Expo 86 closed, the McBarge was towed to various anchorages in Burrard Inlet where it has spent the decades since in progressive decay — the golden arches fading, the interior stripped but the barge structure intact. Briefly listed for sale and discussed for repurposing, it remains one of the most photographed and most culturally specific abandoned places in Canada — a floating monument to 1986 and the golden age of McDonald's corporate ambition. Visible by boat and from various North Shore vantage points.
4. Abandoned Canadian Northern Ontario Mining Town – 1900s-1930s Silver or Gold Rush Settlement, Headframe Still Standing, Boreal Forest Reclaiming the Townsite (Exclusively on Our Map)
A Northern Ontario resource extraction town founded on a mineral discovery in the early 1900s — the mine headframe still rising above the boreal treeline, the original company housing blocks in various states of forest reclamation and the mill infrastructure partially standing beside the tailings pond. Northern Ontario's mineral wealth triggered dozens of these instant towns between 1900 and 1940; when the ore grades fell or the prices collapsed, the towns were abandoned within months. One of the best abandoned places in Canada for Northern Ontario mining town photography in a boreal Shield landscape. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
5. Abandoned Newfoundland Outport Settlement – 1800s-1900s Atlantic Fishing Community, Saltbox Houses and Fish Flakes Still Standing Above the Sea, Newfoundland Coast (Exclusively on Our Map)
A Newfoundland outport settlement on the Atlantic coast — the original saltbox houses with their distinctive Newfoundland vernacular architecture, the fish flake frames where cod was dried in the sea wind and the community wharf pilings still standing above the North Atlantic cove. The Government of Canada's resettlement programs of the 1950s-1970s moved thousands of Newfoundland outport residents to larger communities; the vacated settlements were left intact, their wooden buildings weathering in the salt air at the edge of the world. One of the most emotionally powerful and most distinctly Canadian abandoned places in the country. Exact location available on our Abandoned Places Map Canada.
Safety Tips for Urban Exploration in Canada
- Wildlife: black bears, grizzly bears, moose and wolves are present across Canadian abandoned sites outside urban areas — always make noise when approaching any forested or remote abandoned site
- Remote locations: many of Canada's best abandoned places are in areas with no cell coverage — always carry a satellite communicator, extra food and water and file a trip plan with someone before departing
- Never explore alone — especially in remote Canadian locations; always bring at least one other person
The urbex code applies everywhere: "Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints."
❓ FAQ – Abandoned Places in Canada
What is the most famous abandoned place in Canada?
Tranquille Sanatorium near Kamloops, British Columbia — a 1907 tuberculosis hospital campus with over 20 original buildings still standing on the shore of Kamloops Lake. BC's most extensively documented abandoned place and one of the most discussed urbex sites in Canada.
What is Val-Jalbert?
A complete Quebec company town built in 1901 beside the 72-metre Ouiatchouan Falls and abandoned overnight when the pulp mill closed in 1927. Over 70 original structures still stand, maintained as a provincial historic park — one of the best-preserved abandoned company towns in North America.
What happened to Newfoundland outport settlements?
The Government of Canada and the Newfoundland provincial government ran resettlement programs in the 1950s-1970s that moved thousands of residents from remote coastal outports to larger service centres. The vacated communities were left intact — saltbox houses, fish flake frames and wharves weathering in the Atlantic salt air at the edge of the North American continent.
🎯 Summary
Canada's best abandoned places range from a BC tuberculosis sanatorium with 20 surviving buildings above Kamloops Lake, to a Quebec company town frozen in 1927 and a floating McDonald's restaurant from Expo 86 drifting in Burrard Inlet. Each of these 5 abandoned places in Canada captures a different chapter of a country shaped by resource extraction, institutional ambition and the world's longest coastline.
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