Below, we explore 14 of the most breathtaking abandoned cities and towns worldwide, each telling its own hauntingly beautiful tale. The Cliff Palace ruins in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. The park's stone and adobe cliff dwellings were built by Ancestral Puebloans from the 1190's to the late 1270's. Set in alcoves, these structures included single-room storage units for food, all the way up to 150-room villages, such as Cliff Palace, which once housed about 100 people. Today, you can visit these marvels of ancient architecture, preserved within Mesa Verde National Park.