A cigarette factory from 1864 that looks like it just came out of a bombing raid, a spa resort reduced to its springs and two brick rotundas, a boyar manor that burned down and was then dismantled stone by stone. Type abandoned places Iași into a search engine and the internet serves you stale lists full of buildings that have since been demolished or renovated. Here you get something else: three abandoned places in Iași county that actually exist in 2026, verified on the ground, with dated history, current condition and exact GPS coordinates. In total, our map counts 30 geolocated spots in Iași county, and these three are the ones worth the trip first.
Urbex Maps gathers over 233,000 geolocated abandoned places in more than 200 countries, including over 1,100 in Romania. Every coordinate is checked at least twice before publication. This article is part of our series on Romanian urbex: start with the top 10 abandoned places in Romania, then continue with Bucharest, Cluj, Timișoara and the Constanța coast. Iași, the first capital of modern Romania, has its own layer of ruins: interwar industry, forgotten spa culture and boyar courts from the age of the chroniclers.
Abandoned places in Iași: why Urbex Maps changes the game
Most sites that promise "abandoned places" eventually ask you for money on obscure forums to get the exact address. We do the opposite: under every spot in this article you have an "Add to my map" button, and the exact GPS coordinates land in your personal space for free, no credit card required. Since 2021, a community of over 40,000 explorers has been checking every point at least twice before it goes public. The three places below are ranked by visual impact and historical weight, each with its own page and a link to the map of abandoned places in Romania. You can open them all from the free urbex map or from my map. One single principle: we never encourage breaking in, and the golden rule remains "take only photos, leave only footprints".
The 3 abandoned places in Iași at a glance
| Place | County/Area | Type | Access 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iași Cigarette Factory | Iași (city) | Factory, historic monument | Private land, fenced |
| Băile Strunga | Strunga (Iași) | Demolished spa resort | Open |
| Cantacuzino-Pașcanu Manor | Ceplenița (Iași) | Ruined boyar manor | Open |
1. Iași Cigarette Factory: the country's oldest cigarette factory, in its death throes
Founded in 1864, the Cigarette Factory in Iași is the oldest cigarette factory in Romania. Its brick halls, built in 1875-1876, survived the bombing raids of April 1944, were rebuilt and pushed production up to 12 tonnes of cigarettes per day in 1998. Then everything stopped: the factory closed in June 2003, and the historic monument IS-II-m-B-03953 entered a slow agony that has lasted more than two decades. The local press describes it today exactly as it looks: "like after a bombing", with collapsed roofs, rotten floors and vegetation growing through the walls.
In September 2024, the complex was sold to Berăria H, which announced a spectacular conversion. The project is however blocked by the heritage-listing file: until the national decision on its monument status, no construction site can start. For explorers, that means a limited window: the factory still stands exactly as industry left it, but its days as a free-standing ruin are numbered, one way or the other. Be honest with yourself: this is private, fenced land, so document it from the outside and never force anything. The factory and the city's other abandoned places are waiting for you on the urbex map of Iași.
2. Băile Strunga: the remains of a dead resort, with its springs still alive
Let's be clear from the start, because many articles sell illusions: the Belle Époque pavilions of Strunga no longer exist, they were demolished after 1989. What you explore here are the remains of a dead spa resort: concrete platforms swallowed by grass, two brick rotundas built over the springs, a silted-up pond and a sulphurous stream running milky white between the roots. The resort, founded in 1880 by Ion Manolescu, boasted 16 sulphurous springs, among the most concentrated in the country, and in 1986 it still welcomed 13,000 spa guests a year. In 1996 only 70 came. Those numbers tell the whole story of rural Romanian spa culture.
In May 2024, the site was bought by the owner of the Elytis group for a resort that remains hypothetical: zero construction to this day, while the village cattle graze peacefully between the rotundas. The charm of the place lies precisely in this strange calm: the sulphurous water keeps rising from the ground, the smell of brimstone drifts over the meadow, and nature has swallowed almost everything humans built. Access is open, at the edge of the forest by the DN28 road, halfway between Iași and Roman. It is one of the most accessible explorations in the county, and you will find it, along with the rest of the area, on the map of abandoned places in Iași.
3. The Cantacuzino-Pașcanu Manor in Ceplenița: the boyar ruin that students are saving
In Ceplenița, about 45 km northwest of Iași, you walk into one of the oldest boyar courts in Moldavia: around the year 1600 this was the seat of Nestor Ureche, father of the chronicler Grigore Ureche. The palace you see in ruins dates from around 1835, built by Iordache Cantacuzino-Pașcanu on top of monumental wine cellars with vaulted underground rooms. The end came in the 1980s, when the manor burned in a fire that local rumour says was set to cover up an accounting fraud. After 1989, the ruin was methodically stripped: the stone was carted off through the village, ending up as far as the church bell tower.
What remains are the tall walls, the 120-metre enclosure and the vaulted cellars that stay cool to this day. And here the story turns around: since 2021, architecture students have been running rescue summer schools right on the site, and the National Institute of Heritage has 3D-scanned the whole complex. It is the kind of ruin where exploration and conservation meet. Access is open, but behave like a guest: do not climb the walls, do not move stones, the place is fragile. You will find the manor on the map of the Ceplenița area, along with the other spots in the north of the county.
Abandoned places in Iași: frequently asked questions
Which abandoned places in Iași still actually exist in 2026?
Fewer than the old internet lists promise. Many famous "abandoned buildings" in Iași have since been demolished or turned into construction sites. The three places in this article, the Cigarette Factory, the remains of Băile Strunga and the manor of Ceplenița, are verified and still existed at the beginning of 2026. In total, our map counts 30 geolocated spots in Iași county, each with an exact position and a documented condition.
Is urbex legal in Romania?
Looking at a ruin is not a crime, but almost all of these places have an owner: a company, a town hall, an heir. If you climb over fences or force a door, you can be held liable for trespassing. At Strunga and Ceplenița access is practically open; at the Cigarette Factory the land is private and fenced, so stay outside. Our rules are simple: we never encourage breaking in, damage nothing, leave if you are asked to, and "take only photos, leave only footprints".
How do you get the GPS coordinates of these places?
Under each spot in the article you have a card with the "Add to my map" button. One click and the exact GPS coordinates are saved for free in your personal space, no credit card needed. Then you open them all from the free urbex map or from my map and build your route through the county.
Is Fortus, the former CUG Iași, worth exploring?
With caution and without expecting a "free-standing ruin". The 140-hectare industrial platform, once the pride of Iași's heavy industry, is a world of its own, but the company was only struck off the register in December 2025, the site is partly guarded, and the southern section is rented out to active businesses. It is not a uniform abandoned site but a mosaic of dead halls and working yards, so the risk of ending up where you should not be is real.
Is Miclăușeni Palace an abandoned place?
No. The Sturdza Castle at Miclăușeni, although it often appears in lists of "haunted places" around Iași, has been restored, is managed by the Metropolitan Church of Moldavia and operates as a museum, with opening hours and an entrance ticket. It is a beautiful visit, but it is not urbex. If you want the atmosphere of a ruined manor, go to Ceplenița.
What happened to Nicolina and Terom?
They are gone, which is why they are not on the list. The great industrial platforms Nicolina and Terom, once landmarks of Iași urbex, have been demolished and the land has entered the real estate circuit. It is the lesson we repeat throughout our Romania series: ruins do not wait. Document them while they still exist, starting with the top 10 abandoned places in Romania.
Explore the map of abandoned places in Romania
At county scale, Iași concentrates the entire recent history of Romanian ruins: the deindustrialisation after 1989 emptied the factories, restitution cases stuck in court froze the buildings, rural depopulation extinguished resorts like Strunga, and scrap metal thieves dismantled whatever was left. The three places here are only the beginning: the map of abandoned places in Romania gathers over 1,100 geolocated spots, from the steelworks of Hunedoara to the resorts of the Banat. Save your favourites in my map, hit the road with a flashlight and solid boots, and respect every place as you would respect a museum without a guard.