Guides — urban exploration, law and safety
Three guides, each opening with its answer and closing with its sources. The law is cited from Légifrance, the health hazards from INRS and Santé publique France, the research methods from public registries. No place is located here.
Law
Is urban exploration legal in France?
No French law names urban exploration. Entering an abandoned place is not, by itself, a criminal offence in France. Entering a furnished dwelling, forcing a fence, causing damage, or stepping onto railway or military land are offences. Penalties run from a 150 euro fine to three years in prison, and the owner can sue in civil court.
Updated · 16 sources cited
Safety
Abandoned buildings: what are the real risks?
An abandoned building stacks measurable hazards: falls and collapse, asbestos in anything built before the national ban, lead paint in older buildings, oxygen-poor air in cellars and shafts, tetanus and leptospirosis. No equipment removes those risks. Telling someone where you are, never going alone and turning back early reduce them.
Updated · 13 sources cited
Method
How do you find abandoned places legally?
Abandoned places are found in public registries, not in private groups. In France, Cartofriches lists brownfield sites, POP lists protected heritage, Géorisques lists former industrial land, and the IGN time-travel viewer shows what has gone. Land records identify the parcel, then its owner, and only the owner can grant access.
Updated · 14 sources cited
Nine more guides are planned — gear, the ethics code, moderation, researching a site’s history, the Belgian, Italian and German legal frameworks, the vocabulary of abandoned places, photography and metadata. They ship once their sources are verified, not before.