Dark tourism or thanotourism is tourism involving trave to sites associated with death and suffering.

This includes sites of pilgrimage such as to Rome, Italy and the site of St Peter’s death, castles and battlefields such as Culloden near Inverness, Scotland, sites of disaster, either natural or man made such as Ground Zero in New York, USA, prisons now open to the public such as Beaumaris Prison in Anglesey, Wales, and purpose built centers such as the London Dungeon in England.

In a class of its own, one of the most notorious destinations for dark tourism is the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz in Poland.

• Guardian special feature: What is dark tourism?
• The UK Dark Tourism Forum