Pripyat was built in 1970 as a model Soviet city for workers at the nearby Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. By 1986 it had nearly 50,000 residents — young, educated, well-housed by Soviet standards. Then, on the morning of 27 April 1986, the entire population was given two hours to pack a bag and board buses. They were told it was temporary. It wasn't.
What they left behind is still there. The ferris wheel in the amusement park — never opened, scheduled to debut on May Day 1986 — has become the iconic image of the disaster. Hospital corridors still hold discarded dosimetry equipment. A gymnasium still has its basketball hoops. Trees grow through buildings; nature is patiently dismantling what humans abandoned.
Pripyat is the centerpiece of any Exclusion Zone tour and the most affecting part. Wander through apartment blocks, the cultural center, the supermarket, and the famous hotel. Your guide controls where you walk and how long you stay in higher-radiation areas. Listen to them.