End of the Mayan calendar: Where you should go to survive the apocalypse

Hotels based around the slopes of Mount Rtanj in Serbia have witnessed an influx of believers, as doomsday followers hurry to take refuge in the Carpathian mountain range.

Many believe the pyramid-shaped mountain contains a structure left behind by aliens that will protect them from the end of the world.

Science fiction writer Arthur C Clarke referred to the mountain as “the navel of the world” and said that it has a “special energy”.

According to Darko Jovic, manager of the Balasevic hotel, people have been travelling across continents to escape to the site.

“We’re booked out. I couldn’t even get a room for my own mother and sister,” he said.

In south-west France, police have blocked survivalists from reaching the supposedly mystical Pic de Bugarach mountain, which they believe will be the only place saved.

The village’s mayor, Jean-Pierre Delord, said he expected Bugarach to be standing next week but warned the rest of the world to stay away.

The community, home to just 189 people, has been visited before by believers who insist it is a refuge created by beings from another world.

Earlier this year, a man was killed when he slipped and fell on the way up the mountain. “The end of the world came a bit earlier for him than he expected,” observed Mr Delord.

The Turkish village of Sirince has been touted as the only place apart from Bugarach that will escape – although it has more journalists than cultists staying there – while Cisternino, in southern Italy, another spot predicted to be spared, is planning a big party tonight.

In Russia, meanwhile, a museum is offering a place of safety in former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s underground bunker in central Moscow – with a 50 per cent refund on the £920 fee if nothing happens.

Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, is set to be busy with druids, as the “end of the world” coincides with the Winter Solstice.