Describing is always the key to painting the image of a certain place in the reader's mind.

Example:

The area was desolate; the only sounds I could hear were the skittering of leaves and billowing of the wind. Chills ran down my spine as I spotted the ruins splattered with blood. The gravel underneath my shoes cracked as I stepped closer to the pillar.

The pillar was made of marble; had this place not be in ruins then it would've been shining and beautiful. You could see the carefully sculpted, intricate designs.

One half of the pillar had fallen and crumbled to dust. Chipped pieces of marble cracked under my weight.

Your goal is to paint a picture in your readers' minds. A vibe, per se. A mood. An aesthetic.

Thus, ya gotta use colorful words (ex: instead of beautiful, use picturesque), and my favorite phrase: show, don't tell.

Don't just tell the readers that the area was run-down and void of any life; say that the surface of the ground was cracked and dry; dead leaves covered the floor.

Don't just tell the readers that the sunset was pretty; say that hues of reds, oranges, and yellows painted the sky. The sun set over the horizon, casting that lovely golden glow over the hill.

You don't want to go overboard, though. You don't want to describe every goddamn rock and how many meters tall each tree is. You want a detailed enough description to paint a picture; a painting, but not too detailed that the reader decides to scroll past the paragraph entirely.