CNN —
This year I was dedicated to making up for lost time. After the pandemic, visitors flocked to major European cities and American national parks on “revenge trips,” visiting and returning to some of the destinations that were inaccessible during the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the world has changed significantly since the pandemic began. Many businesses closed as people transitioned to remote work, and not all tourist attractions survived this period unscathed.
Here’s a list of places you won’t be able to visit in 2024, whether permanently or temporarily closed.
Although the Paris Museum of Fine Arts looks strikingly modern inside and out, the Center Pompidou is actually 60 years old. After this summer’s Summer Olympics in the French capital, Pompidou will take a break to work on a 260 million euro ($282 million) modernization plan.
Our Lady of the Pipes is scheduled to remain closed until 2030. Meanwhile, Pompidou’s sister museum in Brussels is currently under construction, with the aim of opening in 2025.
Plan B: The biggest problem art lovers have in Paris is limiting their options. The Palais de Tokyo also has a vast contemporary art collection, and the Musée du Quai Branly, which opened in 2006, exhibits historic art and artifacts from around the world.
Splash Mountain in Orlando, Florida and Anaheim, California
Splash Mountain, one of Disney’s most famous attractions, had its final ride in 2023. The log flume ride was originally inspired by the film “Song of the South,” which the NAACP has long criticized for its “dangerously glorified depiction of slavery.”
Splash Mountain at California’s Disneyland and Florida’s Disney World will reopen as “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” inspired by the movie “The Princess.”
Plan B: Asia’s reopening makes it an ideal time for Disney superfans to visit the company’s parks in Japan and China. Hong Kong Disneyland, the smallest park, opened its first-ever Frozen World in fall 2023.
Thibault Savary/AFP/Getty Images
René Redzepi’s Noma has been awarded three Michelin stars.
The world’s best restaurant has officially taken its crown.
Norma, the Copenhagen restaurant that popularized New Nordic cuisine, will welcome its last customers in 2024, but it won’t disappear completely.
Noma plans to reopen in 2025 as a “pioneering test kitchen dedicated to food innovation and developing new flavors,” according to a statement on its website.
Plan B: Today’s best restaurant in the world is Central, located in Lima’s gastronomic hotspot. Even if you can’t get a seat at a table, Peru’s capital is full of great places showcasing quinoa, potatoes, herbs, fish, chili peppers, and other local produce.
Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
Lovers of “The Phantom of the Opera” are known as “fans.”
After 35 years and nearly 14,000 performances, the iconic musical The Phantom of the Opera took its final bow on the New York stage in 2023.
It closed with the honor of being the longest-running show in Broadway history, beating out other popular musicals such as “Cats,” “Les Misérables,” and “A Chorus Line.”
Plan B: The Phantom has disappeared into the night, but Broadway is still as fun for theatergoers as ever. But these days, it’s easier to get tickets to “Spamalot” or “Kimberly Akimbo” on the TodayTix app than to stand in line for his famous TKTS. Once you’ve booked your seat, head to Times Square early to check out this amazingly cool place that even the pickiest New York locals visit.
Home to the world-famous Ishtar Gate, the Pergamon Museum is part of Berlin’s UNESCO World Heritage Museum Island complex.
The museum will be closed until 2027 as part of an ambitious renovation project that will include the creation of a new central pedestrian zone and the expansion of exhibition halls.
Plan B: Travelers who want to get a feel for the Pergamon Museum can visit nearby Das Panorama. Parts of the museum will be on display during renovations. Other attractions on Museum Island are open as well, such as the New Museum (which houses a rich collection of Egyptian art and artifacts).
CNN/Ruifang District Office (NTPC)
Front and back views of elephant trunk rock.
This popular photo spot in Taiwan actually resembled an elephant’s trunk, but it collapsed into the ocean on December 15, 2023.
The site, on the island’s northeast coast, has long been threatened by erosion and has been closed to the public since 2010.
Plan B: Travelers who want to experience the beauty of Taiwan have many options. The Lake Suifeng Trail was certified as the world’s first “quiet trail” and debuted last year. If you prefer to drive, take the Southern Cross Islands Expressway, which winds through some of Taiwan’s most beautiful countryside.
Widely known as the first Western-style luxury hotel in the Japanese capital when it opened in 1994, Park Hyatt has lived a life of glamor.
However, the hotel is scheduled to close in May 2024 for what Hyatt calls a “total renovation” to mark its 30th anniversary.
The rooftop New York bar, familiar to movie buffs from the movie “Lost in Translation,” will begin renovations in January and close its doors early. It will reopen in 2025.
Plan B: Consider leaving Tokyo and taking time to explore other parts of the country and other top-notch accommodations. Two notable country getaways are Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan, the world’s oldest hotel, and Treeful, a series of handcrafted treehouses deep in the Okinawan forests.
Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
Notre Dame Cathedral is scheduled to reopen to the public at the end of 2024.
In 2019, the world watched in horror as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire, but donations quickly poured in to help restore the beloved icon.
French President Emmanuel Macron initially supported a more modern reconstruction of the famous church, but the traditionalists won out and the 850-year-old charm will be restored to its original appearance. I did.
Notre Dame Cathedral is scheduled to reopen in December 2024.
Plan B: When it comes to the church, France has an embarrassing amount of wealth. Highlights outside the capital include Marseille’s impressive Notre-Dame de la Garde, the pink-tinged Strasbourg Cathedral, or more modern designs like Le Corbusier’s Corbusier’s Colline Notre-Dame du His Haut in the town of Longchamp. included.
The first building to bear the Smithsonian’s name has been dormant for some time for renovations.
The museum complex’s main building, often referred to as the Smithsonian Castle, will close in February 2023 and will remain closed for “approximately five years” to complete restoration and upgrades to the building, which opened in 1855. There will be digital tours, talks, and other events. Turn it on in the meantime.
Plan B: The castle is currently off-limits, but two major museums in Washington, D.C., the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, are open again after renovations.
After being a tourist destination for half a century, a billionaire buyer has placed the ruins of Leonardo da Vinci’s Italian vineyards into private ownership.
Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire who is CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH, bought a property in Milan in December 2022, but is unsure when tourists will be able to visit the city again. There is no statement as to whether or not you will be able to visit.
Plan B: Even if da Vinci’s former properties are no longer open to the public, many of his most famous works of art are still on display. Several of his paintings, including a self-portrait, are on display in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, “The Last Supper” is in the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, and “Vitruvian Man” is in the Accademia Gallery in Venice. It is exhibited in.
Allen J. Scherben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
Stormtroopers walk through the crowd in “Star Wars: Galactic Cruiser.”
Despite a splashy announcement and a connection to one of the world’s most famous intellectual properties, Walt Disney World’s Star Wars-themed Galactic Cruiser is closing in 2023.
The immersive experience was a full-service hotel, but also included lightsaber training, encounters with droids and characters from the movie, and drinks at Oga’s cantina. Disney called the closure of Galactic Cruiser a “business decision.”
Plan B: Some real-life Star Wars filming locations make great vacation destinations. Hotel Sidi Doris in Tunisia served as the Skywalker family’s headquarters on Tatooine, and the black sand beaches of Reynisfjara in Iceland were the planet of Eadu in “Rogue One.”
