CNN
—
Global travel has never been as easy as it is today. More plane routes than ever before now link an unprecedented list of destinations, connecting people and cultures in new ways.
However, while it may seem like the whole world is an open buffet for tourism, not everything available in the past is still on the travel menu.
Some attractions and institutions disappeared in 2024, some a result of natural disasters, others because of financial challenges or simply a change personal preference.
Here are two handfuls of places you can’t visit in 2025 — or, probably, ever again.
Two casino-hotels left the Las Vegas skyline this year — the Tropicana and the Mirage. The Mirage, which opened in 1989, will be replaced by a new Hard Rock property shaped like a giant guitar. Meanwhile, the Tropicana was pulled down in October to make space for a stadium for the Oakland Athletics baseball team, which is relocating to Sin City.
Plan B: In 2024, Sphere transformed the Las Vegas Strip. The giant LED-lit orb is a futuristic events venue that kicked off with a series of concerts by U2. CNN’s Brandon Griggs, who visited on opening weekend, described it as “like being in a giant planetarium, a juiced-up IMAX theater or maybe VR without the headset.”
Iconic Vegas hotel demolished in spectacular fashion
An iconic drag club has said adieu to Paris’ Montmartre neighborhood. The club, Chez Michou, cited financial difficulties following the death of owner Michel “Michou” Catty in 2020 as its reason for closing.
Catty was a well-known figure in France whose death was publicly mourned by no less than President Emmanuel Macron, and Chez Michou was the inspiration for the musical “La Cage aux Folles.”
Plan B: Just off the Champs-Elysees, Crazy Horse is one of the hottest tickets for burlesque and cabaret performances in Paris, hosting stars like Lisa from Blackpink and Dita Von Teese.
2024 was a difficult year for New York City’s art museum scene. The Rubin Museum, a Chelsea institution with one of the world’s largest collections of Himalayan art, announced that it would be closing its physical space and becoming a “museum without walls.”
The Rubin bid farewell in October, but has said that some of its works — including the popular Tibetan Buddhist Shrine Room — will move to the Brooklyn Museum.
Plan B: Head to the Nicholas Roerich Museum, which is located in an unassuming Upper West Side townhouse. Roerich was a Russian painter who relocated to India and created many paintings of the Himalayan landscape throughout his career. It’s free to enter — and is rarely crowded.
The other major art museum saying goodbye to the Big Apple is Fotografiska, an offshoot of the Stockholm-based photography museum of the same name.
The museum’s last day in operation at its Park Avenue home was September 29, although the owners say they have not given up on New York City and hope to move into another location.
Plan B: The International Center of Photography’s museum on the Lower East Side hosts talks, screenings and book signings in addition to photo exhibitions. It’s also close to the Tenement Museum and the Museum of Chinese in America, putting a world of culture in a single afternoon’s itinerary.
The Wayfarers Chapel, a National Historic Register-listed glass church in southern California, is a victim of climate change.
Designed by Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright, the structure was at serious risk from landslides in the area. As a result, the trustees made the decision to dissemble the chapel and keep it in storage until another home can be found.
Plan B: About 40 miles west of Ranchos Palos Verdes, in the Orange County town of Garden Grove, sits Christ Cathedral, often referred to as “the crystal cathedral” due to its reflective glass building materials. Its striking design was inspired by a four-pointed star.
In Japan’s former capital, women still training as traditional geishas have become as much a tourist attraction as the buildings where they live, much to the chagrin of residents of Kyoto’s historic Gion neighborhood.
To try and cut back the flow of “geisha paparazzi,” earlier this year the Gion local council voted to block off many of the side streets and alleys, although major thoroughfares will remain open to the public.
Plan B: Tourists who want to learn more about geisha culture are encouraged to do so at locally-run organizations. The Gion Kagai Art Museum, which opened in 2024, has exhibits about geishas, daily performances, and opportunities to take pictures with geishas and maikos (their apprentices).
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen also founded this Seattle museum, which was filled with objects from his own personal collection of vintage computers and tech devices. The museum was unusual in that it encouraged visitors to touch, use, and play with everything on display. Following Allen’s death in 2018 and the pandemic two years later, the Living Computers museum was put on hiatus before closing entirely in 2024. The objects from the museum will be auctioned off.
Plan B: Allen supported many institutions around the Emerald City, including the Museum of Pop Culture. The museum is a colorful mix of different cultural reference points and is also home to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area lost one of its flagship attractions in 2024 when the “double arch” collapsed. Staff at the GCNRA said that the rock formation, made of Navajo sandstone dating back about 190 million years, collapsed due to erosion and water level changes.
Plan B: Utah has no shortage of beautiful natural landmarks: Arches National Park has become so popular that a timed entry system and other overcrowding measures have been introduced in the past few years. But at state parks like Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Goblin Valley and the Great Salt Lake, there are Instagram views a-plenty without the masses.
Correction: An earlier version of this article included the Rothko Chapel in Houston. It reopened on December 17.
