Don’t forget to save money next year… Time Out ranks the 24 best things in the world to spend money on in 2024, from a Taylor Swift-themed cruise to Europe’s highest nightclub
Get ready to clear space in next year’s calendar, because Time Out has rounded up the 24 best things to do in the world in 2024.
The list was compiled by Time Out’s global team of editors and contributors and published with the slogan ‘forget saving money… get out more and do more things’.
The guide added: ‘There are openings and reopenings. Brand new train routes cross countries and continents. Crazy places to party.
“And even if the ‘cossie livs’ have you tightening your wallet, there are plenty of free and affordable events on this list too.” Scroll down to see Time Out’s top 10 recommendations in reverse order – from Europe’s highest nightclub to riding vintage trains in Italy – and for the full list at the bottom.
10. Discover the next big thing at a brand new music weekender – Dublin, Ireland
Dublin’s Borderline Festival, which features ‘budding stars’, comes in 10th. Pictured is the Ha’Penny Bridge in Dublin
Kicking off the top 10 is Border Festival in Dublin, ‘a newly announced weekender showcasing ‘forward-thinking’ new artists over two evenings in February’.
Time Out says: ‘These rising stars – including Fat Dog, Spider and Lambrini Girls – will give their best on the stages of legendary music venue the Workman’s Club.’
Still not convinced? Time Out says: ‘This is the kind of weekend where stars are made – and you can tell everyone you saw them first.’
9. Take a ride Italy‘s renewed vintage trains
Taking a ride on the renovated Italian tourist trains is ninth on the list. Shown above is part of this offering – the new ‘Orient Express’
According to Time Out, air traffic is over. In 2024, the guide says: ‘We are entering the era of sustainable and affordable train travel with full force.’
Italy is doing its bit for the cause, the guide highlights, with the launch of revamped vintage tourist trains, run by the country’s national operator – Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane – under a new brand called FS Treni Turistici Italiani.
Time Out continues: ‘The trains will transport passengers from major cities to rural areas and beyond in truly beautiful vintage carriages.’ According to the guide, the first service will be a sleeper train from Rome to the Dolomites, which will start this month.
8. Go to a new food festival on a remote Icelandic island: Vestmannaeyjar
Eighth on the list goes to the Matey Seafood Festival in Iceland’s Vestmannaeyjar archipelago (photo)
Time Out says that ‘everyone is all Reykjavik, Reykjavik, Reykjavik about food in Iceland’, but hidden on an archipelago on the south coast called Vestmannaeyjar (also the Westman Islands), ‘a new foodie hotspot is brewing’.
Be prepared for ‘lots of haddock and cod’, says the guide Matey Seafood Festivalwhich ‘invites top international chefs to take over its restaurants for a weekend, resulting in intricate and inventive fine dining with local Icelandic ingredients’.
7. Dine at a reopened restaurant London icon – Simpson’s in the Strand
A visit to the classic London restaurant Simpson’s in the Strand ranks seventh on the list
Simpson is in the Strand Time Out first opened in 1828 as a chess club, Time Out explains, and was a favorite haunt of Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens “and many other mustachioed men in suits.”
But this ‘stronghold of London luxury has unfortunately closed since the pandemic’.
However, Time Out explains that this ‘classic London restaurant, one of the first in Britain to win a Michelin star, will finally reopen in 2024’. And according to the man overseeing the renewal, restaurateur Jeremy King, it will be delivered ‘fully into the 21st century’.
6. Watch world-class athletes compete at the Paris Olympics
Time Out ranks visiting the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris sixth on its list of the best things to do in 2024
“It’s the French capital’s turn to host the biggest sporting event in the world – and you can be sure they’ll put on a great show,” says Time Out.
‘Go to Paris for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 26 or wait until the late summer start of the Paralympic Games on August 28 and admire the talent of the Paralympic athletes.’
5. Cruise the Colombian river that inspired the book ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’
A seven-night cruise along Colombia’s Magdalena River (pictured) is fifth on the list
“There are more than a dozen major cruise lines that visit Colombia’s Caribbean coast, but none sail inland along the Magdalena River,” says Time Out.
‘That will change when AmaWaterwegen departs on Colombia’s version of the Mississippi River in November 2024.’
The guide explains how the seven-night trip will allow you to experience “the region’s nature and cities – from exotic bird watching to a floating village – made famous in Gabriel García Márquez’s beloved novel Love in the Time of Cholera.”
4. Interact with large-scale digital art – Tokyo, Japan
Nearing the top three is teamLab Borderless, a digital art museum in Tokyo that will reopen in 2024 and which Time Out describes as “immersive, interactive and simply radical.” The exhibition is pictured above in 2022
“When teamLab Borderless opened in Tokyo’s Odaiba district in 2018, it caused a sensation,” says Time Out. ‘The world has never seen digital art of this magnitude: immersive, interactive and simply radical.’
The guide continues: ‘While the original location closed in 2022, the art collective is about to break ground teamLab Borderless museum in February at a new central location in Tokyo, promising new and never-before-seen digital installations making their global debut.”
3. Hop on a cable car to the highest nightclub in Europe – Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
Detour Discotheek 2024 takes the bronze medal in the Time Out ranking. It takes place at three main locations in the beautiful Lauterbrunnen Valley: Birg, Schilthorn Piz Gloria (above) and Trinkhalle
“You may have gone to the other side of town for a party before, but have you ever gone to the top of a mountain?” asks Time-Out.
Detour Discotheque, which Time Out says has seen success in the remote areas of Iceland and Scotland, is coming to the Swiss Alps in 2024 and, it notes, “is well worth the detour.”
Detour Discotheque 2024 takes place in three key locations in the beautiful Lauterbrunnen Valley: Birg, Schilthorn Piz Gloria and Trinkhalle.
2. Celebrate the history and heroes of hip-hop in a huge new museum: New York
The Universal Hip Hop Museum, which opens its doors in the Bronx, New York, ranks second on Time Out’s list
In second place is the ‘long-awaited’ Universal hip hop museum‘, which will open its doors for a soft launch in the Bronx, New York at the end of this year.
What can you expect? Time Out says it will bring “interactive exhibits featuring artifacts, multimedia, AI, VR and AR to teach visitors all about the beginnings and impact of hip-hop across 5,000 square feet.”
Time Out adds, “New Yorkers have been waiting for a place that commemorates and celebrates the genre and its many heroes, and it looks like 2024 will be the year they finally get it.”
1. Create a cycling route through eight European countries in the Balkans
First and foremost is the brand new Trans Dinarica cycling route through the Balkans, which will showcase ‘the beauty of the region’. Pictured is a winding road on the Adriatic coast
First and foremost is the Trans Dinarica trail, a new cycling route through the Balkans that, Time Out claims, will ‘jump straight to the top of many 2024 bucket lists’.
Where will it take you? Time Out says: ‘The route follows a corridor of national parks, winding along the Adriatic coast, through forests and villages inland, with a place to have a hearty local dinner and a good night’s sleep at the end of each day to get.
‘The focus of the trip is to sustainably showcase the beauty of the region, and by the time it opens, a whole range of map information and recommendations for services during your trip will be available.’
Visit wwww.transdinarica.com For more information.
Read the full list www.timeout.com/things-to-do/best-things-to-do-in-the-world