While a sprawl of new tourist attractions have popped up in recent years, like Japan's Ghibli Park and Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood, we've also said goodbye to a number of legendary institutions and failed landmarks, ranging from the Museum of London to Hawaii's Haiku Stairs.
Click through this gallery to take a last look at sights around the world you'll need to remove from your travel checklist...
The Underground Museum was founded in 2012 by the late painter Noah Davis and his wife, sculptor Karon Davis. The free museum occupied four small storefronts and served as an art gallery, bookshop, organising space and community centre. It successfully brought world-class art to the lesser-known Arlington Heights neighbourhood, with a focus on works by artists of colour.
Noah sadly passed away in 2015, and despite celebrity visits from the likes of John Legend and Beyonce, the museum struggled post-pandemic and was forced to shut its doors in March 2022.
The unique Rougan Megane Hakubutsukan – better known as the Spectacles Museum – was located on the east side of Ikebukuro Station in Toshima, Tokyo. This photogenic store was a spectacle in itself, with its ceilings, walls and façades adorned with an assortment of colourful frames.
But after 50 years, the hard-to-miss store closed for good in March 2022. It's not clear why it closed down, but in its final throes, it offered a half-price discount on all items.
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Towering 380 feet (116m), this coastal redwood was only discovered in 2006, hidden within a densely-forested section of Redwood National Park. Although it’s taller than the Statue of Liberty, visiting the tree has always been a little tricky, as there are no nearby trails and there's patchy GPS signal. Despite the arduous undertaking, a steady stream of visitors still made the trek to Hyperion’s location, causing severe erosion to its base as well as leaving a trail of litter and human waste.
So, if you were planning on seeing the world’s tallest living tree in person, think again. In July 2022, the National Parks Service (NPS) announced hefty fines and possible jail time for anyone found in the tree’s vicinity, asking visitors to head for the park’s 200-odd miles (322km) of approved trails instead.
Dublin is perfect for book lovers, home to sights such as the beautiful Trinity College Library and host to literary festivals throughout the year. The Irish capital has even been home to four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature – WB Yeats, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw and Seamus Heaney. So it was sad news when the Dublin Writers Museum permanently closed its doors in the summer of 2022.
A spokesperson from the Irish tourism board stated it "no longer meets the expectation of the contemporary museum visitor in terms of accessibility, presentation and interpretation". To fill the gap, pay a visit to the Museum of Literature Ireland instead, which pays tribute to important Irish writers, displays rare works by the likes of James Joyce and dazzles with the gorgeous Dedalus Library.
Daikanransha (or the Giant Sky Wheel) formed part of Palette Town, a huge shopping, dining and entertainment complex on the man-made island of Odaiba. The 115-foot (35m) Ferris wheel once reigned supreme as the largest of its kind in the world, with a 15-minute ride taking in the views of Palette Town and the surrounding sky-high buildings.
Following the closure of Palette Town's Mega Web Toyota City Showcase, the Giant Sky Wheel took its final spin in August 2022, as part of a broader redevelopment of the area. Demolition was completed the following year, with the wheel's huge component parts shipped off for reuse elsewhere.
Detailing the harrowing events of 11 September 2001, the 9/11 Tribute Museum welcomed over five million visitors during its 16-year run. The Greenwich Street-based museum displayed video and photographic footage, fire rescue uniforms and other artefacts from the tragedy, along with exhibits about the area's reconstruction and the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 too.
In August 2022, it closed its doors for the final time, having been affected by low visitor numbers after the pandemic and funding issues. While its physical location is no more, you can book an audio tour of the 9/11 Memorial through their website. You can listen to survivors, rescue and recovery workers and civilian volunteers as they share their experiences during and after the attacks.
When the Cliffhanger opened at Blackgang Chine theme park in 2005, it took pride of place as the only roller coaster on the Isle of Wight. The popular ride soared above the coastline and offered sweeping views across to sea stacks The Needles for some 18 years.
Sadly, in October 2022, the iconic ride closed down, with Blackgang Chine's Director Dominic Ray stating that it was more costly to maintain than more modern coasters. But all hope was not lost: it found a new home at Dreamland Margate and was renamed the Rock 'n' Roller. What's more, Blackgang Chine replaced it with a new, state-of-the-art ride, Extinction, which swings over the cliff and rotates 360 degrees.
The Museum of London is one of the Big Smoke's much-loved free tourist attractions, looking back to prehistory and boasting displays on everything from grime music to the infamous Whitechapel fatberg. After a 45-year run, in December 2022, the institution located at London Wall closed its doors, marking its final day with a 24-hour musical event.
However, it’s not gone forever. In 2026 it will reopen as the London Museum in Smithfield, just a 10-minute walk away, and form part of London’s Culture Mile. The museum will move into two historic buildings, and remain open until late in the evening.
Built in 1942 by the US Navy, this dizzying staircase lines Oahu’s green Ko’olau mountains and is nicknamed the 'Stairway to Heaven' for good reason. But, with rising safety concerns, the stairs have been closed to the public for several years, with hefty fines for trespassers.
Honolulu City Council voted to permanently remove the staircase in 2021, and, after a protracted process that saw objections from the local community, the government is now finally in the process of dismantling the staircase altogether.
The charming little Pollocks Toy Museum, housed inside a townhouse stuffed with vintage teddies, dolls’ houses, rocking horses, miniature theatres, electric train sets and antique models, was a treasure trove of Victoriana right in the heart of London’s Fitzrovia. It dated back to the 1850s, when printer Benjamin Pollock produced popular paper theatres in his workshop.
Since 1956 it has been an independent museum, but after running into funding problems during the pandemic the museum was shuttered and its collection put in storage. According to the museum website, the collection is now divided between two temporary locations while a permanent home is sought. Pop-ups in Croydon and in Leadenhall Market are displaying a selection of objects in the meantime.
Despite its modern façade, the iconic inside-out Pompidou Centre in Paris is in fact nearly 50 years old. Housing the nation's huge collection of modern and contemporary art, it's a popular Paris landmark that's affectionately known as 'our lady of the pipes'.
But catch its collections while you can, as the centre will close for a period of five years at the end of summer 2025 for an ambitious renovation project. These works will aim to modernise the ageing building, and bring it up to date with modern environmental, health and energy standards.
Colossal coastal rock formations tend to capture the imagination, and none more so than Elephant Trunk Rock on Shen’ao Headland beside Taiwan’s New Taipei City, which was named for its unusual shape and had become a popular photo spot.
But, unfortunately, coastal erosion caused the feature on Taiwan’s northeast coast to collapse into the ocean at the end of 2023. It had been closed off to the public for more than a decade due to well-founded fears around its stability.
This immersive Star Wars hotel experience based on the franchise required a two-night stay with a hefty price tag – thousands of dollars per night. Galactic Starcruiser featured set recreations of a starship and interactions with Star Wars characters in live-action role plays.
At the full-service hotel, you could train to use a lightsaber and chat to droids. But despite hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and a starry opening, Walt Disney World decided to shut the attraction in autumn 2023, just 18 months after its opening, with plans afoot to redevelop the site.
This beloved theme park in Helston, Cornwall served its surrounding communities for 48 years before closing abruptly in November 2024 due to "rising costs and a steady decline in visitor numbers". A classic destination for children's birthday parties and family days out, the park enjoyed a buzzing heyday during the 1980s and 1990s, and held treasured memories for several generations of Cornish residents.
The park mixed classic rides like roller coasters, waltzers and log flumes with history-themed areas like Victorian Village and Britain in the Blitz. After closure many of the park's exhibits and other assets went up for auction, and its entire Victorian Village display – featuring more than 50 sets and scenes – was sold to a live-action historical theme park near Durham.
The historic Wayfarers Chapel in southern California is the best-known work of American architect Lloyd Wright (son of Frank Lloyd Wright), and was completed in 1951. Surrounded by towering redwoods, the church was a popular wedding venue, and Jayne Mansfield married fellow film star Mickey Hargitay here in 1958.
Its geometric design and glass exterior were intended to blend the building seamlessly with the landscape, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 2023.
Just a year later, however, Wayfarers Chapel was gone. The Palos Verdes peninsula is prone to landslides, and land movement was causing cracks and broken window panes to appear across the church. The increasingly unsafe structure was closed indefinitely and then disassembled through 2024, with a view to being rebuilt elsewhere pending an appropriate location and sufficient funds.
Now discover more iconic world attractions we've lost forever