NatGeo’s always been cool, with its yellow framed cover and its look at far-flung cities and villages across the world. And this year’s “Cool List” provides a curated look at new hotels, rewilding projects, awesome new train routes to take, and many ways to savor travel. The list is international, but we’re focusing on the three featured destinations in the United States; no need to find your passport.
New York State
This state’s got a lot going on in 2024, starting with celebrating the centennial of its state parks’ creation. Niagara Falls, the nation’s oldest state park, is opening a new spiralling observation deck, and the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center will focus on fish, turtles, amphibians and more with its Great Lakes 360 project, a $5 million upgrade to its Aquarium of Niagara. Manhattan will get a brand-new American LGBTQ+ Museum that showcases local and international LGBTQ+ history, and a Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center interpreting the 1969 Stonewall Riots. And over in Lake Placid, Olympics fans will get a chance to visit the new Lake Placid Olympic Museum, focusing on the village’s hosting of the worldwide winter games in 1932 and 1980.
Miami
Here in this warm city, the Underline is underway, currently on the second of three phases. This elevated walkway is a creative reuse of the city’s Metrorail, which will now be a 10-mile linear park. The Museum of Graffiti near Wynwood Walls, Miami’s street art museum, has recently expanded (they say they’re home to the best museum gift shop in the world—we love the soft spray paint can dog toy). And art news continues: the Marquez Art Projects have just opened a new gallery collecting the works of emerging artists, and get this...the ReefLine is an underwater sculpture gallery for viewing through your scuba or snorkel mask.
Texas
Finally, Texas is the last American destination on the Cool List, in part because of its siting in the Path of Totality. On April 8, 2024, a large part of Texas will be dark when the moon passes between the sun and our Earth: a great place to catch the total solar eclipse. Cities like Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio are poised to show visitors this amazing sky spectacle, and NatGeo also mentions the Dark Sky Parks of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. Don’t forget to book a trip to the Texas Eclipse Festival near Austin, with four days of music, lectures and immersive art experiences.
Here's the full list of the most exciting destinations to visit in 2024, according to National Geographic:
Europe
- Albanian Alps, Albania
- Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Emilia-Romagna, Italy
- Galloway and Southern Ayrshire, Scotland
- Nordland, Norway
- North Yorkshire, England
- Pompeii, Italy
- Saimaa, Finland
- Tartu, Estonia
- The Euros, Germany
- Valletta, Malta
- Wales
- Wild Atlantic Way, Ireland
The Americas
- Atacema Desert, Chile
- Lima, Peru
- New York State, U.S.
- Miami, U.S.
- Texas, U.S.
- Dominica
- Nova Scotia, Canada
- Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico
- Iberá Wetands, Argentina
Africa
- Akagera, Rwanda
- Andrefana Dry Forests, Madagascar
- Sierra Leone
Asia
- Sikkim, India
- Tainan, Taiwan
- Xi-an, China
South Pacific
- Victoria, Australia