The UK has so much to offer by way of culture and opportunities for adventure. From Hollywood stars in the West End and the beauty of our jagged coast to world-leading exhibitions and museums.
If you’re looking for a new adventure or just a fun evening out in 2024, we’ve got you covered.
Keep reading for seven must-visit events and attractions to add to your diary now.
1. Barbie: The Exhibition, London
Following the huge success of the Barbie movie last year, the iconic doll will be celebrating her 65th birthday on 9 March 2024.
To celebrate this milestone, London’s The Design Museum will be unveiling an exhibition chronicling Barbie’s evolution.
With special access to Mattel Inc.’s California archives, expect rare incarnations and related ephemera. You’ll also find a closer look at the dolls’ influence on popular culture through a design lens, including fashion and furniture, architecture and vehicle design.
The exhibition is set to arrive on 5 July and run through to February 2025.
2. The King Charles III Coastal Path National Trail
The King Charles III England Coast Path should be fully walkable later this year.
A huge undertaking, the route eventually plans to take in the whole coast of England, making it the world’s longest-managed coastal walking route.
When completed, it will stretch for around 2,700 miles (4,300km) from Berwick upon Tweed in the northeast to Bristol in the southwest. A separate stretch will run from Liverpool to Carlisle.
In March, the next stretch is due to open, taking in the tidal marshes, beaches, and nature reserves of the Wash from Hunstanton to Sutton Bridge in Norfolk.
3. Black Country Living Museum, Dudley
The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley already promises a bostin’ day, packed to the brim with the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the Black Country.
With shops, houses, workshops and pubs populated with metalworkers, miners, nurses, schoolteachers and landlords, you’ll also find a new addition for 2024.
Moving forward in time from stories of the region’s industrial past, experience a typical Black Country high street of the post-war era.
From Stanton Music Shop’s vinyl record listening booth to the West Bromwich Building Society and the creation of the NHS, the high street is set to build as the year progresses. Summer promises the opening of a replica of the Halesowen and Hasbury Co-op.
4. Toulouse-Lautrec and the masters of Montmartre, Bath
The complete collection of Toulouse-Lautrec’s posters – including his first for the Moulin Rouge – is in the country for a short time only. Soon, they’ll take up permanent residence at the Musée d’Ixelles in Belgium, so catch this show at Bath’s Victoria Art Gallery while you can.
The exhibition runs from 26 April to 29 September and includes more than 30 of Lautrec’s works, alongside those of other artists from the period, including Steinlein, Alphonse Mucha, and Jules Chéret.
5. Aerial adventure at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Aerial adventure experts Wire & Sky bring a new attraction called “Scale” to Cardiff later this year.
Certainly not one for the faint-hearted, adventurous travellers to the city will be able to climb onto the roof of the home of Welsh Rugby this spring.
There’ll be time to enjoy the bird’s eye view of the pitch and the city skyline but the adventure doesn’t end there. Next, you’ll climb the mast and zip wire down, before completing your descent via “The Drop”.
Wire & Sky previously brought similar attractions to Wembley, the Cutty Sark and Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium.
6. The National Gallery goes on a birthday tour
In May 2024, The National Gallery celebrates its 200th anniversary. To celebrate, some of its most iconic works will be going on tour this year.
With 12 paintings heading to 12 different venues, a National Gallery painting will be only an hour away, or less, from more than half the population.
Among the masterpieces on the move are Constable’s ‘The Hay Wain’, Monet’s ‘The Water-Lily Pond’ and Caravaggio’s ‘The Supper at Emmaus’.
Exhibition venues include Liverpool, Brighton, Edinburgh, and Ulster so you’re sure to find one near you, wherever in the UK 2024 takes you.
7. Plaza Suite, Savoy Theatre, London
Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City) is making her West End debut this year.
She’s starring opposite her real-life husband Matthew Broderick (Godzilla, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) in Neil Simon’s 1968 comedy Plaza Suite.
Featuring a triptych of short plays, audiences will see Jessica Parker and Broderick play three couples navigating love and marriage in the titular suite.
Karen and Sam try to save their marriage, former high school sweethearts Muriel and Jesse are destined for an extended stay, while Norma and Roy merely want to coax their bride-to-be daughter out of the bathroom.
Expect romance and bittersweet comedy from this multiple-award-winning team.
