The Times Australia
Holidays and Travel

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From Long Island to Upstate New York: 10 New Reasons to Plan a Trip in 2024

  • Written by The Times

With a series of key anniversaries, museum openings and other exciting new tourism developments, New York State is THE destination to visit in 2024.

"There is no destination in the world like New York State, with something for every visitor and every interest," Ross D. Levi, Vice President and Executive Director for the New York State Division of Tourism said. "A trip to New York opens the door for travellers to experience one of the greatest cities in the world and all the world-class attractions beyond New York City, from Long Island's beaches to majestic Niagara Falls. No matter your interest - from the great outdoors, to arts and history, to cuisine and wellness - 2024 offers even more new and exciting reasons to plan a trip and discover how easy it is to love New York State."

As 2024 marks the centennial of New York State Parks, Niagara Falls—the nation’s oldest state park—is set to welcome new tourism developments.

Following the recent opening of a new, state-of-the-art Visitor Center, two more projects are due for completion in 2024: the Niagara Falls Heritage Gateways Project, whose spiralling observation deck will offer panoramic vistas, and the reopening of the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center as Great Lakes 360, which is currently undergoing a major makeover.

The American LGBTQ+ Museum and the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center, the first LGBTQ+ visitor center in the U.S. National Park System, are due to open in 2024.

From the birth of the women’s rights movement at Seneca Falls in 1848, to the first Pride march, held in New York City in June 1970, the state has always been a strong advocate of equal rights.

A Total Solar ]Eclipse will take place on 8 April 2024, which will have Buffalo and Rochester, the state’s second and third largest cities, in the path of totality.

Seven New York State parks are offering campsite reservations to view this rare, spectacular event, which will not occur in the United States again until 2045.

The Ranch Hudson Valley, the first East Coast property for the award-winning, trend-setting wellness retreat, is due to open in 2024 at the site of a historic lakefront estate.

The Table Rock House, set among 200 acres of the former Table Rock Estate, was built in the early 20th Century J.P. Morgan for his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Alexander Hamilton's great-grandson.

The Chautauqua Institution will celebrate 150 years with two months of programming covering modern issues ranging from politics, religion, technology, and the arts.

The Institution was originally founded in the 1870s as a religious retreat focusing on self-improvement and community betterment, and sits on 750-acres along Chautauqua Lake. Stay at the site's historic Athenaeum Hotel and explore some of the area's neighbouring attractions, including the National Comedy Center, the Lucy-Desi Museum, and Lake Erie Wine Country.

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Winter Olympics at the new Lake Placid Olympic Museum.

Lake Placid is the only place outside Europe to have hosted the Games twice and the museum features one of the largest Winter Olympic artefact collections in the world. In 2024, it continues its winter sports legacy as it is the only North American location to feature in the official Ski Jumping World Cup calendar.

The $45 million expansion and redesign of Storm King Art Center, described as the largest collection of contemporary outdoor sculptures in the U.S., is due to be completed in 2024 and will have a focus on environmental sustainability.

The former Albright-Knox Art Gallery has just reopened as Buffalo AKG Museum following a $200 million project, while other notable museum updates include recently-completed Strong National Museum of Play expansion, and the Corning Museum of Glass' StudioNEXT project, both in the Finger Lakes

The first ‘agrihood’ community in the Northeast will start taking shape in 2024 with the opening of The Inn at Bellefield hotel.

The Bellefield at Historic Hyde Park development will feature a collection of culinary shops, farm-to-table restaurants, breweries, distilleries, two hotels and a special events barn, which will complement the area's world-famous Culinary Institute of America.

The Colored Musicians Club & Jazz Museum, America's only continuously-running, Black-owned music venue, is scheduled to reopen in 2024 after a $3 million expansion. It is part of Buffalo’s African American Heritage Corridor that is undergoing a series of renovation projects.

Music fans can also head to New York City for the brand new Louis Armstrong Center, while 2024 will see the Universal Hip Hop Museum opening its doors at its permanent home in the Bronx.

The Bronx Zoo, the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2024.

It was one of the first zoos in the world that did not have animals in cages; over the years it has played a key role in animal conservation, including helping to save the American bison from extinction.

For more information on New York State please visit www.iloveny.com

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