From Big Ben to the Taj Mahal, tourist destinations to avoid - for now
Renovations, natural disasters, terrorist attacks – whatever the reason, these popular tourist attractions are best avoided, at least temporarily
The introduction of new sightseeing attractions is a sure-fire way to keep the tourists coming. Since November, visitors to the Colosseum in Rome have been able to experience vertigo-inducing views from the restored upper levels of the world’s largest amphitheatre. In Luxor, two 3,500-year-old Egyptian tombs containing wall paintings, statues, a mummy and other artefacts have been recently opened to the public, and in northern India, a tunnel under the Himalayas will cut journey times for travellers wanting to discover the fabled lands of Ladakh.
But for each newly opened place of interest, others become out of bounds until the dust settles, the scaffolding comes down or the land heals itself.
1 Taj Mahal
This might be a good year in which to give the Taj Mahal a miss. For centuries, monsoon rains stripped away layers of grime that coated India’s marble monument to eternal love but more persistent pollutants have thwarted nature’s annual power shower. Workers have been applying a chemical-free mud paste and scrubbing away much of the discolouration but those once-in-a-lifetime photos will be marred by unsightly scaffolding.
The magnificent but fragile dome in Agra is the object of the final phase of the intensive scouring operation but, with regular scaffolding deemed inappropriate for the task, there are plans to use bamboo instead. The painstaking work is unlikely to be finished until next year.
