London bucket list 2024: Wembley Champions League final? Wimbledon? Unexpected activity in top spot

At a time of plans and resolutions, many of us will be looking forward to what London has to offer in 2024.

Hotel chain Travelodge has put together a bucket list - activities to tick off before you 'kick the bucket' - for 2024.

While Buckingham Palace, the Champions League final at Wembley and courtside at Wimbledon all make the list, London's top entry is slightly unexpected; the company suggests abseiling down the ArcelorMittal Orbit.

The ArcelorMittal Orbit at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is the world’s longest tunnel slide. The 178m tube around the UK’s tallest sculpture finishes with a corkscrew section named the Bettfeder – after the German word for ‘bedspring’. The slide features both views of the city and a descent into darkness.

But, not satisfied with that thrill ride, Travelodge suggests abseiling the 80m structure, which was designed by Sir Anish Kapoor.

24 things to do for your 2024 - the full bucket list

1. Discover Solstice at Stonehenge
2. Celebrate Burns night in Scotland
3. Rock out at Download Festival
4. Abseil the ArcelorMittal Orbit in London
5. Spend St Patrick’s Day in Ireland
6. Go to Cheltenham Festival
7. Canoe along the tallest aqueduct in the world (Pontcysyllte Aqueduct)
8. Experience May Morning in Oxford
9. Discover Llyn Y Fan Fach at Brecon Beacons, Wales
10. Enjoy Afternoon tea overlooking Buckingham Palace
11. Brave the world’s fastest zipline at ZipWorld, North Wales
12. Get nostalgic at Goodwood Revival
13. Marvel at The Glass Palace in Madrid
14. Find The Fairy Pools in Skye, Scotland
15. Witness the Champions League Final at Wembley Stadium
16. Ride in a hot air balloon (Crazy Bear Stadhampton)
17. Try Canyoning in the Yorkshire Dales
18. Attend a candlelight orchestra performance (London’s Candlelit Concerts)
19. Head to Silverstone for the Formula 1 British Grand Prix
20. Experience the pinnacle of entertainment at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
21. Take a tour of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
22. Spectate at Wimbledon
23. See the Northern Lights in Scotland
24. Run the Great North Run

ArcelorMittal Orbit

The ArcelorMittal Orbit was designed by sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The structure offers 20-mile views over Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the London skyline.

It is made of 35,000 bolts and enough steel to make 265 double-decker buses. Steel was partly chosen as a building material for its recyclability. 60% of the ArcelorMittal Orbit is made from recycled steel, including washing machines and used cars.

The sculpture is made from 600 pre-fabricated star-like nodes, built by a team of 100 in Bolton, Lancashire and assembled on site by four men and a crane. This created the superstructure before the lifts and interior viewing platforms were added.

After being enjoyed by 130,000 visitors during the 2012 Olympic Games, it reopened on April 5 2014, when the south of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park became a public space with meadows, wetlands and waterways. The slide – a collaboration by Carsten Höller and Sir Anish Kapoor – opened in the summer of 2016.