The LHC has switched off: what it means for your CERN school trip

On 29 June 2026, CERN powered down the Large Hadron Collider. The world's most powerful particle accelerator has gone quiet for the first time in years, and it will stay that way for a while.

If you run science trips, your first question is probably a practical one: does this change anything for a group heading to CERN in Geneva? The short answer is no. CERN is still very much open to school visits, and the story behind the shutdown is one your students will find genuinely exciting.

Here is what is happening, and what it means for your trip.

A quick refresher to share with your students

The LHC is a 27 km ring buried about 100 metres under the French and Swiss border. It accelerates protons to almost the speed of light, then smashes them together so physicists can study what the universe is made of.

Its most famous moment came on 4 July 2012, when the ATLAS and CMS experiments confirmed the Higgs boson, a particle that had been theorised nearly 50 years earlier. Since first firing up in 2008, the LHC has also helped discover more than 85 new particles and pushed forward everything from computing to superconducting magnets.

In other words, it is one of the great science stories of our time, and your students can stand at the place where it happened.

Students get a close look at the LHC on a CERN school trip (CERN, 2012).

So why has it stopped?

The shutdown is planned, not a problem. CERN calls it Long Shutdown 3, and it is the biggest upgrade the lab has taken on since the LHC was built.

Over the next few years, engineers will strip out and replace around 1.2 km of magnets and equipment. The ATLAS and CMS detectors are being rebuilt to handle far more data than before. Thousands of scientists from around the world are involved.

No beams will circulate during this period, but the research never really stops. Teams will keep analysing the enormous datasets the LHC has already produced.

What is replacing it: the High-Luminosity LHC

The LHC is not being switched off for good. It is being upgraded into the High-Luminosity LHC, due to start up in 2030.

"Luminosity" is simply a measure of how many collisions the machine can produce. The upgrade will boost it by up to ten times the original design. More collisions means more data, and more data gives physicists a far better chance of spotting rare events.

For students, it is a clear example of how real science works: build, test, learn, then push further.

What you can see on a CERN school trip now

Here is the reassuring part. The shutdown does not close CERN to visitors. School groups do not normally go down into the tunnel itself, so the surface experience that makes a CERN visit special carries on as normal.

A typical visit can include:

• The Science Gateway, CERN's purpose-built education and exhibition centre, with hands-on exhibits and labs
• Guided tours led by CERN scientists, with students hearing about the research first-hand
• Permanent exhibitions exploring particle physics, the history of the lab, and where the science goes next

Shutdown periods can sometimes open up access that is not possible when the machine is running. Availability is set by CERN and changes often, so it is worth checking directly with them when you book.

One thing to note: the CERN visit itself is booked directly by your school, and it is a very popular one, so it pays to enquire early. We handle everything around it, from transport and accommodation to meals and your other excursions.

Planning a science trip to Geneva

Geneva gives you far more than CERN. Groups often pair it with the History of Science Museum, the United Nations, the Swiss Plasma Center, or a boat trip on the lake, all reachable on the city's free public transport for visitors.

We have organised CERN trips for over 10,000 students and we are the UK's leading CERN school trips provider. We are happy to help you work out timings, accommodation, and how to make the most of your days on the ground.

If you are thinking about a science trip to Geneva, get in touch for a quote and we will help you build something that fits your group.