Recently at the beginning of my sentence

[Rachel Adams]

Can I start my sentence with "recently"?

"Recently the most popular places were closed because of Covid-19, but now they are slowly beginning to open."

 

[probus]

Sure. Why not?

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

The most popular places were closed because of Covid-19, but now they are reopening.

 

[emsr2d2]

You can start a sentence with "Recently" although you need to follow it with a comma. However, in your sentence, I don't think it really works. It would be better to start with "Until recently, ...".