The 15 Best Things to Do in Birmingham, England (and Top Things to Avoid)

A specific shade of purple (with a 200-year history) is all a Brummie needs to conjure the sticky scent of Cadbury World, Birmingham’s confectionery claim to global fame, and Roald Dahl’s inspiration for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Learn how an entrepreneurial grocer-turned-chocolatier founded Bournville and shaped the city, creating a green oasis for his workers in Victorian Birmingham… or just enjoy flipping around on a trippy (4D cinematic) chocolate rollercoaster, then an actual Cadbury car ride where you shoot for Dairy Milk ingredients. All this while you’re fuelled by chocolate samples—yes, the rumours are true!

However, local lore is that samples have been reduced in recent years, so sweet teeth may opt to pay a little extra (£6.45 at the time of writing) to upgrade their ticket to include a cacao-forward afternoon tea selection with a hot drink. My advice? Pace yourself and come hungry. Dark chocolate lovers like myself might find a full day there sickly, but for the milk-chocolate mad, it can be worth bringing a snack budget for the gift shop afterward and preparing for some factory-only add-ons, like making a personalized chocolate plaque and nabbing a bag of “Mis Shapes.”

Bored in Birmingham? It’s go custard or go home with the city’s cool quarter centered around Bird’s former Custard Factory, now a street art-adorned creative hub and infamous adult playground.

From eggless dessert production to a factory of fun, whatever your group size or game of choice, there are many ways to play beneath Digbeth’s railway arches. Engage brains with board games at Chance and Counters, trade golfing greens for graffiti-ed neon at Golf Fang Birmingham, and turn your pupils to pixels until the small hours at NQ64 Arcade Bar.

With a bigger budget and a 6-minute walk, adrenaline seekers can burn rubber at Teamworks Go Karting, or for in-law-approved cottagecore, visit The Big Birmingham Bake.

Bike or boat? Take a scenic spin class or leisurely bob-along to navigate Birmingham’s crowning glory waterways. Brummies are fiercely proud of enjoying our canals, and for good reason—the whole Birmingham Canal Navigations system makes up 100 miles!

On sunny days, it’s almost rude not to hire a public bike and pedal along some charming canalside routes, whether it’s the Grand Union, Fazeley Street, or all the way to Stratford-Upon-Avon (you’ll need to change canals for the latter). Download up to six canal cycling maps that include photos of worthy stopping points on the ride.

You can also take great value narrowboat tours from the city center with Brindley’s or blow your barge budget and charter from Sherborne Wharf.

From a famous “Beer Mile” to infamous weekend bakery queues, Stirchley is fast earning a reputation as Birmingham’s most delicious neighborhood without the upper-crust pomp.

Spend a whole foodie day in Birmingham’s 2024 best place to live with drinks or River Rea walks between snacks. For a bougie take-home, stock up on Stirchley Wines’ stellar craft beer, cider, and wine selection (and smiling Midlands service) and pastries from one of the U.K.’s best artisan bakeries, Levain & Cherry. You can decide if Loaf Co-op Bakery is worth the long morning queues, though. Along Pershore Road, Birmingham’s best bars, brewhouses, cafes, and restaurants are literally lined up for sampling should the weather not be playing picnic. 

Eating in? Expect to wait at Caneat and Alicia’s Micro Bakehouse, book ahead for evening bites at Cork & Cage (trust me when I say whipped treacle butter), and Eat Vietnam just for the Marmite peanut-butter cauliflower. If you want to try your luck at snagging a table at the city’s hottest Michelin-rumored restaurant, Riverine Rabbit releases tables three months in advance—I’ve waitlisted half a dozen times (and haven’t made it yet)! 

Luckily, it’s no less delicious but often easier to get a table at Masterchef-owned, Thai-to-die-for Soi 1268, and you can BYOB to late-night favorite curry house, Akrams.

It’d be rude not to include something our city has a Guinness World Record for, and that’s the world’s largest fashion retail store—Primark.

With over five floors, our ironically-nicknamed Primarni pairs rock-bottom prices with the fastest fashion your quids can buy, with multiple restaurants (including Gregg’s) to curb hunger and in-house beauty salons to rest tired legs, so you literally can shop till you drop.

However, if you prefer your shopping slow and circular, Birmingham still delivers. For a truly Brummie experience, rummage for treasure in the indoor/rag market, which sometimes stocks faux fur coats for £10. Other favourites are Digbeth’s carefully curated Cow Vintage and Red Brick Market Birmingham, or—a la Primarni—Reloved Birmingham Harborne also has a cafe inside, but profits go to Birmingham Hospice to soothe any retail guilt.

Markets run deep in Birmingham’s bloodline, as far back as the medieval ages. Fortunately, these days they extend well beyond rags and bulls.

My favorite, Moseley Farmers Market, sprawls from the Village Green along Alcester Road and St. Marys Row just once a month, and with the “Best Farmers Market in the UK” title, it’s worth the wait. Whether you fancy grazing as you go or packing a picnic, with a proper British spread of mostly organic, fresh produce (that must meet the market’s stringent local requirements) the quality is just as dazzling as the options, ranging from Good Game’s venison sausages, spiced scotch eggs from Staffordshire Savoury Eggs, and washed down with heritage apples pressed into Old Sandlin Fruit juices.

Few realize that you don’t have to wait until the last Saturday of the month for farm-bulous treats, though. Just a short 50 bus ride away, it’s Kings Heath’s turn on the first Saturday of the month, Kings Norton for the second Saturday, and Harborne’s market on the third (though the stallholders will vary).

Don’t be overwhelmed by Birmingham’s 8,000 acres of green space—if you’re limited on time, two of our best are in Edgbaston: Birmingham Botanical Gardens and Winterbourne House & Garden.

Tucked up in Birmingham University’s campus, I feel the serene seven acres of Winterbourne are sorely overlooked, because it’s so much more than its Grade II-listed walled gardens and 6,000 plant species—it’s cozy heritage Edwardian house fit with storied Brummie artwork, two glasshouses (one filled with carnivorous plants), delightful garden cafe and even a secondhand bookstore, just 15 minutes walk from the University Station. They offer courses from full-blown RHS long courses to paper-making, beekeeping, and stained-glass day courses and events.

It’s hard not to live in the shadow of our Botanical Gardens, though. Over double the size of Winterbourne, a visit here can feel like walking through Jurassic Park and Victorian Britain all at once—the four glasshouses maintain unique microclimates and have remained mostly intact since 1829, despite huge trees grasping ever closer to the panes.

Alongside a couple of friendly robins, the gardens also house the National Bonsai Collection within a Japanese garden, a Pinetum, an Adventure Playground, two Alpine Gardens, and a striking restored Bandstand on a lawn primed for sun tanning and snacking from the in-garden food truck.

If there’s one thing Birmingham knows best, it’s live music, and with a little luck, you can get front-row seats to the rise of industry stars. Here’s where you ought to look.

After hosting UB40’s first-ever gig in 1979, it’s easy to forget that the Hare and Hounds has a history of over 200 years. As you chase the night on Art Nouveau tiles and between two floors, with several rooms, the Hare often hosts different events on the same evening.

On Monday nights, The Dark Horse in Moseley holds a reggae event called Jam Jah in their upstairs gig room, alongside other events throughout the year. However, when the annual Moseley Folk Festival swings around, it’s just steps away, so it’s a good bet that musicians will stop here for after-dark drinks.

There’s live music every Friday and Saturday at the dramatic Actress and Bishop, and an open mic every third Wednesday—Brummies Ocean Colour Scene have been spotted here more than occasionally.

NME stunning canalside venue, The Flapper and Firkin, “the epicenter of Birmingham’s Indie scene,” and with bands The Editors and Pulled Apart By Horses starting their careers here, it’s little wonder why the city fought to keep it from demolition.

For classical and contemporary musicians, The CBSO isn’t just the home of our orchestra but houses Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in the intimate Justham Auditorium too (when not at the colossal Symphony Hall). 

Recently renovated Muthers Studio in Digbeth offers short to long-term rehearsal rooms, a Birmingham artists-themed coffee menu with monthly specials, and regular gigs in their high-ceilinged event space, all accessible through an oasis-like reception with a pool table, and just steps from the Digbeth coach station.

No violence is needed at Escape Live’s award-winning Official Peaky Blinder escape room, only available in the series’ city inspiration. Ever since Cillian Murphy donned his infamous flat cap, Birmingham has never quite been the same, with a flood of themed weddings, walking tours run by distant Shelby relatives, and even a dance theatre act. Escape Live cuts through the bandwagon for me by offering two any-weather immersive games that don’t require knowledge or fandom of the TV show. Because it’s the only official Peaky Blinders escape room in the UK, you hear the actual actors’ voices, without a cheesy knock-off in earshot. For 2 to 6 players, “The Raid” flips the escape-room script as you earn the right to join the gang for ages 16+, or try “Double Cross” for the adult-only, slightly easier game. Escape Live also has an outdoor non-Peaky-themed game, “Sherlock.” Confusingly, this isn’t based on the television series but does get you out into the city and exploring Birmingham for real via an app that gets glowing reviews.

Step just outside of Birmingham and straight into a seeming time warp at the Black Country Living Museum, an open-air twenty-nine-acre mini town, reinvigorated with new funding and awards since featuring heavily on the Peaky Blinders film set.

Though not technically in Brum, you can turn a Peaky Blind-er eye to that as it is a rite of passage for Brummie school kids (myself included). With recreated storefronts, vintage cars, and real-world NPC characters, nothing else in the UK—except perhaps LARPing—is like this bostin’ Black Country immersive museum that has you meeting, eating, and even working in a coal mine as if in a bygone (1700 to 1978) Birmingham.

Once you’re in Dudley, maximize your mileage at Dudley Zoo and Castle; conservation-focussed animal exhibits built around an 11th-century castle, featuring the world’s largest surviving collection of Modernist tectons.

Sip award-winning cocktails and chase the night(club) without ever leaving town. Our city’s gastronomy is well represented by Michelin, but refined palettes needn’t abstain like Birmingham’s Quaker forefathers. In the city center alone, three independent bars showcase a drinker’s equivalent smorgasbord:

Recognized in 2019 as the World’s Best Gin Bar, speakeasy 40 St Pauls has 24 cozy seats, 140 gins, and a botanical cocktail list that features wild nettles, curry leaves, and cherry blossoms. Or, in the Custard Factory, you can try a 2024 Cocktail of the Year winner, the Adult Ribena at Passing Fancies, which comes in a to-go can, too. If the backdrop of your tipple ranks high, few cocktail bars can boast the award-winning Victorian interior design of The Lost & Found on Bennett’s Hill.

Once your lips have loosened your limbs, you can learn why “going to town” has a different meaning to Brummies socializing in the city center. Whatever your music taste, at weekends there’s a club spinning your tunes until the wee hours—Snobs is a Birmingham pop institution, now on its third location since 1972, for hip-swaying reggae and dub, PST stands for People Stand Together or for a more refined version try The Night Owl’s Soul & Retro Club. Subside is open until the literal morning for metalheads, Tunnel Club serves the city’s techno lovers, or you can croon yourself to sleep with karaoke and drag acts at Eden in our Gay Village.

Chill your card because cash is king, and the treasures are worth the withdrawal in Birmingham’s Chinatown.

The Arcadian is jam-packed with East Asian treasures, from the Day In supermarket to the ever-bustling Uncle Cake bakery and three cult-status hole-in-the-wall restaurants; try the triple roast at Peach Garden, the hand-pulled noodles at Dezhou Style Braised Chicken, and the vegetarian-friendly Vietnamese Cafe Soya, which pre-COVID had two busy branches. Can’t decide where to eat? Visit Asia Asia Food Hall for the closest thing to an authentic Southeast Asian food court outside of the continent. Here, diners can order dishes from different stalls and enjoy them together at communal tables by simply topping up a special card.

Beyond gastronomy, the Chinese quarter is also home to Birmingham Back to Basics, the Glee Club comedy club, and The Hippodrome theatre, which are worth a window shop for pre-planning or just snapping some shots beneath the red arches and on the rainbow-painted tarmac.

Whether it’s the weekend land train, spotting cheeky red pandas, or pedaling on Swan boats, opposite Birmingham’s renowned cricket ground is a family-favorite park with nature-lined fun for all.

A goose-studded lake offers a picturesque picnic backdrop for this hotspot that, on a fair weather day, remains bathed in sun until early evening. You can also seek out Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park’s resident lynx, explore the Midlands Art Centre’s galleries, amble to the Moor Green Allotments social club, and go mini golfing, all within the River Rea’s trickle of one another. There’s plenty of parking and accessible, wide walkways for people of mixed abilities.

See the world’s largest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in a listed landmark building dating back to 1885, then rest your cultured legs in the Library of Birmingham’s secret gardens.

One of our iconic buildings, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, is open to visitors again after long renovations. And yes, entry is still free/by donation. Climb the stairs to be welcomed by an arresting bronze Lucifer in the domed Round Room. I enjoy comparing how the weather has worn the patina on the “River” fountain (better known as the ”Floozie in the Jacuzzi”), just outside, also cast in bronze.

From there, it’s just a six-minute walk to the largest public library in the United Kingdom, built for £189 million but costing you nothing to enjoy. The Library of Birmingham’s crowning jewels are two elevated gardens, level 3’s Discovery Terrace—filled with food plants—and the lesser-known 7th floor secret garden. 

Channel your inner hobbit on a self-led quest of ten stops around the city, learning J.R.R. Tolkien’s Brummie roots and inspiration for one of the most popular books of the 20th century, Lord of the Rings.

For such a celebrated author, sometimes it seems the world forgot Tolkien’s pride as a self-proclaimed “Birmingham man”—the Midlands sowed the seeds to Middle Earth. Download this PDF pilgrimage and pay homage to some of the city’s dwarfish gems hiding in plain sight.

If you can only visit one stop, make it stop number two: Sarehole Mill has a “Signposts to Middle Earth” exhibition, which tells the story of a tiny Tolkien’s connections with Sarehole, the surrounding Moseley Bog, and beyond.

A couple of locations in this very guide feature in the Tolkien Trail, including the University of Birmingham (a stone’s throw from Winterbourne) and The Library of Birmingham.

It’s always worth being vigilant on a night out, but in the U.K., reports appear to show that in recent years, there has been an overall increase in illegal drink spiking—when someone covertly puts drugs or alcohol into another person’s drink—and Birmingham is not immune. After some high-profile cases, bars such as The Nightingale and even some councils have provided anti-spiking kits for local use.

However, it’s better safe than sorry, so rather than relying on the venues, I wholeheartedly advocate prioritizing your own safety—never leave drinks unattended, use drink covers, or you can even pre-purchase spiking kits, especially if heading out in larger nightclubs around Digbeth, Kings Heath, or Arcadian.

With just two lanes on the Safari Drive, during weekends and holidays especially, the traffic jams at West Midlands Safari Park are infamous. If there are plenty of animals in view, some visitors may not mind that the four-mile self-drive has been rumored to take two, even three, hours on a busy day, but as with all wildlife activities, nothing is guaranteed!

If you’re adamant about driving, to avoid passenger breakdowns, use the toilet before embarking on the journey and pack contingency plans in case you get stuck in traffic and little ones are desperate to go (Oasis bottle, anyone?). Pack plenty of drinks to stay hydrated, snacks to keep hanger at bay, and make sure you’re all set to be comfortable for the long haul. Summers can get surprisingly hot, and windows need to stay closed for a layer of protection from the park’s exotic inhabitants.

If you plan on driving or cycling in Birmingham, be prepared for the, ahem, looser rules many drivers in the city seem to believe in. The police have begun cracking down on ”car cruising,” but in some areas, the sounds of nighttime car exhausts racing can still be commonplace, and even during the day, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Brummie MOT doesn’t include indicators.

However, through the Operation Snap program, dangerous drivers are being increasingly fined, so on the flipside, it’s worth being aware that through this crowd-sourced, citizen reporting, if you’re breaking the road rules you could be receiving more than a slap on the wrist for using your phone, running a red light, or not wearing your seatbelt.

Should you witness dangerous driving on your trip that you wish to report, you must submit it within 10 days of the incident occurring and ensure the footage isn’t longer than 10 minutes for the West Midlands Police to be able to use it.

It’s tempting to gatekeep this hidden “training restaurant” gem within the Birmingham College of Food—I dare you to find better value in the U.K.

Order a three-course meal and you’ll often end up with six, with house-baked bread, amuse bouche, and pre-dessert bulking out already generous portions. Restaurant at Birmingham College of Food is not a fine dining establishment that’ll leave you hungry but the stunning plating and melt-in-the-mouth lamb can trick you into thinking it might be! The catch is that everything is run by students, but the occasional clumsy service is quickly tidied up by lecturers. Try to visit later in the term when servers have got into the groove of their training—it’s also a great place to cop an earful of a proper Brummie accent! 

Open Monday-Friday during term time, with a bigger (rarely changing) menu on Thursday and Friday. The dining room features TV screens showing slideshows about the school, where delighted Mums might spot British celebrity chef James Martin. For drinks, you can’t go wrong with a UCB Craft Gin, hand-macerated by students for under a fiver.

Google Maps can get confused when you’re driving here, and the restaurant closes early. Turn up early for your reservation to enjoy the drinks lounge and ensure your menu choices haven’t sold out. Bear in mind that the venue’s license means you can’t take unfinished bottles of wine home, and cash tips are also not permitted, so make sure to add them to your card bill. The in-house bakery, Cakes & Bakes (open daytimes only), is the only place you can find the elusive Birmingham Close Notched Cottage Loaf.

For a similar sit-down lunch vibe, try award-winning The Hive in the Jewellery Quarter, a vegetarian social enterprise cafe that provides work and training for students of Ruskin Mill Trust with special educational needs—their Indian-spiced hash brown scotch egg is legendary.

An award-winning Desi Pub with cult-status mixed grills, a vegan menu, and plenty of parking within the famed Balti Triangle.

You’ll seriously ruffle Brummie feathers if you visit Birmingham and do not stop for a cheeky curry. Fortunately, you can tick several bucket list items off in one visit to The Covered Wagon, which not only sits within the boundaries of Birmingham’s Balti Triangle but is also a uniquely British Punjabi-style gastropub, aka a Desi pub (with a rousing, colonial-comeback history).

Though they offer both takeout and delivery, you’d miss the magic of their flagship dish; unlike an American grill (which we might call a barbecue), here mixed grills serve your selection atop a mountain of still-sizzling onions on a hot plate. Like any good pub, there are crisp lagers and ales on draught, several wines, plus a satisfying selection of spirits. For curries, praises come clucking in for their Butter chicken, and there’s no better way to soothe both spice and indecision for dessert by getting a trio of malai, pistachio, and mango-flavoured kulfi ice cream.

Birmingham’s oldest Cantonese restaurant boasts 100 types of dim sum and the largest selection in the UK.

Multi-award-winning Chung Ying is so popular it had two little sister restaurants before COVID-19. Its remaining, original venue has a cozy heated outdoor seating area, while the interior’s crisp evening tablecloths dress it up beautifully for dim sum date nights. That’s right, Asia’s version of tapas—smaller portions best shared—are usually only available at tea time but at Chung Ying, they’re available all day and night, with a 20% discount between 12-5 PM.

Try the Pan-fried Bean Curd Rolls stuffed with Shredded Duck, the Char Siu Cheung Fun, and Xiao Long Bao for classic hand-rolled Cantonese textures, or on the main menu try Pork and Prawn Yuk Shung, Crispy Aromatic Duck with Pancakes, and Lemon & Honey Chicken to sample iconic fusion British-Chinese dishes that are harder to come by in Asia itself. The drinks menu has some decent cocktails as well as a selection of Western grape wines and Asian rice wines.

Formerly Hatters Hostel, then Selina’s Birmingham, and currently the PH Hostel Birmingham, whatever the current operator, this Livery Street hostel offers a unique opportunity to stay in a piece of Birmingham’s working class history. Within a red brick heritage building and converted Victorian factory, they offer some of the best value rooms in the city, starting at £25 per person, whether two share a simple private room with a shared bathroom or you’re a solo traveler in a dorm.

Some may grumble that towels cost an extra £4 even for non-shared rooms but this is fairly standard for British hostels. However, if this is your first stay in a Victorian building, it’s best to come prepared for soundproofing and insulation that still harks back to a bygone era. Nonetheless, with open mic nights, a balcony, smoking terrace, shared kitchen, a well-designed reception ideal for coworking, a wellness area, and even a yoga room, plus the opportunity to stay in a very Brummie-coded space within a 15-minute walk to the heart of town, you’ll be hard-pressed to find better as a solo traveler. However, to avoid paying £5 for a bowl of cereal, make the most of the local supermarkets and BYO breakfast.

From the swanky converted Royal Mail sorting office-turned-shopping center Mailbox, you can stay in a celebrity haunt boutique hotel, which has welcomed Beyoncé, Prince, and Katy Perry to its statement rooms (and Ed Sheeran to the restaurant!).

With moody rockstar color schemes, statement walls, and Nespresso machines as standard, Malmaison Birmingham is where you come when you’re feeling like A Big Deal. If you’re lucky, rooms start at £76, though usually only for one day a month. Otherwise, you can break the bank with the Penny Black Suite—with its own sauna and massage room, a cinema room, lounge area, two toilets, and a large bathroom with a tub and walk-in shower.  

The location is arguably the best in Brum. The Mailbox opens on one side onto the canals near where Peaky Blinders rolled out their Season Two Premiere red carpet, and on the other into the city center proper where you’ll be a postman’s skip away from a supermarket, the Grand Central train station, and some top tier bars and restaurants in between like Cherry Reds’s craft beers and brunches, Bonehead’s unrivaled Nashville-style fried chicken and The Victoria’s four-hour ‘happy hour’ cocktails between 4-8 pm.

Overlooking the recently restored stained-glass windows of Birmingham Cathedral, this historical luxury hotel was once the stay of the day for royalty.

Established in 1879, this self-described grande-dame hotel of Birmingham, The Grand Hotel Birmingham, has been beautifully restored for £50 million after a twenty-year closure. At the heart of the business district and its cathedral-centered park, steps from Snow Hill station, and the best sandwiches in town at Anderson and Hill, come for the location and stay for the gilt-topped marble pillars, elegant Louis XIV-style ballroom with art deco ‘electroliers’, and Chromecast-ready Smart HDTVs. It’s not just what glitters that is golden at The Grand—with in-room Molton Brown toiletries and yoga mats as standard, a manicured Garden Terrace, soundproofed and hypoallergenic bedrooms, plus a wedding dining package that partners with Michelin-starred Opheem, the attention to detail is what cements this Colmore Row hotel as the grandest of them all.

Summertime is when Birmingham really shines; with long warm evenings, you have all day to play in our elderflower Tree City of the World green spaces (we have more than any other European city), though magnolia-scented spring and shroomy autumn can be pleasant enough with our selection of rainy-day activities.

Birmingham is currently expanding its tram (Metro) and train network with the development of the Camp Hill line within the city and the infamous HS2 high-speed line to London, but as of 2025, the bus still reigns supreme.  

If you plan to catch a bus more than once a day it’s worth purchasing the locally known “Daysaver”—if there are two or more of you, Group tickets are great value too. Different companies sometimes operate the same route, such as the 50, and not all tickets are valid between them so to be certain, speak to the driver about your journey plan… and where you want to get off while you’re at it: Brummie buses do not necessarily give the stop name.

Uber is relatively reliable within the city, though prices surge at rush hour.