A place to discuss and chat about Birmingham while also looking back at the history of the UK's second city. If you require a more active community then please try r/brum, they are a very nice bunch of people.
Hello! I leave in a week from Texas to Birmingham for business trip. Besides work I’m wondering what are some fun activities or good food spots in the area that might be good for a young solo female. Thank you :)
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Great spot for views in the centre is the Library, museums a short walk from there, lots of tourist info inside as well. Free. https://visitbirmingham.com/things-to-see-and-do/the-library-of-birmingham-p1321551
Taiwanese food in the centre rates http://www.tigerbitespig.co.uk/
The rag market in the centre is worth a wander.
Go to the old crown digbeth. It might be a novelty to have a pint in a pub that was around before columbus.
Botanical gardens, if you're into nature. They have a butterfly house and some other interesting bits and bobs.(£7.50 per adult)
Roller jam (skating) in Digbeth. They have an event where you can go for a fiver https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Birmingham/Roller-Jam/
Go for a solo picnic in Kings heath park (remember to take your rubbish home or find a bin, it's one of the few parks that haven't been ruined yet).
The nature centre (now called Birmingham Wildlife conservation something or other). Cannon Hill park is right next to it and has a mini funfair (weekends only atm) crazy golf and swan peddlos)
http://www.cannonhillpark.co.uk/nature-centre
Have a wander around the ikon gallery (it's free).
Birmingham central library is also free and lovely to explore. It has a rooftop garden., as a bonus, see if you can also find the secret garden. The library cafe is currently closed but you can go to the Rep Cafe next door.
City centre gardens (which you can see from the roof of the library) have had a massive makeover and would be an excellent place for a picnic.
Have a look on the site 'eventbrite' they often have events on in brum
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/d/united-kingdom--birmingham/events/
There's also the Bullring shopping centre if you like malls. They have plenty of interesting places to eat (avoid the pizza hut though) and some interesting places to shop. You could easily spend a whole day in there browsing. https://www.bullring.co.uk/
ThinkTank! Is a museum. You can learn about the history of Birmingham here, amongst other things. https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/thinktank
You could get a canal boat ride
https://secretbirmingham.com/birmingham-canals/
A steam train ride ( you can also book a trip with full english breakfast or afternoon tea) https://vintagetrains.co.uk/train-rides/
The sea life center is a good day out
Always found it to be a sub optimal layout.
Should be lateral spread. Not vertically stacked and no space to observe the animals whilst other get fed up of waiting and try to pass by but can't because of the cramped layout.
Especially the early section. Fair bit of space by the penguin enclosure, but tje next bit with that gradual ramp going up is quite narrow, so I your trying to take your time looking in the tanks, your unfortunately getting in a lot of peoples way when they try to get past.
If you like walking/nature, Malvern Hills is a short train journey away. Stratford-Upon-Avon isn't too difficult to get to by public transport either, where you have the birthplace of Shakespeare and a butterfly farm.
Any danger you've got the wrong Birmingham here mate? You mean the UK one?
Yup, I mean the UK one.
Fair doos, depends what kind of stuff you want to do, there's loads of bars and restaurants in the city centre, plenty going on in Stirchley, Moseley, kings heath, harborne in South Brum. There's lots of parks, theatres, etc, pretty much anything you could want.
You'll arrive for the last couple of days of the Flatpack Indie film festival if that's your sort of thing:https://flatpackfestival.org.uk
There's a more detailed where to eat/what to drink thread on r/brum too. https://www.independent-birmingham.co.uk/ is a good starting point for the more hipstery places around town.
See what's on in the Rep Theater, The Alex or the Hippodrome. Mockingbird cinema do some good events. Gas Street basin is worth a visit for food.