Known for
Victorian civic architecture, a canal network with more miles than Venice's, and the historic Jewellery Quarter
Must-see landmarks
Library of Birmingham, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, St Philip's Cathedral and the Bullring
Free to visit
The Library of Birmingham, Gas Street Basin's towpaths and St Philip's Cathedral
Days needed
A single day covers the city centre at an easy pace; two add Cadbury World or the Jewellery Quarter's museum
Vyse Street and Vittoria Street hold the workshops of a trade centred on the Birmingham Assay Office. The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter tours the former Smith & Pepper factory, left as its workers found it when the firm retired in 1981. Gas Street Basin is a 28-minute walk south, or take the tram from the Jewellery Quarter stop.
Narrowboats moor along this canal junction, where during the canal mania the rival Birmingham Canal Navigations refused to share water with the Worcester and Birmingham Canal: the Worcester Bar, built in 1792, forced cargoes to be unloaded and reloaded by hand between the two. Library of Birmingham is an 8-minute walk north-east.
The UK's largest public library rises in tiers of gold circles over Centenary Square, said to be Europe's largest public cultural space too. Entry is free, and lifts climb to garden terraces and a viewing gallery near the top. Chamberlain Square and the Museum and Art Gallery are a 5-minute walk east.
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery fronts the square beside the Chamberlain Memorial's Gothic spire. General admission is free and needs no booking; galleries reopened in phases include the Staffordshire Hoard, the Pre-Raphaelite collection and the Birmingham History Galleries. Victoria Square and the Town Hall sit just behind it.
Grand civic buildings ring this square: the colonnaded Town Hall to the north and the domed Council House, fronted by bronze statues and a fountain. St Philip's Cathedral is a 7-minute walk north-east.
Birmingham's cathedral sits in a leafy churchyard square in the heart of the city, free to enter and open daily. Its sanctuary holds four stained-glass windows designed by Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones. Bullring and Selfridges are a 9-minute walk south.
The Bullring's malls meet the curved silver form of Selfridges, its bulging walls wrapped in thousands of anodised aluminium discs. St Martin in the Bull Ring, a Victorian rebuilding of a much older church, faces the outdoor markets in its shadow. New Street Station is a few minutes away for onward travel.
Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey plays Town Hall Birmingham on 8 September at 19:30.
![Reuben Solo: Someone in This Crowd Will Betray Me [Revenge Edition] at Glee Club](https://cdn.ticketdoor.com/whats-on-birmingham-reuben-solo-someone-in-this-crowd-will-b.jpg)
Reuben Solo: Someone in This Crowd Will Betray Me [Revenge Edition] plays Glee Club on 9 September at 19:15.
The Prat Pack plays Symphony Hall on 10 September at 19:30.
Simon Brodkin: Unleashed brings stand-up comedy to Symphony Hall Birmingham on 11 September at 19:30.
Progress Wrestling - The Odyssey Tour: Birmingham comes to O2 Academy Birmingham on 13 September at 14:00.
FIM World Supercross Championship comes to Alexander Stadium on 10 October at 15:00.
Free to enter at any time, with lifts running up to garden terraces and a viewing gallery near the top of the building, best visited outside the lunchtime rush for a quieter climb.
The towpaths around Gas Street Basin and Brindleyplace cost nothing to walk at any hour, past moored narrowboats and the historic Worcester Bar.
Free to enter every day, from the churchyard gardens outside to the Burne-Jones stained-glass windows inside.
General admission is free with no booking required, covering the reopened Staffordshire Hoard and Pre-Raphaelite galleries.
There's no charge simply to explore this district's streets, courtyards and shopfronts, especially early morning or evening once the trading day has ended; a ticket buys the guided factory tour, not the neighbourhood itself.
Free to visit at any hour, with the Town Hall's colonnade, the Council House and a fountain to see without going inside any building.
This contemporary art gallery in Brindleyplace is free to enter, open Tuesday to Sunday and bank holiday Mondays, with a changing programme of installations and an on-site cafe.
Free, no booking needed, this University of Birmingham museum on the Edgbaston campus holds fossils and mineral specimens, a short tram or bus ride from the centre.
A large park south of the centre, free to explore, with a lake and part of the Midlands Arts Centre inside its grounds.
A modern park east of the Bullring, free to enter, with open lawns and a fountain to cool off around in summer.
Birmingham is the UK's second largest city, an inland metropolis built on trade rather than a coastline or a cathedral close. Its wealth came from the workshops of the Industrial Revolution, and the canal network dug to serve them now doubles as one of the centre's most pleasant places to walk.
Long known as the city of a thousand trades, Birmingham grew rich on metalworking, jewellery-making and engineering rather than a single industry. That legacy survives in the Jewellery Quarter's working workshops and in a population the city's own tourism board calls the most diverse of any UK core city.
The Jewellery Quarter spreads north-west of Victoria Square around Vyse Street, while Digbeth, east of the Bullring, has filled old factories and warehouses with independent bars and studios. South of the centre, the university campus at Edgbaston adds Old Joe's clock tower, though the nearby Barber Institute is closed for a major transformation project.
A single day covers the walkable core from the canals to the Bullring; a second allows time for Cadbury World, the Jewellery Quarter's museum or a park such as Cannon Hill. Spring and early autumn bring milder weather for walking the canal towpaths and squares.
The pedestrianised city centre is easy to cross on foot, and the West Midlands Metro tram links it to the Jewellery Quarter and beyond, alongside frequent buses and three main railway stations. From those stations fast trains put much of the best places to visit in the United Kingdom within easy reach.