Tourism

 

Birmingham is Great Britain's second largest city and the conference capital of the country. A thriving place, it boasts the second largest financial and services sector in the country, it is also a manufacturing centre: accounting for 25% of Britain's exports.
It's shopping, nightlife, culture, arts and other attractions are all world class. Nearby are some of Britain's most popular touristic attractions, including Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, the Cotswold Hills and Winston Churchill's birthplace, Blenheim Palace.		  
Stratford, 30km Shakespeare’s Birthplace, 1564
 

1. J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, spent his childhood in Sarehole, Birmingham. The tiny village of Sarehole is said to have been the model for The Shire, home of Bilbo in the book The Hobbit

2. Bingley Hall, the world's first exhibition hall, opened in 1850 on the site now occupied by the ICC.

3. Edgbaston Archery Tennis Club is the oldest established club in the world. In fact, lawn tennis was invented and first played in Birmingham.

4. The other big cities are green with envy when you mention Birmingham's six million trees, more parks than any other European city, a record- breaking 14 consecutive gold medals from the Chelsea Flower Show and its National Britain in Bloom Awards.

5. Birmingham's central library is the city's busiest building, Europe's largest public library and lends eight million books each year.
Cannon Hill park
 
Birmingham Central Library
We advise you bring an extra suitcase! The shopping in Birmingham is outstanding. In fact, after London's Oxford Street, Birmingham is the most visited shopping destination in Great Britain.

The range of shops is extremely wide, ranging from the designer stores of Armani, Harvey Nichols, Hugo Boss and DKNY in The Mailbox to Selfridges (left) and Debenhams in the Bullring - a hige shopping centre which attracts 36 milliopn shoppers each year.

In between, you can enjoy City Plaza, The Pallasades and The Pavilions shopping centres, the Jewellery Quarter, the bustling Markets - which date back to the Middle Ages - and the thriving shopping areas of New Street and Corporation Street.


‘The Big Brum Buz runs every Saturday in Birmingham up to and including the 11th September - tour times 10.30, 12 noon, 1.30 and 3 from the top of Church Street, Colmore Row opposite St Philip's Cathedral - please check their website for more information: http://www.birmingham-tours.co.uk/

For more information about the city Visit Birmingham!