24 hours In Birmingham: What To See & Do

This post will share how to spend 24 hours in Birmingham.

Birmingham is one of those cities I’ve always wanted to visit.

It is the second-largest city in England.

I also almost attended Birmingham City University.

It is only natural that I want to explore the big and small cities.

I think I planned to go last year, but as life happened, I moved it to my schedule for 2020.

So, a few days ago, I set out as early as 10 a.m. and spent my entire day in Birmingham.

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Getting to Birmingham

I initially planned to take a train to Birmingham when I noticed that taking a coach would take about two hours.

I decided a while ago to take the train on any journey that takes over two hours.

Trains are usually faster and reduce the commute by at least an hour.

But then I had the week off from work and decided that I wasn’t in a hurry to go and come back.

So I took the National Express coach from Manchester Coach Station in Chorlton.

The coach departed at 10.05 a.m., but the two-hour journey was far from perfect.

But before I proceed, I’d like to mention that we got to Birmingham 30 minutes early, which I thought was very impressive.

Despite the accident that caused the 1hr delay when I was returning, we also got to Manchester 30 minutes earlier.

I was really impressed with National Express.

Anyway, the trip to Birmingham was almost a disaster because, for the first time in a long while, my motion sickness came back in full swing, and I did not prepare for it.

We hadn’t even left Manchester, and I began to feel woozy.

My head was spinning, my eyes were tearing up, and I wanted to throw up my tiny breakfast.

Talk about the very worst timing. I tried to distract myself by watching a movie, reading a book and listening to music.

But it just made the whole thing worse.

Then I remembered that I had actually bought motion sickness pills from Boots last year but never got around to using them.

I also didn’t have mints in my bag to help with nausea.

Eventually, I just took a nap till we got to Birmingham.

That seemed to calm my system, and I was back to normal in no time.

Moving around Birmingham

Birmingham Coach Station in Digbeth is easily one of the biggest coach stations I’ve seen.

It’s actually bigger than Manchester Coach Station.

It looked organised. It was busy enough but not too crowded.

As I mentioned earlier, we arrived 30 minutes earlier, so I had more time to start my exploration.

Before my trip, I had created a Google Maps list of attractions I wanted to visit.

I found this nifty trick after my trip to Paris and am currently obsessed.

As a Google Local Guide, I’ve never used the lists because I thought I didn’t know anywhere.

But it’s currently the best thing since the Google Travel app was discontinued.

This list helped me decide where to go beforehand so I wasn’t confused or overwhelmed.

Before I left the coach station, I tried to determine the nearest attraction to me.

That would be my starting point.

It is essential to mention that when I go on day trips like this one, I avoid taking any form of transportation except if necessary.

I usually try to walk as far as my legs can take me.

Typically, I don’t stray far from the city centre, except for significant attractions on the outskirts, like Disneyland and Cadbury World.

When I’m done exploring the city centre, I usually go for the day.

Unfortunately, I jumped on a few buses and eventually had to pay for an unlimited day pass because I could not, for my life, navigate my way around the city centre.

Do I regret it?

Seeing that the buses were not eventually necessary?

Oh well, it’s all in the past.

Things To Do In Birmingham

In no particular order:

Shop at the Bullring & Grand Central

The first significant attraction I saw was the unique structure of the Birmingham Bullring &Grand Central Shopping Centre.

I thought the structure was fascinating.

I actually hoped it was a museum or something.

But getting closer and cross-checking with my map, I found that it is an ultra-modern contemporary shopping centre.

I’ve never seen anything like it, not even in Paris.

I took one of the pedestrian walkways and stopped by St Martin in the Bullring, a cathedral.

I can’t be the only one wondering how a cathedral can be so close to a shopping centre.

But this is England, and anything is possible.

Just beside the cathedral were the Bullring Indoor and Rag Market, respectively.

This shows that it is quite an extensive market overall. I wish I had more time to stop by, but unfortunately, I didn’t.

Learn about history at the Back to Basics Museum.

While I tried to figure out my way around Birmingham’s city centre, I went around the massive Bullring & Grand Central and found my way to the Chinese Quarter.

According to my Google Maps list, the Back to Basics museum was the next nearest attraction.

So I headed that way.

When I got there, I was expecting a grand structure typical of museums on this side of the world.

But no, I saw a two-storey building, which I almost missed because it was inconspicuous.

You need to buy tickets to join one of the guided tours.

I wasn’t patient enough to find out whether or not there was a free ‘unguided’ tour, so I kept it moving.

Next, I found my way back to the Bullring and Grand Central to grab lunch at KFC.

I also couldn’t resist the temptation to stop by a couple of stores having a closing-down clearance sale.

I got a book and some lingerie for a steal.

Visit the Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum

After lunch, I was well-sated and ready to cram as many attractions in the shortest possible time.

At this point, it started to rain and got annoying because I wasn’t wearing the appropriate coat.

But I had no choice but to fudge ahead.

After some searching, I finally found the Thinktank Birmingham Science Museum, located at the Millennium Point of Birmingham City University.

As I was about to go further, I saw something about tickets.

( I don’t know why I always expect all museums to be free. I never learn).

Of course, I realised that the museum wasn’t free, so I turned back.

But before leaving, I checked out the Thinktank Science Garden. If you have kids, this Science museum is one of the best things to do during the Summer Holidays.

This was when I started to get exhausted.

Walking began to feel like climbing a hill.

At some point, I started to gasp for breath.

I realised that I wouldn’t be able to see all the planned attractions if I continued this way, so I took the bus to the Library of Birmingham.

Indulge your inner bookworm at the Library of Birmingham.

Stepping into the Library of Birmingham had the same exhilarating feeling as stepping into Disneyland.

That’s the only way I can describe it. It was magical. It felt magical.

The massive library is Europe’s most extensive modern state-of-the-art public library.

Yes, it is absolutely free for anyone to use.

The only thought running through my head was, ‘How is this free? How is this funded? ‘

I must return here and spend an entire weekend in this library.’ I literally couldn’t get over it.

Of course, being free allowed me to go in and look around. Each floor had different categories of books from the ground floor to the third floor.

When I was done, I went to the open rooftop to enjoy the view of Birmingham. Even though the weather wasn’t so great, I thought it was fun.

I spent about 30 minutes together even though I didn’t want to leave.

But I had a few other places to be before it got dark.

When I was leaving, I tried to get some cute fridge magnets that showed the unique structure of the building, but I was incredibly disappointed by the quality of the ones available.

Stop by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

When I left the library, I passed through Centenary Way to Victoria Square, where there was extensive construction work for the tram network.

The weather wasn’t the best, and it was about to rain, but I just took a few pictures of the Queen Victoria Statue and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

I was so sad I couldn’t go in and spend a few minutes.

From the outside, you could see banners of their current exhibitions.

I planned to visit other museums on my list, such as the Pen Museum, the Lapworth Museum of Geology, and the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter.

Like other big cities, I’ve learnt that you cannot possibly explore them in one day.

So you have to pick the most important attractions for you and prioritise them.

Take selfies at the Custard Factory.

From Victoria Square, unknown to me, I walked past another shopping centre called Martineau Place and took a bus to the Custard Factory.

At first, I was expecting an attraction, but it turned out to be just a company with many graffiti and statues.

If you’re a creative or influencer, this is an Instagram spot.

I was unsure what to expect when I walked in through the Zellig and down the pathway, so I just continued walking.

Looking back, I’m sure I should have walked into one of the buildings, but ongoing construction work put me off.

I figured there wouldn’t be much to see anyway, so I took some pictures and left after a few minutes.

Enjoy some art at Eastside Projects.

The last attraction I planned to see for the day was an art gallery called Eastside Projects, which was within walking distance of the Custard Factory.

But by the time I got there, it was closing time.

So I couldn’t even go in at all.

I just stood on the opposite side of the road and took as many pictures as possible.

When I was done, I took a bus to Chinatown.

It turned out to be the wrong one, lol.

So I got down and took another one back to the Bullring.

I had about an hour to kill before my coach departed.

So I tried to enjoy the nightlife at Bullring. I walked as far as possible, buying souvenirs and groceries to make dinner.

When I was down, I walked back like I had come to the coach station.

Getting back to Manchester

When I returned to the Birmingham Coach Station, I discovered a significant accident on the road.

This caused a one-hour delay.

There was really nothing I could do but just wait.

But thankfully, the coach station was comfortable, and I just took a few seats and relaxed.

Fortunately, the coach arrived about 15 minutes earlier, so we were back at Manchester Coach station in about two hours.

Again, this was impressive because the commute should have been about 2 hours and 40 minutes.

I’ll definitely return to Birmingham, even just for the library.

It is one of those cities where you must spend a weekend or two. 24 hours is definitely not sufficient.

Of course, I could not reach the most prominent attraction, Cadbury World, because it is about an hour from the city centre.

But I’ll definitely be back.

If I had known, I would have taken en route taxis to Cadbury World instead of postponing it.

I would have arrived in half an hour before catching my coach back.

So, the next time you’re in Birmingham and need to see many attractions quickly, make sure you book a taxi by calling 0121 000 2222 or booking via their Birmingham Online Booking page.