Best things to do in Birmingham

Birmingham Essentials

Birmingham showcases a dramatic shift from industrial heartland to a hub of modern architecture. This collection spans the 17th-century Jacobean Aston Hall and the Baroque St Philip’s Cathedral to the futuristic, disc-covered Selfridges building. Key sites include the historic canal intersection at Gas Street Basin, the preserved 19th-century worker housing of the Back to Backs, and the Newman Brothers Coffin Works in the Jewellery Quarter. Centenary Square serves as a central point for the Library of Birmingham and the contemporary Ikon Gallery, while the Bullring marks the city’s commercial center.