A City of Many Parks...
by J_P_B
Most people have the impression that Birmingham is very built up. It certainly is the case that there are large areas where you wonder where the city stops and the countryside begins, but amongst all the urban sprawl, there are some wonderful parks. These include Cannon Hill Park, Highbury Park, Kings Heath Park, Moseley Bog, Harborne Park and Sutton Park, to mention a few. The first three are literally seperated by a couple of hundred metres, so you can imagine that it makes the area that they lie in feel very green.
Cannon Hill Park in the summer is a great place to be. I mispent many hours of my youth lazing about in the sun among the many glades. Every summer, Birmingham City Council puts on a "Fireworks Fantasia" in Cannon Hill, which many thousands of people attend with picnics. It starts early evening with party music and concludes with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) playing classical music as the fireworks are set off. It makes for a truly magical evening.
Birmingham City Football Club
by graeme83
Birmingham City are probably number two in terms of support within Brum. They play their home games at St. Andrews, just off the ring road - about 1mile from the city centre. The ground is of a great standard and large by Championship standards. I saw my team Leeds lose here this season 1-0.
Glamour & Luxury
by brummielaura about Mailbox
A very glossy & glamorous mall by the canalside. Only for people with large wallets - but normal mortals are allowed to window-shop. Shops include Harvey Nichols, Emporio Armani, Hugo Boss, Bang & Olfusen and many more.
There are plenty of nice & affordable restaurants outside by the canal.
The local BBC studios are also located here.
Cheap Food & Beer
by UK_GUY_LOVES_VEGAS about Figure of Eight (Weatherspoons)
If you fancy a few cheap drinks and some decent cheap food before you hit the other bars & clubs on Broad Street I highly recommend this pub. The prices are some of the cheapest around and as such this place gets full very early on. as you are
Birmingham International Airport
by Galahad
Just over 9 million passengers used Birmingham Airport in 2003.
Flights to France include Paris, and Toulouse.
Regular German services to Berlin, Frankfurt, Hanover and Munich.
Flights to Italy include Milan, Turin and Vienna.
Other European flights go to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Basel, Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid and Prague
Flights to Tehran
There are charter flights to Orlando and Rayleigh/Durham.
Services started in 2000 to Dubai, Islamabad and Karachi.
See also the VT page on scheduled services.
In the latest government review of airport needs, Birmingham Airport's application for a 2nd runway has been indicated as being favoured by the government. That does not mean that the Airport has had it's planning application approved.
The Airport is next door to Birmingham International Railway Station with a free SkyTrain rapid transport people mover between the terminal buildings and the station. Trains to the City and Coventry taking 10 minutes and Wolverhampton 30 minutes. There is a train to Birmingham every 5 to 7 minutes on weekdays.
Virgin Trains are campaigning to have the station renamed Birmingham Airport Railway Station.
There are also quite a lot of local bus services direct from both the airport and the railway station.