what to do in Birmingham

ceewash

We are spending a day in Birmingham city centre. Anyone any tips for entertaining the family (2 teenage boys). Where is the best shopping area? Are there any touristy things to do? Where is the best curry house on a Saturday evening?
Any tips will be welcome. :rotfl:

Debt_Free_Chick

Depends what your boys are into..... Science museum? Sea Life centre? trip down the canal on a barge?

Shopping - the new Bull Ring Completely revamped with wide open spaces and a new Selfridges.

Curry - Ladypool Road Sparkbrook or Stoney Lane Balsall Heath, especially Al Faisals & Imrans. These are like "family cafes" and not posh restaurants, but good Balti. Useful guide here

ceewash

Are these curry places within walking distance of centre?

The science museum sounds abit like a school trip. The barge sounds good. Is it expensive?

Tweety

The sea life centre is quite nice and is located in Brindley place, which is lovely. You can have a look at the link: http://www.brindleyplace.com/

You can walk by the canal that you can get to through Brindley place.

There is also a wheel near by which gives you a view of Birmingham.

If you are going to visit the Bull Ring as well as the canal and Sea Life centre then your day pretty much organised, as there won't be much time to do more.

Alikay

Another nice place for lunch which my teenagers love is the big wok (https://www.bigwok.co.uk) which is an oriental buffet place -always busy and great value at £4.99 for all you can eat including starters and desserts. Its in the Arcadian (chinatown) which is just a couple of minutes walk from the Bullring.
As the others have said, its really nice down at Brindley Place by the canal (where the sealife centre is). There is a nice little art gallery there called the Ikon Gallery (free admission whenever we've been) which has some good modern art exhibitions which change regularly.

Debt_Free_Chick

ceewash wrote:

Are these curry places within walking distance of centre?

What most people "rave" about are the Balti houses and these aren't in the City Centre - they're about 3 or 4 miles outside. There are some traditional indian restaurants in the City Centre e.g Maharajah, with prices to match. Good restaurants, but not the ones that people talk of, when they've been to Birmingham.

The science museum sounds abit like a school trip.

Difficult to know, without knowing what your boys like. What are they in to?

The barge sounds good. Is it expensive?

Sorry - have no idea. You don't bother with these things when you live there (as I used to).

Google throws up a number of visitor/tourist information sites - might be worth a browse.

Alikay

Oh, and don't forget Cadbury World!

ceewash

Thanks for all your help. The canal area sounds good followed by The Big Wok for lunch. The afternoon in the Bull Ring followed by a drive to the Balti curry area. Any tips on direction? Thanks to you all.

Debt_Free_Chick

There are maps here

If you look at the Greater Birmingham map, the Balti triangle is in Sparkbrook, to the SE of the City Centre. You essentially want the A41 out of Birmingham .... but parking in that area can be a nightmare. You might be better off getting a taxi .... or even the bus. Will you be staying overnight, or do you need the car with you to get off after the curry?

richardw

Cadbury world is disappointing and is in Bourneville which is a train ride away. There might be an event on at the NIA http://www.necgroup.co.uk/visitor/whatson/ There might also be something on at the Symphony Hall http://www.necgroup.co.uk/visitor/whatson/SearchWhatsOn.asp?v=SYM which is excellent or http://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/

brummiebird

Not sure if your 2 might be a bit old for this but Think Tank is a really good place to while away a few hours, and they have a HUGE cinema too!!!!