Here are 17 fantastic free things to do in Birmingham that won’t cost a penny – from a ‘hidden gem’ dinosaur museum to free Friday jazz

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is a warren of FREE exhibitions. The museum’s iconic Round Room has showcased the city’s art collection for almost 150 years. Meanwhile, you find a brand-new ‘Made in Birmingham’ display in The Industrial Gallery, featuring people who were born here, or came here, and made the city their home–and includes the HP Sauce factory sign, Ginny Lemon costume and Benjamin Zephaniah’s typewriter. But there’s much more to discover than that!

Symphony Hall. It’s one of Birmingham’s grandest venues. Most concerts here will usually cost you something, but you can catch FREE jazz on fortnightly Fridays at 5pm on the Jennifer Blackwell stage. To see what’s on, head here.

Recently named the most-visited free attraction in the West Midlands, Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) is always alive with activity – from theatre, dance, music and comedy performances to its cinema and workshops. Not everything is free, but there is plenty that is at MAC, including most of the exhibitions, as well as many family events and the odd performance. To see what’s on (and, most importantly, what’s on for free) head to the website here. 

This ‘hidden gem’ at the University of Birmingham is home to hundreds of rocks, fossils, minerals and even dinosaurs to discover. Inside, you’ll even find one of the UK’s most extensive geological collections exploring the past 3.5 billion years. The free museum is also one of the UK’s oldest, dating back to 1880, and features a range of activities and exhibitions for all ages.

As the largest public library in Europe, the Library of Birmingham offers ten levels to explore – with its book collection large enough to stretch from Birmingham to Edinburgh! But it’s not all about books – there’s also a gallery space, studio theatre, an outdoor amphitheatre and spaces for children and teenagers. 

The best part, though? The secret garden on the roof. Even if you’re not a big reader, you can head to the seventh level for unbeatable views and a tranquil escape in the middle of the city. It’s rarely ever that busy either – and easily one of the best free things to do in Birmingham. 

Even if you’re not religious, you’ll want to visit Birmingham Cathedral for free – home to some of the world’s most beautiful and precious stained glass windows. Created in the workshop of William Morris by the Birmingham-born artist, Edward Burne-Jones, these windows were installed between 1885 and 1897. They depict recognisable scenes from Jesus’ life – the Ascension, the Nativity, the Crucifixion and the Last Judgment – and were recently restored to their former glory. So they’ve never looked better!

Birmingham’s internationally acclaimed art gallery is Ikon-ic (I’ll show myself out). Showing contemporary work from around the world – in sound, film, photography, painting, sculpture and more – you’ll find endless free exhibitions. Swing by Ikon Gallery in the spring months too to catch the cherry blossom in Birmingham.

When you’re out of money all the time, you just want to sit down and cry. Cheer yourself up with a comedy show. ‘But they cost money!’ Well, not all of them. The weekly, volunteer-run and free-to-enter Fat Penguin Comedy Club is “the UK’s only 100% non-profit crowd-funded comedy club”. Held every Wednesday at The Patrick Kavanagh, it attracts some of the country’s top comics!

At this community garden in Edgbaston, you’ll find two and a half acres of a tranquil oasis in the bustling city. Martineau Gardens is where we come to find peace in Birmingham, and it’s free to visit.Highlights include an orchard, vegetable and herb beds, children’s ‘shipwreck’ play area, a wildflower meadow, ponds, beehives and woodland homes for bats, badgers and birds. Visit Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm.

Birmingham famously has more canals than Venice. Although, technically, that’s not true and only has more miles of canals than Venice. Birmingham has 35 miles of canals to explore and you’re free to walk them all. Sorry, but renting a boat is going to cost you money. But – with so much history, architecture and wildlife to discover – walking around the canal system is always a lovely and cheap activity we’ll never get bored of.

One of Birmingham’s most impressive historic attractions, Aston Hall is a Grade I-listed Jacobean house open as a museum, featuring over 30 rooms, richly detailed interiors, exhibits on the English Civil War and local history, and numerous ghost stories. During opening hours, visit the beautiful gardens at Aston Hall for free. Lady Holte’s Garden (found on the south side of the house) was purpose-built to impress visitors with its symmetrical borders.

Birmingham’s influence on Tolkien and Lord of the Rings is well documented. But did you know you can visit many of the locations that inspired him for free? Take this Tolkien Tour – from Moseley Bog to Perrott’s Folly – and discover Middle-earth on your doorstep. 

Another incredible green space in Birmingham is Sheldon Country Park (which even has free parking off Ragley Drive, opposite the entrance). But we wanted to specifically highlight (located in the park) the seventeenth-century Old Rectory Farm. The former dairy farm has been restored to its former glory and currently functions as a demonstration farm of traditional farming methods. It’s free to visit, open all year and home to Jersey cattle, pigs, goats, geese and ponies.

If you’re after free things to do in Birmingham that are outside, wandering around soaking in Digbeth’s iconic graffiti is a must. Floodgate Street is one of the best spots for street art lovers – filled with the work of Brum’s very own Gent 48 – as is Lower Trinity Street, but pretty much every road in Digbeth is worth walking down. And as is the way with graffiti, an ever-changing landscape of artwork means it’s never the same every time you visit.

Birmingham has a bit of a reputation as a concrete jungle, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The second city is overgrown with green spaces – Cannon Hill Park, Lickey Hills, Moseley Bog and more – to visit for free. But the standout has to be Sutton Park – one of the largest urban parks in Europe – where you’ll find over 2,000 acres of parkland. Thanks to a rich diversity of landscapes, you can visit heathland, woodlands, lakes, wetlands, and marshes, which basically makes it feel new every time you visit.

The ruins of Weoley Castle are believed to be one of the oldest buildings still visible in Birmingham – dating back to at least 1270. Back then, they were a fortified manor house originally built as a hunting lodge and set in a thousand-acre deer park. Today, the area is more of a residential neighbourhood, but you can still see the ruins from a dedicated viewing platform for free throughout the year.

Public art has always fascinated me. It’s the artwork we see most in the world but often pay the least attention to. From abstract sculptures to historical friezes, the University of Birmingham is filled with public art everywhere you turn. You can discover the ‘Public Sculpture Trail’ for free next time you visit the Edgbaston campus.