Birmingham Essentials

Birmingham Essentials & Tourist Information

Currency	UK Pound Sterling
Time Zone	GMT
Language	English
Voltage	240 V AC (UK three-pin plugs)

Birmingham Tourist Attractions
Every child's dream is surely a visit to Cadbury World, a paradise for chocoholics where visitors can learn the secrets of chocolate making take a ride through a chocolate wonderland and enjoy fun and games in the children's activity centre. A great day out for all the family, it costs £10.00 or £20.00 for a family ticket. Another delight for kids and a surprising attraction bearing in mind Birmingham is a land locked city, is the National Sealife Centre. It houses a massive array of tropical underwater species from around the world from sharks, turtles, dolphins and much more. Inspiring and educational, it costs £10.50 and provides an enthralling day out for all ages.   

Opening Hours in Birmingham
Banks and post offices operate standard opening hours from 9am until 4 and 5.30pm weekdays and Saturday mornings and 24 hour cash machines can be found throughout the city centre. There are late night pharmacies located centrally and some all night convenience stores and supermarkets. Most high street shops and department stores open seven days a week from 9am - 5.30pm and until 4pm on Sundays.

Tipping & Etiquette in Birmingham
Birmingham has many self service buffet style restaurants where a fixed price payment is given when collecting food so no tipping is required. Elsewhere, many restaurants include a service charge in the bill and any further gratuity is discretionary and should reflect the level of service and quality of food. Tipping is often practiced for help with baggage in hotels, taxi journeys and for barstaff where some small change is usually adequate recompense. 

Birmingham Food & Drink
Birmingham is perhaps most noted nowadays for its Balti cuisine, originally a style of cooking originating from Kashmir and a trend which has swept all across Britain in recent years. There are well over 100 Balti houses in Birmingham alone. More traditional fair includes Brummie Bacon Cakes, a popular breakfast snack for generations and Black Country beef stew, a hearty offering filled with potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and cider gravy. The city is also famous for its favourite snack - pork scratching’s which are salted, crisp pieces of cooked pig skin and of course chocolate making. Mild bitter is still popular in Birmingham although declining elsewhere in the UK and Banks and Hansons are two of the most acclaimed local brews in the area.

Useful Numbers in Birmingham
• Police – 999
• Ambulance – 999
• Fire – 999

Disabled Access in Birmingham
Birmingham is generally a wheelchair friendly city with many wide and level pedestrianised streets however there are several underpasses and subways with rather steep ramps. Parking is also difficult although the larger city centre hotels do have dedicated parking facilities onsite and boast some adapted accommodation for wheelchair users. Public transport is accessible across the city and mainline rail stations have special assistance teams and step free access to all platforms.

Birmingham City Breaks  Getting Around Birmingham

Things To Do In Birmingham  Birmingham Weather