Credit: kudrik, Shutterstock
Save
Whether money’s tight or not, you shouldn’t ever be stuck for things to do in Birmingham. There’s excitement all over the city, especially at these brilliant museums—many of which are actually free museums, but even those that charge won’t leave you feeling short-changed. Learn all about Birmingham, from the Industrial Revolution to heavy metal, and so much more. So next time you’re broke, bored, or both, remember these Birmingham museums are always available.
1. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 
Credit: trabantos, Shutterstock
The then Prince of Wales, and later King Edward VII, officially opened Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday, November 28, 1885. It’s estimated that around 100 million people have visited the museum since then. While the Grade II* listed building and tearooms have been gradually reopening since October 2024, after a refurbishment that started in 2020, it’s by far the most amazing museum in Birmingham—and it’s free to visit!
From the current ‘Ozzy Osbourne: Working Class Hero’ exhibition to the ‘world famous’ Pre-Raphaelite collection, there’s always something life-changing to see. Check out the ‘Made in Birmingham’ display in The Industrial Gallery, featuring everything from the HP Sauce factory sign to Benjamin Zephaniah’s typewriter; The Round Room, home to the city’s art collection for almost 150 years; and two new areas, Wild City and Pixel Studio.
2. The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter 
Credit: Museum of the Jewellery Quarter
The Smith & Pepper jewellery factory is a fascinating site. When its owners retired in 1981, they didn’t look to sell it. Just stopped trading, locked the door and left. The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter has preserved the ‘time capsule’ workshop, along with its many tools, stamps, and machinery.
The museum building in Vyse Street has undergone essential repairs and maintenance for the last few years. Conservation work continues, but enjoy guided access to the historic factory, as well as trace the 200-year history and development of the area and its traditional craft skills.
3. The Pen Museum 
Credit: The Pen Museum
A pen museum!? Isn’t that a bit… boring? Not at all! The Jewellery Quarter was once the centre of the world’s pen trade in the Victorian age. More than a hundred pen factories in the area accounted for 75% of all pens worldwide, and the Pen Museum is a celebration of this time.
Interact with a range of activities that include writing with a quill and ink, using typewriters, trying calligraphy and using graphology to analyse your handwriting. There’s also the opportunity to make your own pen nib. With pen usage gradually fading from modern life, this collection becomes more fascinating by the day.
4. Thinktank 
Credit: Thinktank
A mini-city run completely by children? Now that is one of the craziest ideas we’ve ever heard. Thinktank’s MiniBrum is a spectacular interactive gallery. With child-sized recreations of the city’s most recognisable landmarks, such as the Birmingham canals, Selfridges and the Old Joe Clock Tower.
Elsewhere, Thinktank continues the madness with The Science Garden. Where people of all ages can get to grips with various engineering exhibits, including a giant hamster wheel and Terminus, an intriguing machine that, if you get moving enough, causes an explosion of dancing balls and whistles. Thinktank also has a Planetarium to dazzle you with the wonders of the universe. Science truly is a marvel.
5. Lapworth Museum of Geology 
Credit: Lapworth Museum of Geology
This hidden gem, the Lapworth Museum of Geology, is home to hundreds of rocks, fossils, minerals and even dinosaurs. The free museum contains one of the UK’s most extensive geological collections exploring the past 3.5 billion years. It’s also one of the oldest, dating back to 1880, and features a range of activities and exhibitions that all ages can enjoy.
6. Coffin Works 
Credit: Coffin Works
For lovers of the macabre, Newman Brothers’ Coffin Works is another Jewellery Quarter industry brought back from the dead—having once produced the world’s finest coffin furniture, including for the funerals of Joseph Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother. The extensive and unique collection of shrouds, coffin furniture and paper archives gives us a better understanding of the changing attitudes to death over the last 100 years.
7. Soho House 
Credit: Soho House
In the 18th century, the Lunar Society used to meet in Soho House every month during the full moon to discuss ideas and inventions, and carry out scientific experiments. The group, calling themselves ‘lunaticks’, was made up of industrialists, philosophers and intellectuals, such as Joseph Priestley, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, James Watt, and William Withering.
8. Aston Hall 
Credit: Photography by Laurentiu, Shutterstock
One of the last great Jacobean-style houses, Aston Hall is jam-packed with architectural gems and historical treasures. There are over 30 rooms to explore, including King Charles’ Chamber and the breathtaking Long Gallery, and you may even spot battle scars of the English Civil War. While the gardens at Aston Hall are free to visit during opening hours.
9. Museum Collection Centre 
Credit: Museum Collection Centre
It may shock you to learn that 80% of Birmingham Museums Trust’s collections are actually hidden away at the Museum Collection Centre. In Nechells, this huge, 1.5-hectare warehouse is home to millions of artefacts not normally on display—everything from steam engines (from the former Museum of Science and Industry) to a Sinclair C5 (an 80s electric tricycle).
Among the hundreds of thousands of objects, discover steam engines, sculptures, cars, a giant spider crab, a retro chip fryer, and even a kitchen sink! The only problem is that the Museum Collection Centre is rarely open. At the moment, it is only once a week (either Wednesday or Friday) at an awkward time of 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm.
10. Blakesley Hall 
Credit: Blakesley Hall
A breathtaking example of a timber-framed Tudor house, Blakesley Hall is one of Birmingham’s oldest and most historically significant buildings. Built in 1590 by Richard Smalbroke, a member of one of Birmingham’s leading merchant families, explore the lifestyle of a wealthy family of the late Tudor and Stuart history, while the beautiful gardens provide a tranquil escape.
11. Sarehole Mill Museum 
Credit: Sarehole Mill
This 250-year-old working watermill has become somewhat of a pilgrimage for fantasy fiction fans. None other than JRR Tolkien grew up in the area and once described it as a “lost paradise.” It served a great influence on Hobbiton in The Lord of the Rings, as did much of the surrounding Shire Country Park.
A two-mile tour takes you from the mill to Moseley Bog, via Tolkien’s childhood home, with a stop-off for pizza in the mill’s courtyard. Sarehole Mill is not just for Tolkien Heads, however. The tranquil mill pond is free and explorable during opening hours, as are the surrounding woodlands, both filled with wildlife and magic.
12. West Midlands Police Museum 
Credit: West Midlands Police Museum
Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be locked up? No, nor us. But now you can anyway. This Victorian lock-up was built in 1891 and remained a working police cell block until 2016. West Midlands Police Museum offers visitors the chance to experience life on both sides of the bars. Solve crimes in the forensics lab, dress up in old-timey uniforms, or take your own mugshot. There’s so much for you to discover, including a real police box, police motorcycles and memorabilia.
13. Black Country Living Museum 
Credit: Black Country Living Museum
Not Birmingham, but in nearby Dudley, you’ll find people living life like it was 200 years ago. In one of the first industrialised landscapes in Britain, there are 26 acres of reconstructed shops, pubs and houses to explore and historic characters to meet. You can head back to school and visit the vintage cinema, eat traditional fish ‘n’ chips and play old-fashioned street games at the Black Country Living Museum. It might be the closest thing to a time machine that the West Midlands has.
14. National Motorcycle Museum 
Credit: National Motorcycle Museum
Technically, this is Solihull, but the other side of the airport is still Birmingham in my eyes. The largest British motorcycle museum in the world, originally opened in 1984, is home to over 1,000 motorcycles and a century of manufacturing history. There’s a reason the National Motorcycle Museum attracts around 250,000 visitors a year.