Birmingham!

[fuzzpig]

Hello, looking for recommendations for family friendly things to do in Birmingham please! :) We will be going in June because we want to go to the Game Expo at the NEC.

We are going to make a little break of it so any advice/suggestions of other things to do/cheap eats etc would be much appreciated as we've never been before.

It'll be 2 adults, and DCs 8 and 6, and we don't drive so will be travelling by train (probably staying in a central Travelodge or something).

Thanks in advance! :)

If we got tickets from our home station to New Street, would we be able to get off at Birmingham International and then back on later to finish the journey?

With an off-peak or super off-peak to Birmingham Stations, yes, you can break your journey at International (or anywhere else) provided there is no doubling back. You can't get off and on at International and then return to New St if you have already passed through New St, although the rules surrounding "Birmingham Stations" tickets are arcane and you might want to ask National Rail Enquiries for all the good it will do you.

With an advance, no, as it's only valid on one specific train without break of journey.

You can't buy a period return from International to New St, only a day return. Which is about seven quid for a family of four with a railcard. But it would be fourteen quid ish if you want to go International-New St-International as a family of four on separate days. You should figure this into the comparison between off-peaks and advances, or if you are coming from the West and therefore will pass through New St on the way to International.

Yes, we would be getting a fixed ticket as the main journey because they are so much cheaper!

Advances aren't necessarily any cheaper than Super Off Peaks, depending on where you're travelling from.

If you're heading to Sarehole Mill, don't miss Joy's Wood/ Moseley Bog too. You can cut through from Sarehole Mill to get there - can tell you how if you want - but it's where Tolkien is supposed to have played as a boy. Really gorgeous woodland with wooden walkways - you can imagine Hobbits and Dark Riders really easily!

And of course there's the Eye of Sauron on the new station.

pneumometer :o DH will enjoy that.

Thanks for all the advice - I'll have a proper look and add it all up in the different ways of travelling/what nights we stay etc. Can't know for sure about the fixed tickets as they aren't available for that far in advance yet but it's good to know about super off peak things. We won't be getting an open return anyway, as it seems like two singles are vastly cheaper. We do have a F&F railcard.

I'm kind of tempted to travel on Sunday regardless, as if we can leave the luggage at NEC then we get a full first day by starting early rather than only travelling for later check in on the Saturday if that makes sense. And it means we get 3 full days in the week instead of 2.

We will be doing the main journey from Euston, and I gather International comes before New Street, so no doubling back. If we went on the Sunday, it'd be Euston to International, go to game expo, then go from international to new street in the evening.

If we go on Saturday we'd just go straight to New Street, then get the train back to the NEC on the Sunday morning (and back again in the evening) unless there's a way of doing it easily by bus (although the train is very reasonably priced anyway it seems!)

We won't be getting an open return anyway, as it seems like two singles are vastly cheaper.

Off-peak and super off-peak returns are far cheaper than two singles (the difference between a single and a return is usually 10p).

If you are travelling via Virgin, their website (but only their website, you cannot do this over the counter or on a ticket machine) will sell you half a return for half the price of a return, so you can make an "offpeak out, super offpeak back" return which is open, but way cheaper (about half the price) than its constituent parts.

We will be doing the main journey from Euston

Remember the Chiltern Line from Marylebone is often cheaper at the weekend.

unless there's a way of doing it easily by bus

No-one sane is going to get a bus from New St to the NEC. It's the 900 bus, which takes longer, and a Family daysaver ticket is 8 quid which is more expensive than the train tickets with an F&F anyway.

Cool, thanks, train it is then!

I have only looked at thetrainline.com so far for prices, I'd not looked at Virgin or anything yet, but I definitely will now!

Def the train between new street and international - they are v frequent and not that expensive. Bus will take lots longer.

Will be plenty the Sunday evening.

I suggest the Travelodge by bullring is better for location. Esp for Mac/nature centre/Moseley
Tram currently goes to Wolverhampton but I can't think why you might need to go there.
Also suggest you don't need a late check out if they have a luggage store you can use on the last day. Or I bet new street will have a fancy left luggage place as it will be all open by then

I'm just bumping this up again as we've finally booked our little trip :o we weren't sure if we'd be able to go. We are now doing only 2 nights in Birmingham, but we're doing two nights in Leicester first for the Space Centre. Excited :o