Best Places to Visit Near Birmingham
Written by UK Hidden Gems Editorial
Updated 5 August 2026
The best places to visit near Birmingham are Birmingham Library Rooftop Garden, Birmingham's Hidden Catacombs, Clent Hills, Wordsley Waterfall, Letocetum Roman Site, Slitting Mill Waterfall, Beacon Hill Country Park and Moreton Corbet Castle.
Birmingham may be Britain's busy second city, but step a little way out and you find an unexpected mix of green spaces, ruins and quiet water. Right in the heart of things, two roof gardens crown the Library of Birmingham, while a mile away the curved brick catacombs of the Jewellery Quarter make an atmospheric hidden corner.
Head south-west and the wooded Clent Hills climb to breezy viewpoints, with a modest brick waterfall at Wordsley waiting out towards Stourbridge. To the north lie the Roman remains of Letocetum near Lichfield and, a little further on, the small cascade at Slitting Mill on the edge of Cannock Chase.
For a proper day out, drive east to Beacon Hill in Charnwood Forest, where a rocky summit gives one of the widest views in the Midlands, or west into Shropshire for the striking twin ruin of Moreton Corbet Castle. Castles, catacombs, hills and history all sit within easy reach.
Here are eight places to visit near Birmingham.
Birmingham Library Rooftop Garden
Photo: Philip Pankhurst via Geograph.org.uk
Visit the Library rooftop gardens High on the terraces of the Library of Birmingham sit two open-air gardens, quiet green pockets that most visitors walk straight past. The building opened in 2013, a modern block ringed with interlocking metal circles, and its upper floors hold planted terraces laid out with grasses, shrubs and winding paths among sheltered seats.
A larger garden sits lower down, a smaller one tucks in near the top, and from both the whole city spreads out below. Near the summit you will find the restored Shakespeare Memorial Room, a richly panelled Victorian reading room.
The gardens open on certain days and are reached by lift.
Birmingham's Hidden Catacombs
Photo: habiloid via Geograph.org.uk
Explore the Warstone Lane catacombs Just over a mile from the centre, in the Jewellery Quarter, Warstone Lane Cemetery holds two great curved tiers of brick catacombs built into a hillside. Laid out in the 1840s on the site of an old sand quarry, the sloping ground was shaped into rows of arched burial vaults that curve round like the seats of an amphitheatre.
The vaults are sealed and railed off now, but you can wander among leaning Victorian headstones and along the terraces, a green pocket ringed by old workshops. A Gothic gatehouse of blue brick guards the way in, and the printer John Baskerville lies somewhere within.
Clent Hills
Photo: Phil Champion via Geograph.org.uk
Walk the Clent Hills A short drive south-west of the city, the Clent Hills rise as a stretch of wooded and open ground in the care of the National Trust. Footpaths climb through the trees to grassy tops that, on a clear day, give wide views right across the Midlands.
The best-known landmark up here is the Four Stones, a row of four standing stones put up as a folly by a local landowner back in the 1700s. Walton Hill is the highest point, standing a little over 300 metres.
It is an easy, breezy place to stretch your legs and take in the countryside close to Birmingham.
Wordsley Waterfall
Photo: Roger D Kidd via Geograph.org.uk
Find Wordsley Waterfall Out towards Stourbridge, Wordsley Waterfall is the local name for a small weir on the River Stour at Bells Mill. It is a man-made drop of only a few courses of brick rather than a natural fall, tucked into a leafy corridor beside the Stourbridge Canal.
You reach it along canal towpaths and field footpaths, and it is very much a modest neighbourhood spot; even the name is an informal one, coined by nearby residents rather than anything official. Set it up as a gentle walk rather than a grand day out, and it makes a pleasant, green detour on the western edge of the West Midlands.
Letocetum Roman Site
Photo: Gordon Griffiths via Geograph.org.uk
Discover Letocetum Roman Site Near the village of Wall, just short of Lichfield, Letocetum is the quiet remains of a Roman settlement on the line of Watling Street. You can walk among the exposed stone foundations of a mansio, an official inn built for travellers on the road, and the bathhouse beside it, where the hot, warm and cold rooms and the underfloor heating can still be picked out.
A small museum displays finds from the site. The National Trust owns the ground and English Heritage cares for it, and it is free and open in daylight.
The visible remains reach back to around the second century.
Slitting Mill Waterfall
Photo: Lynn Jackson via Geograph.org.uk
See Slitting Mill Waterfall A little further out, worth a run north into Staffordshire, Slitting Mill Waterfall is a small cascade on the Rising Brook where it runs through the village of the same name. The brook drops over a weir-like step, a pretty feature rather than any great fall, on the north-eastern edge of Cannock Chase near Rugeley.
The village took its name from a seventeenth-century ironworks that cut iron bars into rods here. There are no facilities at the fall itself, but it makes a good gateway into the wider walks and forest of the Chase, so pair it with a longer ramble.
Beacon Hill Country Park
Photo: Nigel Cox via Geograph.org.uk
Climb Beacon Hill Country Park This one is a proper day-trip east into Leicestershire, out in Charnwood Forest, but the reward is one of the finest views in the region. Beacon Hill climbs to around 248 metres, the county's second-highest point, and its summit is crowned with outcrops of ancient volcanic rock, among the oldest in England.
A stone toposcope names the distant landmarks, and on a clear day you can see for miles across the Midlands. People raised a hillfort up here in the Bronze Age, and low earthworks still mark the slopes.
Below lie open meadows, picnic spots and easy trails; the top is steeper, rockier and more exposed to the wind.
Moreton Corbet Castle
Photo: Betty Longbottom via Geograph.org.uk
Explore Moreton Corbet Castle The longest run of the set, a day-trip west into open Shropshire countryside, Moreton Corbet Castle rewards the drive with an unusual ruin. It joins a medieval castle to the shell of a grand Elizabethan mansion, all standing beside the parish church.
The older parts are a thirteenth-century keep and gatehouse; alongside them rises a roofless three-storey range with rows of tall mullioned windows and classical detailing left open to the sky. It passed from the Toret family to the Corbets by marriage, and they built the great house in the later sixteenth century.
Work stalled when Robert Corbet died of plague in 1583. It is a free English Heritage site.
FAQs
What are the best free places to visit near Birmingham?
Several of these cost nothing at all. The rooftop gardens at the Library of Birmingham, the catacombs in the Jewellery Quarter, the Clent Hills, the Roman remains at Letocetum and the ruins of Moreton Corbet Castle are all free to visit, making them easy days out from Birmingham.
How far is Beacon Hill from Birmingham?
Beacon Hill lies around 52 kilometres east of Birmingham, in Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire. It is a proper day-trip rather than a quick visit, but the rocky summit rewards you with one of the widest views in the Midlands.
Can you see a Roman site near Birmingham?
Yes. Letocetum, in the village of Wall near Lichfield, preserves the foundations of a Roman inn and bathhouse on Watling Street, about 20 kilometres from Birmingham. It is free and open in daylight hours.
Conclusion
From rooftop gardens in the city centre to a lonely ruin deep in Shropshire, Birmingham turns out to be a fine base for a mix of days out. Close to home you can climb to the library terraces or wander the terraced catacombs of the Jewellery Quarter, then head for the Clent Hills or the quiet weir at Wordsley when you fancy some air.
To the north, Letocetum and Slitting Mill pair Roman history with the woods of Cannock Chase, while longer drives reward you with the rocky crown of Beacon Hill and the twin ruin of Moreton Corbet. Whether you want a short stroll or a full day on the road, castles, waterfalls, hills and hidden corners are all within reach, and these are the places to visit near Birmingham.
