Historically an important center of manufacturing and modern industry, Birmingham has more recently seen an extended refurbishment of canals and industrial areas and the creation of a media and arts district in the Custard Factory. Birmingham’s weekend crowds consist mostly of locals, in refreshing distinction to London’s tourist-filled inner districts.

Here are five tips for watching your pennies in the UK’s second-largest city.

1. Traveling by train

Forgive the assumption but you’ll probably be making the 90-minute journey from London by train. There is strong competition on this route, with three train companies offering services between the two cities. London Midland and Virgin Trains operate train services from London Euston, while Chiltern Railways operates a service from London Marylebone. Price tickets on each of these lines, and remember that advance purchases of tickets at non-peak hours (basically, non-commute times) will be cheapest.

Of note: For general advice on saving money on train tickets in the UK try MyTrainTicket.com.uk.

Related: Birmingham Britain’s second city

The Birmingham Back to Backs museum run by the National Trust. Photo: Elliot Brown

2. A guided tour of 19th century history

Birmingham Back to Backs (55-63 Hurst Street / 50-54 Inge Street), operated by the National Trust, consists of renovated 19th-century “back to backs,” or cramped housing organized around a courtyard. The site can only be toured on a guided tour, from £7.25 per adult. If you’re on a serious budget, do not fret. The museum includes a free exhibition exploring the Back to Backs’ living spaces and family histories. The free exhibition is located above the site shop.

The great parlor at Blakesley Hall. Photo: Elliot Brown

3. Plenty of free culture

Completely free cultural venues in Birmingham include the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Chamberlain Square) and Weoley Castle (Alwold Road). In addition, admission to the gardens and grounds of Jacobean mansion Aston Hall (Trinity Road, Aston) and 16th-century timber-framed Tudor manor Blakesley Hall (Blakesley Road, Yardley) are free of charge.

4. An extraordinary library

The Library of Birmingham (Cententary Square, Broad Street), designed by leading Dutch architect Francine Houben, opened in 2013. It’s a high-tech building with bona-fide green credentials. Its lattice-like exterior decoration provides something of a counterbalance to the building’s basic muscularity. Wonderful greenery can be found in two garden terraces, on levels 3 and 7.

5. Cheap eats & sleeps from £54

The Warehouse Café (54-57 Allison Street) is a tasty vegetarian restaurant, with a £6.95 bulgur salad and veggie burgers from £6.75. It is located upstairs from the Birmingham Friends of the Earth headquarters.

Rooms at Campanile Hotel are modern, en-suite and simple, yet stylish. Campanile Hotel also provides Wi-Fi for guests free of charge. Rates are nice on the pocketbook, too, with double room rates as low as £54 per night online.

Search more cheap hotels in Birmingham available for your dates.

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The future: high-speed from London to Birmingham

Birmingham city center

Earlier this week, the UK government announced the route of a new high-speed rail line (dubbed “HS2”) that will eventually get trains from London to Birmingham in less than an hour – good news for a city that has too often been snubbed by London’s elite. Birmingham’s bid to secure a national football stadium was turned down, the Millennium dome went to London and the UK government declined to support Birmingham’s efforts to be designated a European capital of culture.

A mix of old and new

Birmingham has a lot of which it can be rightly proud and the city is ready to wow visitors. Don’t wait for the new rail link, but go now before the crowds arrive. In time Birmingham will surely become a favored day trip for visitors to London.

The city of canals (yes, more than Venice) has been rescued by designers and architects from the evils inflicted upon it by post-war planners. In the 1960s, Birmingham acquired a reputation for having capitulated utterly to the automobile. Ugly ring roads orbited the city centre and dull concrete Brutalist shopping centers dominated the central area.

Now Birmingham has changed and the city offers an engaging mix of old and new. Canal-side restaurants ooze urban chic, the once rather run-down Jewellery Quarter is back in business and the City Art Gallery boasts the largest collection of pre-Raphaelite art anywhere in the world. Sleek modern trams and local trains connect Birmingham with other cities in the West Midlands conurbation.

Birmingham highlights

Some of our favorite spots in Birmingham include the Anglican cathedral of St. Philip (fabulous Burne-Jones stained glass windows), the back streets of the Jewelery Quarter (including the two cemeteries in that area), the Brindley Place development with its two public squares and canal front, the model village at Bournville (an intriguing planned settlement created by the Cadbury family in the city’s southwest suburbs) and Moor Street station.

The latter is a superb period piece restoration of a once derelict railway site. Take the train from London Marylebone and you’ll arrive in Birmingham at Moor Street. The travel time is just two hours, although that drops to just 1 hour 40 minutes from May 2011. Real speed will come only with the new high-speed route, but that is not due to open for some years.

Travelers heading out from London can easily combine a visit to Birmingham with a stay in Stratford-upon-Avon. The two cities are just 30 miles apart. Services to both Stratford-upon-Avon and to Birmingham Moor Street leave from London Marylebone and are run by Chiltern Railways.

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