Things To Do
Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
205-254-2751
1140 5th Ave. N.
Admission Charged
City native Erskine Hawkins penned the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" about an Ensley streetcar crossing, creating a sound heard around the world. And that's just one of Birmingham's many contributions to the world of jazz. The Jazz Hall of Fame exhibits memorabilia in the historic, art deco Carver Theatre.
Call for hours of operation
Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
205-323-6665
22nd St. N. at Civic Center Blvd.
Admission Charged
Located at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, the Alabama Sports Hall of fame enshrines the memorabilia and memories of Alabama's sports heroes from Paul "Bear" Bryant to Jesse Owens and Joe Louis, from Bart Starr to Willie Mays.
Aldrich Coal Mining Museum
205-665-2886Highway 203 west of Montevallo
Admission Free
This Shelby County museum features coal mining memorabilia and equipment and a collection of pictures of Aldrich during the town's peak coal mining days.
Open by appointment, call for details
Aldridge Botanical Gardens
205-682-8019
3530 Lorna Rd.-Hoover
Admission Free
Aldridge Gardens is a 30 acre botanical gardens located in the heart of Hoover. Complete with a 7 acre lake and walking trail, Aldridge Gardens is laden with many varieties of hydrangeas and other native Alabama flowers.
Call for dates and hours of operation
The American Village
877-811-1776 or 205- 665-3535
The American Village is located about 30 minutes south of Birmingham in Montevallo, just 4 miles off Interstate 65 at Exit 234.
Admission Charged
Bring your imagination and sense of adventure to the Revolutionary American Village. Explore the historically-inspired buildings of the Village, including Washington Hall which is patterned after George Washington's historic Mount Vernon.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens
205-780-5656
331 Cotton Ave. S.W
Birmingham's only antebellum home existed before the city's founding in 1871. Arlington is a fully restored Greek Revival mansion built between 1845 and 1850. The mansion houses wonderful antiques and a collection of decorative arts. Two annual festivals, the Arlington Country Fair and Christmas at Arlington, are popular.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Bessemer Hall of History
205-426-1633
1905 Alabama Ave
Admission Charged
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Bessemer Hall of history is housed in the renovated Southern Railway Depot and chronicles the history of Bessemer, Jefferson County and Alabama,
Call for dates and hours of operation
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
205 -879-1227
2612 Lane Park Rd.
Admission Charged
The glory of nature can be found right in the heart of the city at the 67 acre Birmingham Botanical Gardens, adjacent to the zoo in Lane Park. Come for the rhododendron, camellias, wild flowers, ferns, delicate bonsai plants. roses, desert flowers, even a Japanese Garden, complete with a Japanese Teahouse and Zen-like sense of peacefulness.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
205-328-9696
1520 16th St. N.
Admission charged
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a place of remembrance, revolution and reconciliation built at the site of the most tumultuous events of the Civil Rights era. More than a museum, it also serves as a forum for understanding the universal problem of racism-while chronicling the role Birmingham played in setting a people free. Nearby is the 16th Street Baptist Church (site of a 1963 bombing) and Kelly Ingram Park, home to stunning sculptures commemorating the struggle for freedom.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center
205-458-8401
Off Interstate 20/59, 19th to 21st St. N.
Admission Charged for events
The Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center is one of the most exciting and attractive meeting places in the country. The multi-use facility, covering almost seven city blocks downtown, attracts 1.5 million visitors a year for a kaleidoscope of events from sports events to major concerts, ice shows, the circus and other entertainment. The 400,000 square-foot Medical Forum-the nation's first medically-oriented trade mart adjoins the Civic Center.
Call for schedule of events and times
Birmingham Museum of Art
205-254-2565
2000 8th Ave. N.
Admission Charged
The largest municipally-owned art museum in the Southeast, the recently expanded and renovated Birmingham Museum of Art houses nationally-known art such as the Eugenia Woodward Hitt Collection of 18th century French painting and decorative art, the Beeson Collection of Wedgwood and extensive collections of American, Renaissance, Oriental and African art. A multi-level outdoor sculpture garden is a showpiece.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Birmingham Public Library
205- 226-3600
2100 Park Place
Admission Free
The downtown branch of the Birmingham Public Library is made up of two stunning buildings, the Central Library, with its dramatic atrium, and the 1927 Linn-Henley Research Library, with its beautiful wall murals, the Tutwiler Collection of Southern History and the Rucker Agee Map Collection.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Birmingham Race Course
205- 838-7500
1000 John Rogers Drive
Admission Charged
Both thoroughbred (seasonal) and greyhound (year-round) racing are the featured attractions at The Birmingham Race Course, the only pari-mutuel track in the nation that features both at the same facility. In addition there is an extensive program of simulcast racing beamed from other facilities ties and quarter horse racing. The Race Course is one of the city's best "Great Time" places with terrific food and plenty of excitement.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Birmingham Zoo
205-879-0409
2630 Cahaba Rd.
Admission Charged
A favorite with families, the Birmingham Zoo is among the most heavily visited tourist attractions in the state of Alabama. With nearly 1,000 animals on display, the zoo makes for a day of fascinating observation and interaction with the animal kingdom.
Cobb Lane
205- 933-0462
20th St. S. and 13th Ave. S.
Admission Free
A quaint, pedestrian shopping area with great restaurants, specialty stores and antique shops, Cobb Lane is perfect for a day of shopping and strolling. A Birmingham landmark for 60 years, Cobb Lane restaurant serves fine Southern cuisine in its famous cobblestone courtyard, as well as in its newly renovated interior, featuring old-world fountains and hand-painted murals.
Open seven days a week
Desoto Caverns
800-933-2283 or 256-378-3678
5181 DeSoto Caverns Pkwy., Childersburg
Admission Charged
Just a short drive from Birmingham, DeSoto Caverns offers tourists the magnificence of underground rock formations and caverns. DeSoto was the first officially recorded cave in the United States.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Downtown Tours
Located in downtown Birmingham
Downtown Birmingham is rich in diverse architecture, civic landmarks, manicured parks and gardens, tree-lined streets and landmark churches. Birmingham Green, which extends down 20th Street from Linn Park, is a landscaped promenade. The Second Avenue District includes shops, galleries and offices. A farmers market is under the expressway between First and Second avenues. The Fourth Avenue District is the historic black business area. A statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stands in Kelly Ingram Park within view of the 16th Street Baptist Church and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
Five Points South
People watch, dance to great live music and enjoy fantastic dining at Five Points South, the city's top entertainment district. Stroll along the tree-shaded streets. or stop and admire the artistry of the Frank Fleming sculpture, The Storyteller, at the fountain. 20th Street South at 11th Avenue.
Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum
800-943-4490
Calera exit off Interstate 65 in Shelby County
Admission Charged
Turn back the clock as you ride one of our historic trains consisting of passenger cars built between 1910 and 1950. Or ride Alabama's only operating narrow gauge steam locomotive, the Shelby & Southern! Visitors can see railroad artifacts and memorabilia in two restored depots. Call for dates, hours of operation and special event information
International Morot Sports Hall of Fame
256-362-5002
13198 Speedway Blvd., Talladega.
Admission Charged
This major museum in Talladega captures decades of the thrills, drama and excitement of auto racing the world over. Talladega is the site of two major NASCAR races each year. Each December the Motor Sports Hall of Fame holds its nationally televised induction ceremony in Birmingham.
Call for dates and hours of operation
McWane Center
205-714-8300
200 19th St. N.
Admission Charged
Adventures in learning surround you at McWane Center. The museum offers a hands-on, creative examination of the world around us in a renovated department store housing 150,000 square feet of educational science equipment and a 42,000 square-foot IMAX theater.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Meyer Planetarium
205-226-4770
900 Arkadelphia Rd.
Admission Charged
Gaze at the stars at Meyer Planetarium on the campus of Birmingham Southern College. Call for special shows.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
205-985-9797
Highway 119 off Interstate 65 in Shelby County
Admission Charged
Between May and October each year about 30 of the country's top musicians and entertainers perform in this beautiful amphitheatre.
Call for exact dates and times of performances
Oak Mountain State Park
205-620-2524
Admission Charged
Golf. Boating. Hiking. Fishing. Horseback riding. A petting zoo for the kids. Oak Mountain State Park at almost 10,000 acres is the largest park in the Alabama state system.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Pioneer Homes
205-491-5543
Eastern Valley Road off Highway 150, Bessemer
Admission Charged
On the outskirts of Bessemer, the 1840 McAdory Plantation Home was the center of a plantation covering more than 2,000 acres, the Owen Plantation Home was constructed in the mid 1830's, and the 1838 Sadler Plantation home is considered one of Alabama's finest examples of plantation architecture.
Appointment only, call for details
Rickwood Field
205 -458-8161
Admission Free
The world's oldest ballpark became the home of the Barons in 1910.
Call for directions
Rickwood Caverns
205-647-9692
Rt. 3 Box 357, Warrior
Admission Charged
Rickwood Caverns in north Jefferson County is a treat for those with a mind to go underground... Hours: In-season Memorial Day to Labor Day
Ruffner Mountain Nature Center
205- 833-8264
1214 81st St. S., Birmingham
Admission Charged
Ruffner Mountain's 1,000 acres of woodlands comprise the nation's second-largest urban nature preserve. With 10 miles of hiking and walking trails, it offers a serene getaway in the heart of the city. Award-winning nature education programs are offered for school groups and free guided hikes and lectures are scheduled most Saturdays. The nature center includes exhibits of native animals and historic artifacts from the mountain's iron ore mining past.
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
205 -251-9402
1530 6th Ave. N.
Admission Free
The site of the most horrific occurrence of the American Civil Rights Movement (a bomb shattered the quiet of a Sunday morning and took the lives of four young girls), the 16th Street Baptist Church is a landmark to both man's inhumanity and capacity for love and forgiveness. The congregation is vibrant and the sanctuary quite beautiful with its Wales stained glass window.
By appointment only, call for details
Sloss Furnaces
205-324-1911
20 32nd St. N.
Admission Charged
Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark is one of the few landmarks to the nation's industry. Shut down in the 1970s, Sloss was reborn as an industrial museum and a unique community gathering place for everything from music festivals to artistic metalworking. There's even the ghost of Theopholus Jowers, who swore that as long as there was a furnace in Jefferson County, he'd be there.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Smith Harrison Museum
205-669-4545
Depot Street, Columbiana
Admission Charged
Located in the Mildred Harrison Regional Library one block east of the Shelby County Courthouse, this museum boasts the largest collection of George and Martha Washington memorabilia outside Mount Vernon.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Southern Museum of Flight
205 -833-8226
4343 73rd St. N.
See the light bulb that shed light on the Wright Brothers' first night flights, along with a 1925 crop duster, a 1910 Curtis "Pusher," and an F-4 Phantom jet at the Southern Museum of Flight, home to the wonders of early aviation and the heroic exploits of the world's original frequent fliers.
Call for dates and hours of operation
Temple of Sibyl
Listed on the Alabama Register of Land marks and Heritage and located on Highway 31 at the entrance to the city of Vestavia Hills, the Temple of Sibyl offers tremendous views of Shades Valley and the Samford University campus from atop Shades Mountain.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
205-934-8000
1400 University Blvd.
Admission Free to visit
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a 35-year-old comprehensive, urban university and medical center that encompasses 82 city blocks and has a student enrollment of 16,000. UAB is home to a large graduate school, the state-of-the art Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center and a world-renowned health care complex that includes the new University Hospital and the five-story, Kirklin Clinic designed by renowned architect I.M. Pei. UAB's more than 70 research centers focus on such diverse issues as AIDS, business development, and bio-defense and emerging infections. Rounding out the UAB experience are UAB Blazer athletics. The Blazers compete in 15 intercollegiate sports as a Division I member of the NCAA and a founding member of Conference USA.
Open year round
Vulcan (Presently undergoing renovation and repairs)
205-933-1409
St. S. and Valley Avenue.
Admission Free to See
Vulcan - the mythical Roman god of the forge who pulled fire down from heaven - is the second tallest statue in the United States (only the Statue of Liberty is taller) and the tallest cast-iron statue in the world. The iron man made by sculptor Guiseppi Moretti has stood atop Red Mountain since 1939. Visitors can take in commanding views of the city from Vulcan's observation deck.
Call for dates and hours of operation
