Parks and the outdoors in Birmingham

9 parks, gardens, beaches and walks in and around Birmingham.

Ranked with the travel guide's picks and well-known places first.

See
Arlington Antebellum Home and Gardens
The home is a perfectly-preserved emblem of Southern heritage. Staff are well-versed in how the home, which is older than the city, has been involved in many pivotal points of Birmingham's development. It's an interesting and inexpensive way to learn about the city's heritage and the civil rights struggle. The home, on Birmingham's West End, is in a somewhat blighted neighborhood. However, visiting during daylight hours carries very little risk. And the home is accessible through main artery roads off of Interstate 65 at the Green Springs Avenue exit. Homeowners on the street adjacent to Arlington have well-manicured properties, symbolic of efforts by West End leaders to strengthen this historic part of town.
See
Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum and Motorsports Park
The park is meticulously well-kept. IndyCar and Superbike racing will thrill any visitor. This is truly world-class racing in a park that one would expect to see only in Europe or in a much larger city.
Mon-Sat 10AM-6PM, Sun noon-6PM; museum closes one hour earlier Oct-Mar$10, children 4-12 $6
See
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
The gardens are worth visiting for anyone with a horticultural flair. Displays are not limited to Southern offerings but also pay tribute to other parts of the world.
Daily sunrise to sunset
See
Kelly Ingram Park
This four-acre park was named for a local World War I hero, but is best known as the place where the climactic confrontation between the attack dog- and firehose-wielding Birmingham police and fire departments, led by Public Works Commissioner "Bull" Connor, and the student demonstrators from the SCLC, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, took place. The park was rededicated in 1992 as a "place of revolution and reconciliation" in commemoration of these pivotal events, and now contains a number of sculptural exhibits. Notable among those is Four Spirits, unveiled in 2013 as a memorial to the young victims of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing (read on).
See
Red Mountain Park
It's under development as of August 2019, but still lots of fun and exploring awaits. Zip-lining over the tree canopies of the beautiful and historic Red Mountain and miles of bike, hiking and walking trails. When the park is complete it will span nearly 1,200 acres (485 ha), making Birmingham the city with the most green space per capita in the country.
Daily 7AM-5PM
Eat
Rojo
Rojo is a great neighborhood bar and grill where the food is good and reasonably priced, and the beer and wine selection is ample. Rojo also has a great outside sitting area that overlooks Caldwell Park and is especially popular during spring, summer, and fall. Rojo is good place to both eat and or grab a drink after work.
Tue-Sun 11AM-10PM
Drink
The Garage
Very low key, locals spot. The Garage is an old antique store converted into a bar. The bar has a very unique back porch/beer garden. The garden is filled with antique stone tables and statues; a great place to go when the weather is nice. It is a low key, hard to find place but that is the way everybody wants it.
Tue-Sat 11AM-2AM, Sun 3PM-midnight
See
Vulcan Park
What better way to pay homage to the mighty steel industry of early-20th century Birmingham than with an enormous statue of the Roman god of fire and metalsmithing? The world's largest cast iron statue at a height of, Vulcan was forged in 1903 as Birmingham's contribution to the St. Louis World's Fair, then spent a few decades welcoming visitors at the state fairgrounds in West Birmingham before being re-erected and rededicated in 1936 at the summit of Red Mountain by the Works Progress Administration. Vulcan now stands atop a sandstone pedestal with an observation deck near the top that provides a panoramic view of Birmingham and vicinity. Nearby is a small museum with exhibits on local industrial history.
Park: daily 7AM-10PM; Museum: Mon-Sat 10AM-6PM, Sun 1-6PM; Observation Balcony: Mon-Sat 10AM-10PM, Sun 1-10PM
Do Not mapped
Birmingham Barons
Birmingham's minor-league team is the heir to one of the oldest baseball traditions in the country, dating back to 1885. Today, the Barons are the Chicago White Sox's Double-A farm team in the Southern League, and are perhaps most famous for having had basketball legend Michael Jordan on its roster during his first retirement from that sport in 1994. All home games are played at downtown, with one exception: the annual Rickwood Classic held in late May or early June, where the Barons return to historic, their home from 1910 through 1987. It is the oldest professional baseball park in the United States.

Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Birmingham (CC BY-SA 4.0).