Drink

The Upper Deck

Like the song says, "sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name" — and if that describes the kind of bar experience you're looking for, find your escape from the tyranny of trendiness at the Upper Deck, where reasonably priced drinks, pool tables, a jukebox, and unpretentious camaraderie await.

Address: 449 Valley Ave
Getting there: behind Valley Avenue Plaza
Hours: Daily 11AM-5AM
Website: facebook.com (opens in a new tab)

Directions Suggest a nearby place

Listing from Wikivoyage: Birmingham (Alabama), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.

Close by

Eat
Gordos
Real Mexican food, great taste! You will enjoy all that they offer if Mexican is what you are looking for. Huarache, fresh and good! Burrito really good as well. They have a bakery, try the peach tres leches, fresh and very distinct.
Daily 8AM-9PM
See
Birmingham Jail
Dr. Martin Luther King spent eight days in April 1963 incarcerated here, from his arrest on the 12th for violating an injunction against the demonstrations he and the SCLC were leading in the streets of Birmingham through his release on the 20th under pressure from the Kennedy administration. While there, he wrote his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail, addressing various criticisms that had been leveled against him and his movement — both an essay written by a group of local white clergymen and published in the local newspaper the day before his arrest, and more broadly from white moderates nationwide as well as certain "opposing forces in the Negro community". The prison is still in operation as such, so no tours are offered, but there is a historic plaque and other interpretive material outside.
Eat
Dreamland BBQ
An Alabama "must eat". Unlike the original in Tuscaloosa, which serves only ribs and white bread, the Birmingham location also serves chicken, side orders, and salads.
Daily 10AM-10PM
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