Aaron S.
Yelp
Birmingham Airport (BHX) is the seventh busiest airport in the UK by passenger numbers. While it might not be the largest Airport, it is rather well managed and a pleasant experience overall.
My favourite thing about the Airport is the AirRail Link - this is a super cool Monorail which runs from Birmingham International Railway Station. This is a free service that takes around 90 seconds (services leave every two minutes). Unlike many airports around the world which have monopolised the tracks and transportation, it is great to see them offer a free service. I loved the self-driving carriages and the views and music inside, I did notice a couple of people just riding up and down.
When leaving the airport, your best bet (to avoid an expensive taxi) is to either use the bus station (plenty of buses stop right outside), OR you can use the AirRail link to get into Birmingham International, from there it is around a 10-15 minute train journey into Birmingham New Street, for the city centre, where you are then able to access train journeys all across the country. Birmingham International also links in with the NEC, where you can visit shops, restaurants and even more hotels, it is also home to Resorts World.
The airport is clean and there are a couple of places before security including All Bar One, Costa, Marks and Spencer, Spar and WHSmith, these would be useful if you're staying at the airport hotels, but do take note of their opening hours as many are shutting early right now, even though some do advertise 24/7 openings!
I did not use security myself, but I did notice the waiting times were minimal.
As the Airport isn't too big with only one terminal, there are many countries/destinations which the airport doesn't serve, including the USA in terms of non-stop journeys. For example, a flight to New York, for example, would require changing at either Amsterdam, Dublin or Paris.
There isn't a great deal of shops/restaurants after security, it is minimal but hopefully, you won't be there long anyway (delays pending!)
4*