Birmingham's best free things to do

Birmingham is surprisingly easy to do on nothing. The city has a long list of free cultural activities, from open-air markets and gallery openings to community festivals, and the best part is that most of it works for all ages, so it's as much for families as for anyone else.

Art is the easiest place to start. The Ikon Gallery, in the Grade II listed Victorian Oozells Street Board School at 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, is free and changes its show every few weeks, so it's worth a look even if you've been before. At the moment it's showing Balraj Khanna: Lines of Flight, more than 40 paintings by the British-Indian artist, on until 21 February. There's a family Saturday with Nastaran Tavakoli on 7 November, and a book launch for the exhibition that same afternoon. The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is reopening in stages, with galleries like the Pre-Raphaelites and the Staffordshire Hoard back open, and the New Art Gallery Walsall is free to get into and runs its own free events.

If you'd rather be outdoors, the parks are hard to beat. Sutton Park is one of Europe's largest urban parks, and Cannon Hill Park has gardens, a lake with swan boats and play areas. Martineau Gardens is a community garden that's free to wander, and the Birmingham Botanical Gardens cover 15 acres. For something a bit more unusual, the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park near Cannon Hill Park keeps red pandas, lemurs, meerkats and wallabies, though it's not free: adults are £9.50 peak, children 3 to 15 are £4.50, and under-3s go free. The Library of Birmingham is free to get into, and the rooftop garden on Level 7 gives you a great view over the city.

For a bit of live music, Free Jazz Friday at Symphony Hall is a proper find. It's a fortnightly session at 5pm in the Jennifer Blackwell Performance Space, no booking needed, and under-16s just need to be with an adult. The next one is Kolosso on 30 October, followed by Disco Manifest on 13 November and Rebecca Wing & Heritage Big Band on 4 December. It's a low-key way to catch some good jazz without spending a penny.

If you fancy a wander, Digbeth is the creative quarter, full of urban art, the Custard Factory and a few independent cinemas and arcades. The Jewellery Quarter is the other one worth knowing, where a huge chunk of British jewellery is still made and there's a real sense of history in the streets. The canals are the third option, with Birmingham claiming more miles of them than Venice, and you can walk them from Brindleyplace out through Gas Street Basin.

And if none of that lands, there's always the list. EventsList.co.uk keeps a running tally of free things on across Birmingham, from concerts and exhibitions to workshops and guided walks, so it's worth a quick check before you head out. Between the galleries, the parks and the free jazz, you can fill a whole weekend in Birmingham without spending much at all.