Birmingham International Airport Parking

UK Flights > Car Parking > Birmingham International (BHX)

Despite having to compete for land with the neighbouring National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Birmingham International railway station, there are still numerous options available for parking in and around Birmingham airport. The availability of hotel and parking deals does though tend to be susceptible to the events calendar at the NEC.
In recent years, Birmingham airport has invested heavily in two ultramodern multi-storey car parks, both of which provide easy access to the main terminal buildings. An older (and not very well signposted in our experience) multi-story car park is also available next door to the main terminal.
Various slightly lower cost long-term parking facilities are also available within the confines of the Birmingham airport site, whereas off-airport parking providers tend to have their facilities a little bit further away.

Can I leave my car at home, or am I better off parking it at Birmingham International airport?

Birmingham airport takes a great deal of pride in its public transport access, but this is generally focused around journeys to the airport from the city centres of Coventry, Birmingham or Wolverhampton.
Access to Birmingham airport from towns such as Leamington Spa or Nuneaton is not so convenient, and the local train service is not much use for early-morning flights, or late evening arrivals. We've also found that reliability tends to fall dramatically at weekends, and even though there are supposed to be a least six trains to the airport each hour from either Birmingham New Street or Coventry stations, it is easy to end up waiting for 30 minutes or more when delays occur.
However, most of the local stations on the commuter line between Birmingham and Coventry, including Marston Green, which is at the northern end of the airport's runway, do offer limited free parking for rail users.

Bottlenecks to watch out for near Birmingham International airport

The road network near Birmingham airport can be horrendously busy at peak times, with the nearby M6 being notorious for constant tailbacks, despite the opening of the Birmingham Northern Relief Road (M6 toll). The M42 is also prone to severe congestion, whereas we generally hear of few problems on the A45 between Coventry and Birmingham airport.
Fortunately, most of the congestion around the airport usually results in traffic going slowly, rather than grinding to a halt, and the road network is sufficiently dense for alternative options to be available from most nearby towns.
The roads can get busier during special events at the nearby NEC, although this is much less of a problem than it might have been if there was no station on site. Access to Birmingham airport has been improved significantly with the construction of a new flyover for passengers arriving from the east on the A45.