Stay on Campus, Walk to the Ground — Edgbaston Park Hotel

Most people staying in Birmingham for the cricket default to the city centre. It makes sense on paper — restaurants, bars, easy transport. In practice it means a 20-minute taxi each morning through traffic that doesn't improve just because there's a match on.

Edgbaston Park Hotel makes a different argument. It sits on the University of Birmingham's campus in Edgbaston, about two miles south of the city centre, in the kind of leafy surroundings that don't really exist in central Birmingham. The grounds are well-kept, the building is modern without being bland, and the car park is free — which matters more than it sounds when you're in Birmingham for several days.

The hotel has 185 rooms across standard and premium categories. The premium rooms have king-size beds, robes and slippers, which is the kind of thing that feels unnecessary until you're back after a long day at the ground and it suddenly isn't. The 1900 Restaurant serves a seasonal brasserie menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the bar next to it stays open all day with lighter options if you want something between meals.

The cricket ground is a five-minute drive away or about 20 minutes on the bus from Edgbaston Park Road. On match days the bus is straightforward and avoids the parking situation near the stadium entirely. Most guests walk back after the day's play — the route through the campus is quiet and pleasant in summer.

It won't suit everyone. If you want to be in the middle of Birmingham's restaurant scene in Digbeth or the Jewellery Quarter, you'll be getting an Uber each evening. But for the cricket, the location is almost precisely right — close enough to the ground, far enough from everything that makes city centre hotels noisy.