While millions of travellers head to Birmingham Airport to catch flights to crowded tourist hotspots like Tenerife, Alicante, or Majorca, some of the best direct routes fly under the radar. These underrated routes offer incredible culture, stunning views, and cheaper flights without the massive crowds.
How We Selected the Routes
We used various criteria to figure out which routes were being overlooked, including tourist corridors, travel forums, and prices. If a route is saturated with multiple daily flights from every major airline (like Alicante, Malaga, Tenerife, or Majorca), it was immediately disqualified. Looking at local travel forums and flight schedule data helped to see which flights local travel hackers actually recommend.
An underrated route shouldn't just be a dead-end; it should act as a highly efficient, cheaper back-door to a wider region. Verona is a prime example. While everyone fights for expensive flights to Venice, Verona sits on a major rail junction. Landing there gives you incredibly cheap, fast train access to Lake Garda, Venice, and Bologna.
A flight might be cheap, but if a pint of beer costs £9 and a basic hotel is £180 a night when you land, the route isn't actually a win. With all this in mind, here are four of the most underrated routes from Birmingham Airport.
Santander, Spain
When people think of Spain, they usually think of the dry, hot south. Santander is located in Cantabria along Spain's northern coast. It is a lush, green paradise of dramatic cliffs, golden beaches, and world-class seafood. Flights from Ryanair. You can easily hike the coastal paths, explore the Palacio de la Magdalena, and eat pintxos (Basque-style tapas) for a fraction of the cost of Barcelona or San Sebastián.
Girona, Spain
Most travelers fly into Girona just to grab a bus straight to Barcelona or the Costa Brava. That is a massive mistake. Girona is one of Spain's most beautifully preserved medieval cities and Ryanair takes you directly to it. You can walk along the ancient city walls, get lost in the winding Jewish Quarter, and marvel at the Cathedral, which is famous as a filming location for Game of Thrones. It's also a world-renowned destination for cycling enthusiasts and foodies.
Verona, Italy
Overshadowed by Rome, Venice, and Milan, Verona is incredibly romantic, highly walkable, and far less crowded. Even better, it serves as the perfect, affordable gateway to northern Italy via Ryanair. You can watch an open-air opera inside a 2,000-year-old Roman arena which is older than Rome's Colosseum, visit Juliet's balcony, and catch a cheap 20-minute train directly to the shores of Lake Garda.
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Romania is criminally overlooked as a holiday destination, but Cluj-Napoca is the unofficial capital of the historic Transylvania region. Flights from Birmingham are often exceptionally cheap, especially via Wizz Air. Because of its massive student population, Cluj is packed with quirky, design-forward cafes, cheap craft beer bars, and a thriving arts scene. It's also the perfect base camp if you want to rent a car and explore Transylvania's gothic castles and dramatic Carpathian mountains.
