Birmingham is kicking off the Christmas season with a new website to help visitors find out all they need to know about staying in the city during the festive period.

Christmasinbirmingham.com has all of the information visitors need to ensure that their trip to Birmingham is a Christmas cracker, including offers, competitions, videos, event information and an interactive advent calendar.

With a shimmering line up of treats across Birmingham, The Black Country and Solihull - from the world famous Frankfurt Christmas Market to sensational shops, buzzing theatres and mouth-watering restaurants - the heart of England truly is sparkling this Christmas.

Get into the festive spirit at Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas Market - the centrepiece of the city's festive calendar. Celebrating 11 years of festive fun, the world's largest German market outside of Germany and Austria returns with over 180 stalls selling gifts, jewellery, decorations, handmade toys and delicious delicacies. No other city in the UK has been able to reproduce the size, scale, diversity and quality of Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas Market, which draws in three million visitors to the city annually.

As the biggest retail centre outside of the capital, visitors can get Christmas shopping all wrapped up in Birmingham. The city's unbeatable shopping scene boasts over 1,000 shops within a 20 minute walk, world famous retail centres, four arcades packed full with stylish boutiques and 100 independent outlets in the centre alone. If you are after something that sparkles for a certain special someone, the Jewellery Quarter - where an estimated 40% of the UK's jewellery is made - is home to over 400 jewellers located in the 250-year old area famed for specialist hand-crafted jewellery and watches.

Emma Gray, Director of Marketing Services for Visit Birmingham, the city's leisure tourism programme, said:

"Birmingham has kicked off the festive season with the launch of our new website Christmasinbirmingham.com, which is designed to help visitors discover Birmingham's unique festive offering to make sure they can make the most out of their stay in the city.

"The city has everything to tempt visitors this Christmas - with an unbeatable shopping scene, a sumptuous selection of restaurants, famed visitor attractions, affordable hotels and with our world famous Frankfurt Christmas Market due to launch in less than a month, Birmingham is the ideal place to get into the festive spirit."

The city has plenty more to offer culture vultures too - head to Birmingham's Southside district for world class theatre performances at its many different venues during the lead-up to Christmas. Home to the busiest and most popular single theatre in the UK, with over 520,000 visitors taking their seats at performances every year, there is a wealth of thrilling performances, from magical musicals to comedy classics, to enchant and inspire.

Bustling entertainment hubs Brindleyplace, Colmore Business District and Broad Street boast a host of restaurants, bars and clubs to help you wind down after a day of shopping, and soak up the festive atmosphere. For families, a glittering calendar of fun-filled events from leading visitor attractions across Birmingham and the wider region offer plenty more reasons for the whole family to follow the bright lights to Birmingham this Christmas.

Christmas calendar highlights

Frankfurt Christmas Market (17 November - 23 December)

Winter in Birmingham brings the familiar sight of craft and confectionary stalls lining the streets and the mouth watering smell of roasted chestnuts, mulled wine and gingerbread in the air with the largest authentic Christmas market outside Germany descending on the city.

Christmas Parade and Christmas Lights Switch On (12 November) 

Join hundreds of other Christmas lovers to see the city's lights switched on, with Santa on his sleigh and his reindeer leading the way, followed by stilt walkers, costumed characters, floats and festive entertainers.

Nativity Trail (30 November - 6 January) 

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery will be taking festive fans on a trail of the city's internationally acclaimed art collections, showing visitors how artists have depicted the story of Christmas over the last 500 years. 

Aston Hall by Candlelight (2 - 11 December) 

Don't miss one of the country's finest Jacobean houses seen at its most breathtaking, lit by around 300 shimmering candles. Experience a Victorian household entertaining a very important royal visitor and revelling in the season's festivities.

For further information on Birmingham's festive offering and details of events go to www.christmasinbirmingham.com