Glasgow Travel Guide: What to See, Eat and Do in Scotland

Glasgow sits on the River Clyde in Scotland’s west-central Lowlands, roughly 50 miles west of Edinburgh and about an hour by train from the capital. It is Scotland’s largest city, built on a low ridge above the river that carried it from a medieval cathedral town to the workshop of an empire. In the 18th century the Tobacco Lords made fortunes trading with the Americas and raised the elegant streets of what is now the Merchant City. In the 19th and early 20th centuries the Clyde shipyards launched a fifth of the world’s ships, and Glasgow called itself the Second City of the Empire.

What makes Glasgow rewarding today is how little of that swagger has been sanded away. Blackened Victorian sandstone tenements sit beside the glass curves of the Riverside Museum. The city is a UNESCO City of Music with a live gig most nights of the week, and its municipal museums are free to enter. It is also the gateway to Scotland’s west: Loch Lomond lies half an hour north, and the road and rail lines to the Highlands, Oban and the islands all begin here. Travellers joining Palace Tours’ Scottish rail journeys often build a night or two in Glasgow into the trip, and it repays the time.

What to see in Glasgow

• Glasgow Cathedral — The only mainland Scottish cathedral to survive the Reformation with its structure essentially intact. Begun in the 12th century over the tomb of St Mungo, the city’s patron saint, its dark stone crypt and timber ceiling are among the finest medieval interiors in Britain.
• The Necropolis — A Victorian garden cemetery on the hill directly behind the cathedral, with some 3,500 monuments to shipowners, merchants and ministers. Climb to the John Knox column for the best free panorama of the city.
• Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum — A red sandstone palace of 1901 holding Rembrandt, the Glasgow Boys, Scottish Colourists and Salvador Dali’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross. There is a free organ recital on the Victorian pipe organ most days.
• The Riverside Museum and the Tall Ship — Zaha Hadid’s zigzag-roofed transport museum on the Clyde, packed with locomotives, trams and a recreated period street. Moored alongside is the Glenlee, an 1896 Clyde-built barque you can board.
• Charles Rennie Mackintosh sites — Glasgow’s own architect defined a Scottish strand of Art Nouveau. See the Mackintosh at the Willow tearooms on Sauchiehall Street, the Mackintosh House at the Hunterian, and the Lighthouse, his first public commission.
• The Burrell Collection at Pollok Country Park — Shipping magnate William Burrell’s 9,000-object gift to the city, from Chinese ceramics and medieval tapestries to Degas, shown in a glass pavilion set among woodland and Highland cattle.
• The Botanic Gardens and Kibble Palace — A curvaceous Victorian glasshouse of 1873 in the West End, full of tree ferns and marble statuary, with the Kelvin Walkway running past the door.
• George Square and the City Chambers — The civic heart, ringed by statues and dominated by the 1888 City Chambers, whose marble and alabaster staircases are open on free guided tours.

What to eat in Glasgow

Glasgow takes its curry seriously. The city has a strong claim to inventing chicken tikka masala, and the South Asian restaurants around Gibson Street and the Southside are a genuine local institution rather than a tourist line. Beyond that, the classics are hearty and unfussy: haggis with neeps and tatties, Scotch pies, Cullen skink, and the breakfast roll built on a slab of Lorne square sausage, which no visitor should leave without trying. Seafood arrives fast from the west coast, so langoustines, Loch Fyne oysters and Arbroath smokies turn up on good menus year round.

The Finnieston strip and Ashton Lane in the West End carry most of the modern dining, from small-plate kitchens to century-old pubs. For sweets and drinks, look for Tunnock’s teacakes and caramel wafers, made just outside the city, and Irn-Bru, the luridly orange soft drink Scots drink more of than cola. Whisky is close at hand: the Clydeside Distillery occupies a former pumphouse on the river, Auchentoshan lies to the west at Clydebank, and Glengoyne sits on the Highland line to the north.

Shopping and crafts

Buchanan Street and its neighbours form the Style Mile, one of the busiest retail districts in the UK. For something more characterful, the Argyll Arcade of 1827 is a glass-roofed run of jewellers, Princes Square is a restored Art Nouveau courtyard, and the Barras market in the East End is a loud weekend institution with antiques and vintage stalls. Good things to take home include Harris Tweed, Scottish cashmere, Mackintosh-pattern homewares and a bottle from a Lowland distillery.

Best time to visit

May to September gives the mildest weather and very long evenings, with light past 10pm in midsummer. Spring and early autumn are quieter and often clearer. Glasgow’s maritime climate means rain is possible in any month and temperatures rarely reach extremes, so layers and a waterproof matter more than a season. Winter is dark and damp but brings Celtic Connections in January, a superb folk and roots festival that fills venues across the city.

Good to know

• The Glasgow Subway is a single circular line of 15 stations, nicknamed the Clockwork Orange. It is simple, cheap and handy for the West End, though it does not reach the airport.
• The city has two main rail stations: Central for trains south and to the coast, Queen Street for Edinburgh and the Highlands. They are a seven-minute walk apart, which catches out people with tight connections.
• Glasgow Airport is about 9 miles west of the centre, roughly 25 minutes by express bus. Prestwick, further southwest, is served by train.
• Entry to the council-run museums, including Kelvingrove, the Riverside, the Burrell and the People’s Palace, is free.
• The city centre is laid out on a grid but is steeper than it looks, and the West End is hillier still. Comfortable shoes earn their keep.