Glasgow

Angeethi

Not just great reviews, but a Michelin star for this excellent restaurant.

Tue Wed 4-9:30PM, Thu-Sun noon-9:30PM

Auchentoshan Distillery

This is one of a handful of distilleries producing lowland single malt whisky. Auchentoshan is triple distilled and very smooth, unpeaty and somewhat sweet, so it's a good "novice" whisky to try. (Scoffers might say "breakfast whisky".) Capacity of 1.8 M litres pa means it's often available at supermarket discount prices. There's been distilling on this site since 1823; the brand is now owned by Beam Suntory. Tours remain suspended.

BLOC+

Innovative bar with unusual dishes. Separate Vegan/Veggie menu. Live music after 9PM.

Babbity Bowster

Slick inn in Merchant City with upstairs dining area and six hotel rooms.

Daily noon-midnight·B&B double £110

Barrowland Ballroom

Opened in 1934, but rebuilt in ever-so-Sixties style after a fire, this is a popular live venue with 1900 standing capacity. It's renowned for its sprung dance floor and excellent acoustics.

Bellahouston Park

The park has a sports centre and an artificial ski slope. The park is often used for open-air concerts and similar events. Its biggest audience to date, of 250,000, was for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1982. (Benedict XVI drew about a third of that in 2010.) The park used to extend all the way to Pollok Country Park, which you can reach (for the Burrell Collection) by walking along Drumbreck Road to pass under M77.

Botanic Gardens

Extensive gardens established in 1842 besides the River Kelvin, with tropical and temperate plants. Its distinctive landmark is the Kibble Palace, a 19th-century wrought-iron temperate glasshouse, rebuilt 2004-06.

Gardens 7AM to dusk, glasshouses noon to 4PM·Free

Britannia Panopticon

The oldest surviving music hall in the world, this was built in Italianate style in 1857, intended for shops but opening as a free-standing entertainment complex. Big names who boosted their early careers here include Stan Laurel in 1906 (his début, 20 years before he teamed up with Oliver Hardy), the debonair Jack Buchanan and the salt-of-the-earth Harry Lauder. Glasgow audiences were notorious for leaving no turn un-stoned (shipyard rivets and rancid turnips were traditional missiles) - toilets only arrived in 1893 and young boys used the balcony to pee on performers. The installation of a zoo in 1908 hardly made audience manners worse. The music hall folded in 1938 and the space was adapted for retail and industry. It's been re-opened and shows mostly light fare such as burlesque and comedy. There's no heating, so dress accordingly. No wheelchair / disabled access.

Thu-Sat noon-5PM·Adut £2, child £1

Burrell Collection

Sir William Burrell (1861-1958) was a shipping magnate who amassed a huge art collection. He gifted it to the city with the condition that it should be displayed in a nearby yet rural setting, and this was difficult to satisfy until Pollok House was acquired in extensive parkland, and the purpose-built gallery was added. It was closed 2014-2022 for refurbishment and even now can only show a fraction of his 9000-strong collection. Other items appear in the various city museums such as Kelvingrove.

Mon-Thu Sat 10AM-5PM, Fri Sun 11AM-5PM·Gallery free, parking £2.50

Cafe Gandolfi

A real Glasgow institution, this bistro serves fine food in a relaxed atmosphere. Great food and service.

Tue-Sat 8AM-10:30PM, Sun Mon 9AM-5PM

Celtic

the Bhoys, the Hoops, the Celts

Celtic play soccer in the Premiership, Scotland's top tier, and are Scotland's most successful club. The stadium (capacity 60,400) is two miles east of city centre, between A74 London Rd and A728 Clyde Gateway. See the club website for tickets, match day info such as travel disruptions, stadium tours, and no end of merchandising. Celtic were founded in 1888 at St. Mary’s church in the Calton area for the purposes of alleviating Irish immigrant poverty, and in the years since have risen to be the dominant force in Scottish football, and are the only Scottish side to win the European Cup. The women's team play in the Scottish Women's Premier League, their top tier, with home games at Penny Cars Stadium in Airdrie.

Chardon d'Or

Fancy place headed by Brian Maule, the food lives up to the publicity and price bracket.

Wed 5PM-10PM, Thu-Sat noon-3PM, 5PM-10PM

Cineworld

Multiplex with 18 screens. They also have edge-of-town sites at The Forge and Barrhead.

City Chambers

The City Council headquarters were built in 1888 in Italian Renaissance style. Tours take in the marble staircases, lobbies, debating chamber and banqueting hall. Public tours are conducted M-F at 10:30AM and 2:30PM. Tickets for the tour can be obtained from the reception desk 30 minutes prior to each tour commencing.

Free

Clydeside Distillery

This is in the former dock pumphouse; it's owned by Morrison Glasgow Distillers and produces a lowland-style malt. Production began in 2017 so their first whisky came on sale in 2021.

Tours daily·Tours from £15

Crookston Castle

Ruin of a turret built in 1400 within a 12th-century earthwork, and repaired after a siege of 1544. It's perched on a hill over the Levern Water and has an unusual "X" design: a sturdy central keep within four corner towers; only the northeast of these survives.

Apr-Sep: daily; Oct-Mar: Sat-Wed·Free

Eusebi Deli

Italian deli and restaurant. Deli has prepared panini, salads, patisserie. Convenient for picnics in the park on a sunny day.

Wed-Mon 8AM-10PM

Fairfield Heritage Centre

Govan became the city's main shipbuilding quarter once the Clyde channel was blasted open, and Fairfield was one of its leading companies. Built to impress in 1891, these were the august headquarters of a series of shipbuilders until the last vacated in 2001. It's now a heritage space and museum of Clyde shipbuilding.

Summer daily 11AM-4PM, winter Mon-Fri 1PM-4PM·Free

Fossil Grove

The remains of an ancient forest of Lepidodendron, extinct giant quillworts. About 330 million years ago this area flooded with mud, which killed the trees but made casts of their trunks. They were discovered during quarrying in 1887, and enclosed by a building for protection. This is open at weekends, while the rest of Victoria Park is always open.

Sat Sun noon-4PM·Free

Gallery of Modern Art

GoMA

It houses rotating exhibitions of contemporary work; there isn't a permanent collection, but exhibitions generally reside for several months. In the basement is one of Glasgow's many public libraries. The building was erected in 1778 as the town house of a tobacco merchant and slave-trader, and the Corinthian pillar frontage was added around 1830. The equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington arrived in 1844 and almost ever since has had a traffic cone perched his head. Every so often the Council removes it, but next day it re-incarnates.

Mon-Wed Sat 10AM-5PM, Fri Sun 11AM-5PM·Free

George Square

It marks the centre of this sprawling city. It was laid out in 1781 and named for King George III, since he wasn't mad at the time, though he made up for that later. In that era Glasgow expanded south from its medieval East End nucleus, banishing the cattle to build elegant Georgian terraces. The square is paved so it's more like a piazza.

Glasgow Cathedral

This was built in 1197 but much modified in the 13th century and is a fine example of medieval Gothic. It's dedicated to St Mungo, the city's patron saint, who is buried in the crypt. The Church of Scotland doesn't have bishops so it actually only a parish church.

Mon-Sat 10AM-noon, 1-4PM; Sun 1-4PM·Free

Glasgow City FC

Glasgow City FC are a women's team playing in the Scottish Women's Premier League, of which they are reigning champions. They're not affiliated with any men's club and play at Petershill Park (capacity: 1,000, 500 seated) in Springburn, two miles north of the city centre. That makes them the leading women's team within Glasgow, as Celtic and Rangers women play out of town. Book tickets here.

Glasgow Cross

was the centre of the early modern city, as it expanded south from its medieval core towards the Clyde. Only the clocktower survives of the former city chambers, demolished in 1921.

Glasgow Distillery Co

They make whisky and other spirits - best known is Makar's Cherry Brandy.

Glasgow Film Theatre

Independent cinema opened in 1939 showing classics, and art and foreign-language movies - the advent of "talkies" made these less accessible to British audiences. It hosts the annual Glasgow Film Festival.

Glasgow Green

is the extensive green space north bank of the Clyde. It was created in 1450 as separate plots of soggy grazing land, which were combined and drained. It became an area for bleaching and drying, mass protests and inflammatory speeches, and recreation and events. It's always open, with multiple access points, but from city centre a good approach is from the foot of High St through the Maclennan Arch. Follow the main path southeast to reach Nelson's Memorial, an obelisk commemorating his victory at Trafalgar. Central is the People's Palace, see below. North side of that is the elaborate terracotta Doulton Fountain, with Queen Victoria teetering atop it. At the park's east boundary, the Templeton Carpet Factory is now a business centre. St Andrew's suspension bridge gives access to the south river bank. See Clyde section below for the Tidal Weir.

Glasgow Necropolis

Dominated by the statue of John Knox, it's a pharaonic “City of the Dead”, with its grand monuments to merchants and baillies who would be as prestigious in the next world as they were in this. One fellow was so renowned that there was no need to inscribe his name: wonder who he was, and how we've coped without him?

Glasgow Police Museum

Early police forces had a variety of roles that were later separated as firefighting, event security, night-watch and sanitary regulation (which often meant extorting bribes from the sex trade). Glasgow had the world's first police force from 1779, but it lacked state backing and folded. The first regular force was from 1800, and since then has grappled with criminals' ingenuity, but fortunately more often their gob-smacking stupidity. This small but well-stocked museum takes you through the history.

Apr-Oct: Mon-Sat 10:30AM-4:30PM, Sun noon-4:30PM; Nov-Mar: Tue Sun 10AM-4:30PM·Free

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Stonking great hall completed in 1990, with a main auditorium seating 2475 and four other spaces of 300+. It's home to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, who perform throughout Scotland. The same management also runs City Halls and the Fruitmarket. Just below the basement run the Subway trains, with a thick rubber barrier to block the rumblings.