Things to Do in Glasgow: A Complete Guide
Glasgow doesn’t get the same tourist attention as Edinburgh, and honestly, that works in its favour. This is a city of proper Victorian ambition, dreamed up during its days as the Second City of the Empire, with architecture and attitude to match. If you’re weighing up things to do in Glasgow, you’ll find a place that’s more about atmosphere and creativity than box ticking, though there’s plenty of substance behind that reputation too.
Top things to do in Glasgow: Victorian grandeur and Art Nouveau
Glasgow’s architecture tells the story of a city that got very rich very fast during the industrial era and wasn’t shy about showing it. The City Chambers on George Square, with its marble staircases and mosaic ceilings, was built to outshine anything in London, and it mostly succeeds. But the real architectural draw is Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow’s own Art Nouveau genius, whose fingerprints are all over the city. The Mackintosh at the Willow tearooms on Sauchiehall Street have been faithfully restored to their original 1903 design, complete with his distinctive high backed chairs and geometric detailing. The Glasgow School of Art building he designed suffered devastating fires in recent years, but his influence remains visible throughout the West End and beyond, in doorways, stained glass and typography that Glaswegians still take genuine pride in.
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
Kelvingrove is one of the finest free museums in Britain, housed in a red sandstone Baroque building that’s as impressive as anything inside it. The collection ranges from a Salvador Dali masterpiece to Spitfire aircraft hanging from the ceiling, plus an entire natural history section and one of the best collections of arms and armour outside London. Organ recitals still happen daily in the main hall, a tradition that’s been running since the building opened for the 1901 international exhibition. Give yourself a proper few hours here, because it’s easy to underestimate how much ground the place covers.
The West End: Byres Road and university life
The West End is where Glasgow feels most like itself, a neighbourhood built around Glasgow University’s Gothic spires and the buzz of student life without ever feeling like a campus bubble. Byres Road is the spine of the area, lined with independent shops, cafes and the entrance to Ashton Lane, a cobbled backstreet crammed with bars and restaurants that lights up properly after dark. The Botanic Gardens sit at the top of the road, home to the Kibble Palace glasshouse, a Victorian iron and glass structure filled with tree ferns and sculpture. Wandering this part of the city, with the university’s Main Building visible from almost every angle, gives you a very different Glasgow to the mercantile grandeur of the city centre.
Live music: one of the UK’s best scenes
Glasgow’s live music reputation is not exaggerated. King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on St Vincent Street has hosted just about every major British band before they made it big, and it still books an impressive run of touring acts through a venue that holds a few hundred people at most. The Barrowland Ballroom, with its neon sign glowing over the East End, is regularly named one of the best live music venues in the world by touring musicians themselves, thanks to a sprung dance floor and an atmosphere that arena venues can’t replicate. Beyond the big names, the city’s pub and small venue circuit runs deep, and it’s entirely normal to stumble into a brilliant unplanned gig on a random Tuesday.
Food, drink and a proper dram
Glasgow’s food scene has grown well beyond its old reputation for deep fried everything, though you can absolutely still find a proper chippy if that’s what you’re after. The West End and the Finnieston area along Argyle Street have become genuine food destinations, packed with independent restaurants doing everything from modern Scottish small plates to some of the best curry outside Glasgow’s long standing South Asian community, which has shaped the city’s food culture for generations. Whisky bars are everywhere, and given Scotland’s distilling heritage, it would be a shame not to sit down somewhere like the Pot Still on Hope Street, which stocks hundreds of bottles and staff who genuinely know their stuff. Ubiquitous Chip in Ashton Lane has been serving modern Scottish food in its courtyard setting since the 1970s and remains a genuine institution.
Getting around Glasgow
Glasgow’s compact enough to walk between the city centre and the West End in around twenty five minutes, though the Subway, Glasgow’s small circular underground network affectionately known as the Clockwork Orange, makes the journey quicker if you’re short on time. It’s one of the oldest underground systems in the world and covers most of the areas visitors want to reach. Buses fill in the gaps, and ScotRail trains connect efficiently to Edinburgh in around fifty minutes if you fancy comparing the two cities on the same trip. Rain is a fairly constant possibility whatever the season, so pack accordingly and don’t let it put you off exploring on foot. If you fancy comparing notes with a trip closer to home, our guide to UK staycation ideas is worth a look too.
If you enjoyed this, our guide to things to do in York is well worth a read too.
