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Glasgow - things to do

In June, my husband & I will be in Glasgow at the end of a 3 week bicycle tour. Was thinking of spending a couple of extra nights exploring Glasgow before flying back to California. Any tips on 3 or 4 cool sites? I've checked Rick Steve's "At A Glance" -- any of you have a favorite?! Thank you!
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/scotland/glasgow

Posted by
11264 posts

I was pretty enthralled by the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, especially the large collection of taxidermy animals, but also the art. It was fascinating to go through there and see everything. Another very cool place would be the Necropolis, which sounds a little strange, but it's a very interesting cemetery right next to St. Giles Cathedral. There is a lot of interesting statuary and fascinating gravestones.

I would also suggest a day trip to Stirling Castle, and the town of Stirling. Stirling is well worth a visit and I love the castle. There is a lot of history there, and the town of Stirling itself is wonderful to visit, as they have a number of sites (Holy Rude Church, etc.). It's an easy train ride from Glasgow, and it takes about 30 minutes, or a bit less, to get there.

Posted by
461 posts

Kelvingrove was a great museum. If you haven’t had enough whisky yet, the Pot Still does an amazing, customized tasting based on what you already like (or don’t) and what you want to spend. If you already know what you like, it’s a fun place to get a drink. There are sites to see Charles Macintosh architecture or reproductions, if you’re into that. Even the Hoho bus tour in Glasgow was pretty great. I needed up on it twice, once to actually do the stops and once to do something on a quiet day. It stops at plenty of useful places and is a nice ride even if you don’t get off.

Posted by
1569 posts

Kelvingrove Art Gallery, like others have mentioned, is a fabulous museum. another place I really enjoyed was the transportation museum at the riverfront (fantastic find), The MacKintosh house visit-was wonderful, I took a street art/mural guided tour, and the HOHO bus in Glasgow was convenient for major sites, I used it for Kelvingrove, UofGlasgow, MacKintosh House, Hunterian Museum, and Transportation Museum on waterfront

Posted by
900 posts

We also loved the Kelvingrove. If you are interested in more time outdoors, we took the bus for about a half day to the Pollock Country Park. It was a lovely outing. We saw the Highland cattle fold, which was our mai reason for going, but were really taken by the beauty of the park and its offerings

https://burrellcollection.com/visit/pollok-country-park-glasgows-largest-green-space/

Also, try to go the Mackintosh at the Willow tea house. It is such a wonderful place! We didn’t do the tour because of time, but there were people there waiting for it. We opted to go for breakfast rather than at tea time (mardee suggested this and it was a brilliant idea) and because of this had the place virtually to ourselves. Absolutely delicious food and tea. I got some wonderful pictures inside, too.

One last suggestion, for live music we went to Kitty O’Shea’s. Great vibe in there and the Celtic live music was outstanding. It started at 7, too, which was nice because we had to get up early the next morning to fly home. We really liked Glasgow. Not as cultured as Edinburgh, but is a real working person’s kind of town, with extremely friendly people. Enjoy your trip!

Posted by
150 posts

Agree with the Kelvingrove. The park beside the Kelvingrove is very nice and you can walk up to the University and stroll through the cloisters.

There are a few good restaurants just across the street/ very near the Kelvingrove - good but huge burgers at Brew Dog- lots of beer choices and Mother India if you like Indian food.

The cathedral was interesting. I didn't get to the Necropolis which is just behind the catherdral.

Posted by
1783 posts

All the above suggestions - The Riverside (Transport) Museum, Kelvingrove, The Burrell.

Maybe have a look to see what is on at one of the theatres, the Kings, Theatre Royal and so on. They get a lot of towing