Tips on What To Do in Glasgow

Edinburgh gets more of the fanfare, but Glasgow gives its visitors a more than adequate good time. From excessive shopping to unbeatable live-music and clubbing, and museums, parks, football, the opera, the symphony and more, Glasgow manages to keep a variety of visitors entertained.

• Climb up to the top of the hill in The Necropolis cemetery where many local dignitaries are buried and be rewarded by an excellent panoramic view of the city below." -- Travel Channel
• All along the Clydeside, new developments are replacing postindustrial rust; the museums and galleries are shining up a newfound sense of pride in the city's heritage, and it is all being reflected in a booming creative arts scene." -- Concierge.com
• Don’t shy away from trekking a mile or two out of town for gorgeous city views and attractions. The List (www.list.co.uk; £2.50), available from newsstands, is an essential review of current exhibitions, galleries, music, and nightlife." -- Let's Go Scotland

Museums

Tour the Mackenzie-designed Glasgow School of Art, located in City Centre, for a taste of the Glaswegian art scene in action. Then visit the somewhat surreal Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the West End, the Burrell Collection in Southside and City Centre's Lighthouse, which house Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City.

If your tastes in museums run more to historic subject matter, visit the West End's popular Museum of Transport or Cathedral's St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art. The relatively new Glasgow Science Centre, which is located in Southside and shelters a planetarium and an IMAX theater, is a favorite among the kids.

• With its flamboyant towers, turrets, spires, and statues, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is probably the Glaswegians favorite building. The museum holds one of the United Kingdom's finest art collections." -- 10Best
• Start your Saturday with an early tour of the Glasgow School of Art's striking fin de siècle building … designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh … Continue the Mackintosh tour at the Willow Tea Rooms, which has maintained his 1904 design, down to the waiters' uniforms." -- New York Times

Shopping

Brimming with shopping districts, Glasgow is the place to make purchases. Head to Barras Market in East End for flotsam, jetsam and treasures, too. Pop over to the City Centre's Argyle, Buchanan and Sauchiehall streets for more mid-price, mainstream shops, as well as high-fashion labels. For vintage finds and independent stores, head to West End.

• While Merchant City and Princes Square will fulfill the trendiest label lover's requirements, head to the West End if hip independents are more your scene, and don't forget there's excellent vintage clothing to be had, too." -- Concierge.com
• If you've managed so far to avoid rubbing shoulders with everyday Glaswegians, head for the Barras market in the gritty East End. The market is full of hidden treasures and found junk: everything from tweed caps and garda (police) jackets to freshly butchered meat and lucky-charm ornaments." -- New York Times

Sports & Leisure

Whether 1) you want to play spectator to a Celtic or Rangers football match or 2) you want to participate in the athletics yourself, Glasgow is filled with athletic opportunities. Watch a football (soccer) match at Hampden Park in Southside, swing your clubs at the couple dozen golf courses that fill and surround greater Glasgow, or simply go for a leisurely stroll in the West End's Kelvingrove Park and Botanic Gardens or the East End's Glasgow Green.

• In this region are some of the world's great links golf courses, including world-famous Royal Troon and Turnberry, with windswept coastal views and gorse-filled dunes." -- Frommer's
• Two and a half miles due south of the city centre, just to the west of the tree-filled Queen's Park, the floodlights and giant stands of Scotland's national football stadium, Hampden Park, loom over the surrounding suburban tenements and terraces." -- Rough Guides

Music Scene

In many regards, Glasgow can seem the lesser sibling when compared to Edinburgh. However, the music scene is one category Edinburgh can't even touch; Glasgow owns it. To experience some of the city's live-music excellence, head to King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut in City Centre, Barrowland in the East End and Nice 'n' Sleazy in Merchant City.

• The compact King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut … named for a defunct club in the East Village of New York, has been something of a divining rod for Glasgow’s indie music scene for 20 years. Oasis was famously discovered there; Radiohead and Blur played the club before going big; Beck and the Strokes chose it as the site of their first Scottish gigs. Tickets generally run £5 to £15." -- New York Times
• Barrowland, a former ballroom, has to be one of the best venues (that is, sweaty and vibrating) in all of Britain for seeing live contemporary music. … Two bars, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut (where the band Oasis was apparently "discovered") and Nice 'n' Sleazy, give Glasgow a pair of small venues with performance spaces that would rival those typical of Manhattan's East Village." -- Frommer's

Nightlife

You'll find cozy pubs and hopping bars most everywhere you turn, but a majority of them are congregated in Merchant City and the West End. Try Sub Club, the Arches and Soundhaus, among many others, some of which blare live music. Ultra-cool but in a tough, gritty way, travel writers suggest leaving Gucci and Prada at home and instead sporting trendy jeans and a graphic t-shirt.

• However yuppified it gets, Glasgow is still a youth-oriented city -- the best place in the land to play live, say many bands, with fancy clubs, infamous dives, even nouveau-folk Gaelic pubs like Uisge Beatha. The few-and-far-between sunny days here are taken seriously, especially in cool neighborhoods like Ashton Lane, a cobbled backstreet in the West End that fills up with crowds." -- Concierge.com
• For a complete rundown of what is happening in the city, pick up a copy of The List, a biweekly magazine available at all major newsstands and book shops. It reviews, previews, and gives the details of the arts and events in Glasgow and Edinburgh." -- Frommer's