Depending on where you stand, Glasgow is either Scotland’s second city or its first. While the city affectionately known as the Dear Green Place may not have the historical pomp of Edinburgh,
its rich legacy of industry and trade, working-class attitude and
irreverent sense of humor give Glasgow a character all its own.
Despite the abundance of things to see and do in Scotland’s largest city, you won’t have to
jostle with quite the same crowds as at the sights in the nation’s
capital, and the wonders of Scotland’s island-dotted west coast are close at hand. You’ll spend your days visiting cultural landmarks and world-class museums, then come night, immerse yourself in the irrepressible energy of Glasgow’s pubs, bars and iconic music venues such as King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and the Barrowland Ballroom.
There’s a lot to fit in, particularly on a short visit, so plan your time with this guide to how to spend the ultimate weekend in Glasgow.
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When to arrive: Aim to arrive early Friday morning (or Thursday night) so you can make the most of the sights and enjoy the two liveliest evenings for Glasgow nightlife.
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How to get from the airport: If you arrive by air, you can take a taxi or rideshare, or save a little money by using the round-the-clock 500 Airport Express shuttle bus to Buchanan St Station in the center; allow up to half an hour for the journey.
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Getting around town: Central Glasgow is easy to explore on foot, but you’ll want to use the 15-stop, looping Glasgow Subway and the city’s extensive bus network to reach areas such as the University of Glasgow and the revamped docklands beside the River Clyde.
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Where to stay: If you’re on a budget, try the popular Glasgow Youth Hostel, overlooking Kelvingrove Park in the West End, or Merchant City’s Social Hub (but watch for peak season price hikes). The midrange pub rooms at Babbity Bowster place you in the heart of the action. Travelers with deeper pockets can check in at the Kimpton Blythswood Square, a luxurious Georgian charmer.
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What to pack: Glasgow is agreeably down-to-earth, so bring clothes that you feel comfortable in and perhaps something that you can dress up for a posh dinner or theater show. A folding umbrella is a wise addition to your bag for any trip to Scotland, particularly from winter to spring.
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The Duke of Wellington statue. chrisdorney/Shutterstock Day 1
Use your first day to explore the center and its Victorian architecture, which conjures up a powerful sense of the city’s mercantile heyday.
Morning
A busy day of sightseeing demands a hearty breakfast. In the center, fill up on protein and carbs (or plenty of healthy options) at Café Gandolfi on Albion St, or swing by Wilson Street Pantry for eggs Benedict with Italian sausage, or student favorite Spitfire Espresso, near the Strathclyde University campus, for coffee, pastries and cake.
How to spend the day
Kick off a day in central Glasgow in Merchant City, the wealthy heart of the city during the 18th century and early 19th century, when the city’s coffers were swelled with the profits from the global trade in tobacco and sugar. This bounty, sometimes dubiously acquired, paid for the construction of city landmarks such as the neoclassical Gallery of Modern Art on Royal Exchange Sq, displaying striking works by local and international artists.
After admiring the paintings and sculptures, pop outside to see the legendary horseback statue of the Duke of Wellington – it’s invariably crowned with at least one traffic cone, placed there by locals as a good-humored gesture of defiance. Street artist Banksy claims it’s his favorite work of art in the UK.
Break for lunch at Glaschu, a haven of fine dining set in a neoclassical building beside the Gallery of Modern Art. The menu celebrates the best of Scottish produce, enriched with international influences and elegantly presented.
Glasgow City Chambers and the war memorial in George Sq. TTstudio/Shutterstock
Suitably nourished, head on to George Square, where monuments honor great Scots such as Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott.
On the eastern end of the square, visit the remarkable City Chambers, a French-inspired confection of neoclassical and neo-Renaissance elements, opened by Queen Victoria in 1888. Check out the foyer, an impressive space with polished red granite columns, caryatids and elaborate mosaics recalling Glasgow’s former preeminence. Then join the 2:30pm tour (weekdays only) to view the marble interior and mahogany-lined Council Chamber. Don’t miss the breathtaking Banqueting Hall, with its grandiose ceiling mural and paintings of Glasgow industry and life.
There might be time for a spot of predinner shopping on Glasgow’s Style Mile – a shopping zone crammed with boutiques and chain stores – marked out by Sauchiehall St, Buchanan St and Argyle St. If you need a new outfit for the evening, look out for the peacock fan facade of Princes Square; inside, it’s stacked to the wrought-iron rafters with fashion stores.
Glasgow has a vibrant live music scene. CatchingLightPhotography/Shutterstock Dinner
After fine dining at lunch, a more informal pub dinner beckons. Try Bar 91 for above-average gastropub fare served at sidewalk tables that are ideal for people watching. Or drop into agreeably unpretentious Babbity Bowster, where menu favorites are backed up by folk music and ale in the beer garden.
After dark
Come nighttime, there’s a buzzy vibe in Merchant City as the area fills with locals, and the knot of LGBTQ+ venues known as the Pink Triangle starts to hum – Delmonica’s has been welcoming LGBTQ+ folk since 1991. For a swanky night out, dress up and join the queue at The Corinthian Club, with its cool collection of bars and nightspots set beneath a dramatic domed ceiling and majestic chandeliers.
We’d also draw attention to Glasgow’s live music scene, best exemplified by King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, to the west of Merchant City, where Radiohead and Pulp got their big breaks and Oasis secured their first record deal.
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The Willow Tea Rooms, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. N Innes/Shutterstock Day 2
It’s time to roam more widely, taking in buildings designed by celebrity Glasgow architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the sights of the East End.
Morning
There’s a Mackintosh theme to the morning, so start in one of the architect’s loveliest creations, Mackintosh at the Willow, an artful reconstruction of the tearoom he designed in 1903, serving breakfast, brunch and cake. Mackintosh at the Willow offers a tour telling
the story of these elegant, Mackintosh-designed tearooms and the
National Trust restoration project that brought them back to life.
How to spend the day
More Mackintosh wonders dot the center. The Glasgow School of Art building on Renfrew St was created by Mackintosh as a new premises for his alma mater in 1896 (the building is closed and covered up for reconstruction after destructive fires in 2014 and 2018).
Luckily, there’s more Mackintosh magic nearby in the form of the architect’s first building, the Lighthouse, designed in 1893 as the headquarters for The Glasgow Herald newspaper. Today, it houses Scotland’s Centre for Architecture and Design.
Pause for lunch at Red Onion, a comfortable split-level bistro that buzzes with contented chatter. Here, French, Mediterranean and Asian touches add intrigue to classic Scottish cookery.
Glasgow Cathedral. Anton_Ivanov/Shutterstock
Next, step further back in history to the city’s earliest days at the Glasgow Cathedral. The oldest part of the cathedral – the moody, column-supported lower church – includes elements from the original 12th-century building. This is one of the only medieval cathedrals in Scotland to escape the ravages of the Reformation.
Admire the modernist stained glass, including Francis Spear’s 1958 The Creation in the west window, then head down to the lower church to view the forest of pillars surrounding the tomb of St Mungo, the city’s patron saint, who founded a monastery here in the 6th century. After, head outside to wander between the tombs of Glasgow’s 19th-century great and good at the Glasgow Necropolis.
For more context on Glasgow’s spiritual and medieval life, drop into the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art for an exploration of the world’s great religions, and nose around Provand’s Lordship, a rare example of a Scottish medieval domestic dwelling.
Dinner
After sampling Scottish flavors for lunch, go international for dinner. Seafood fans should head to Gamba, serving everything from lobster thermidor to Cajun-style Shetland hake. Presentation is refined, and the dishes allow the fish and shellfish – sustainably sourced from Scotland and beyond – to shine.
If you crave world flavors, enjoy quality Cantonese dim sum at Loon Fung or sup on street-food-style Asian fusion plates with a cocktail and cool background beats at Bar Soba on Michell Lane.
Pavilion Theatre. Slidewarrior/Shutterstock After dark
Plenty of characterful old pubs around the center conjure up times past. The Horse Shoe Bar is a legendary meeting place that has remained largely unchanged since the late 19th century. Or sip your favorite dram at The Pot Still, a nostalgic spot full of period furnishings, with a fine lineup of single malts.
For a change of pace, hang with the city’s student body at Nice N Sleazy. The name is a tribute to a song by The Stranglers, and the bar often hosts club nights and live music (though over-35s may feel a bit old for the scene).
Another option is a show at the historic Pavilion Theatre,
a veteran from the age when variety theaters replaced Glasgow’s
bawdy Victorian music halls. It’s worth coming as much for the opulent
interior, with its rococo plasterwork, as for the program of plays,
comedy, tribute bands, and touring musicals and stage shows.
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. georgeclerk/Getty Images Day 3
Sunday is for soaking up culture at your own pace, away from the noise and bustle of the center.
Morning
Grab a coffee and pastry near where you are staying and stroll to Glasgow Green to admire the greenery, monuments and grand exterior and outsized glasshouse of the People’s Palace (the museum of social history here is due to reopen in 2027). Then charge up with a hearty breakfast at Scran + Roadie, across the road on Saltmarket.
How to spend the day
To keep your itinerary varied, browse the stalls at The Barras weekend market for vintage fashions, antiques, household items and offbeat artworks. It’s a Glasgow institution, open from 10am on Sunday.
Next, soak up some fascinating culture by the university at the Hunterian Art Gallery, with its impressive assembly of paintings, prints and Scottish portraits and landscapes. The Hunterian Museum houses a more curious collection of medical specimens, dinosaur bones and ephemera assembled by one-time student William Hunter (1718–1783). Also duck into the The Mackintosh House, a reconstruction of the architect’s former home.
Pause for lunch at lively gastropub The Finnieston, grab a midday curry at Glasgow stalwart Mother India, or try imaginative Scottish cooking at Stravaigin, where the chef pushes the boundaries of originality without breaking the bank.
Spitfire Hall at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Jeff Whyte/Shutterstock
Continue the cultural quest at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, a Victorian treasure house covering everything from Salvador Dalí’s Christ of St John of the Cross to Micronesian shark-tooth swords and a century-old stuffed elephant. Afterward, walk around the expanse of Kelvingrove Park or roam into the Victorian glasshouse and among the woodland groves of Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens.
Alternatively, swap Kelvingrove for the impressive artworks of the Burrell Collection. Wealthy industrialist Sir William Burrell gathered all manner of art starting in his teens until his death at the ripe old age of 96, including Chinese porcelain, medieval furniture, 16th-century tapestries and paintings by Cézanne and Degas.
Dinner
It’s worth heading back to the university quarter for the creative Scottish grub at the Ubiquitous Chip in Ashton Lane – book ahead. Or if you skipped a curry lunch, sample chicken tikka masala at Shish Mahal, the Glasgow curry house where the dish was invented.
Barrowland Ballroom. georgeclerk/Getty Images After dark
To go out with a bang, check the listings at the futuristic venues in the redeveloped docklands by the River Clyde, where a significant portion of the shipbuilding and trading for the British Empire once took place. The OVO Hydro arena attracts big stadium names such as Tom Grennan and Lewis Capaldi, while the Scottish Event Campus Armadillo hosts theatrical concerts and shows.
Plan B? Grab a drink at the hip, arty Barras Art and Design in the Barras market, followed by a gig at Glasgow’s other legendary live music venue, Barrowland Ballroom – a great spot to tune into both familiar rock names and emerging talent.
This article was adapted from Lonely Planet’s Scotland and Pocket Glasgow guidebooks, published in June 2025.