Insight Guides Pocket Glasgow (Travel Guide eBook)

By Insight Guides

Insight Guides Pocket Glasgow

Travel made easy. Ask local experts.  
The definitive pocket-sized travel guide.

Features of this travel guide to Glasgow:
- Inspirational itineraries: discover the best destinations, sights and excursions, highlighted with stunning photography
- Historical and cultural insights: delve into the city's rich history and culture, and learn all about its people, art and traditions
- Practical full-colour maps: with every major attraction highlighted, the maps make on-the-ground navigation easy
- Key tips and essential information: from transport to tipping, we've got you covered
- The ultimate travel tool: download the free app and eBook to access all this and more from your phone or tablet
- Covers: Glasgow's Old Town; Cathedral Square; Trongate; Merchant City; Glasgow Central; Centre West; Clydeside; Kelvinbridge; Southside; Day trips to Loch Lomond, the Clyde Valley; Hebridean excursions to the isles of Arran and Bute

Looking for a comprehensive guide to Scotland? Check out Insight Guides Scotland for a detailed and entertaining look at all the region has to offer.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839052422

Insight Guides

Pictorial travel guide to Arizona & the Grand Canyon with a free eBook provides all you need for every step of your journey. With in-depth features on culture and history, stunning colour photography and handy maps, it’s perfect for inspiration and finding out when to go to Arizona & the Grand Canyon and what to see in Arizona & the Grand Canyon. 

Book preview

How To Use This E-Book

Getting Around the e-Book

This Pocket Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration and planning advice for your visit to Glasgow, and is also the perfect on-the-ground companion for your trip.

The guide begins with our selection of Top 10 Attractions, plus a Perfect Itinerary feature to help you plan unmissable experiences. The Introduction and History chapters paint a vivid cultural portrait of Glasgow, and the Where to Go chapter gives a complete guide to all the sights worth visiting. You will find ideas for activities in the What to Do section, while the Eating Out chapter describes the local cuisine and gives listings of the best restaurants. The Travel Tips offer practical information to help you plan your trip. Finally, there are carefully selected hotel listings.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in Glasgow are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map], tap once to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

You’ll find lots of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of Glasgow. Simply double-tap an image to see it in full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years’ experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors, whose expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. Each destination is carefully researched by regional experts to ensure our guides provide the very latest information. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide you to the best places to eat, go out and shop, so you can be confident that when we say a place is special, we really mean it.

© 2020 Apa Digital (CH) AG and Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Glasgow’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

Top Attraction #2

Top Attraction #3

Top Attraction #4

Top Attraction #5

Top Attraction #6

Top Attraction #7

Top Attraction #8

Top Attraction #9

Top Attraction #10

A Perfect Day in Glasgow

Introduction

One City, Two Halves

Cultural Capital

People Make Glasgow

A Brief History

A Place of Pilgrimage

Tobacco and Cotton

Industrial Purpose

Victorian Glasgow and Bust

Renaissance

Referenda and Future prospects

Historical landmarks

Where To Go

Pre-Industrial Glasgow

Cathedral Square

Glasgow Cathedral

The Necropolis

The East End

The Breweries

Glasgow Green

The People’s Palace

The Merchant City

Trongate

Candleriggs

Ingram Street

Glasgow Central

George Square

The Gallery of Modern Art

Buchanan Street

Nelson Mandela Place

Buchanan Galleries

Centre West

Sauchiehall Street

St Vincent Street

Charing Cross

The West End

Kelvingrove

Glasgow University

The Hunterians

Byres Road and around

Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Clydeside

Riverside

SEC Complex

Pacific Quay

Southside

Bellahouston Park

Pollok Country Park

Other notable parks

Hampden Park

Excursions

The Trossachs

The Clyde Valley

Islands of the Clyde

Bute

Arran

What To Do

Entertainment

Live Music and Theatre

Clubs and Pubs

Sport and Recreation

Spectator Sports

Golf

Biking

Hiking

Boating

Fishing

Pony Trekking and Riding

Skiing & snowboarding

Bagpiping

Cooking Classes

Shopping

What to Buy

Family-Friendly

Calendar of Events

Eating Out

When to Eat

What to Eat

Breakfast

Soups and Broths

Main Courses

Afternoon Tea and Dessert

What to Drink

Restaurants

Central Glasgow & Merchant City

West End

East End

Southside

A–Z Travel Tips

A

Accommodation

Airports

B

Bicycle hire

Budgeting for your trip

C

Car hire

Climate

Clothing

Crime and safety

Customs and entry requirements (see Visas)

D

Driving

E

Electricity

Embassies and consulates

Emergencies

G

Getting there

Guides and tours

H

Health and medical care

L

Language

LGBTQ travellers

M

Maps

Media

Money

O

Opening hours

P

Police

Post offices

Public holidays

T

Telephones

Time zones

Tipping

Tourist information

Transport

Travellers with disabilities

V

Visas and entry requirements

W

Websites and internet access

Y

Youth hostels

Recommended Hotels

Central Glasgow & Merchant City

The West End & Clyde

Southside

North of the City

Glasgow’s Top 10 Attractions

Top Attraction #1

iStock

Kelvingrove Park

Quintessential Victorian park, containing the renowned Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #2

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Charles Rennie Mackintosh

The architectural legacy of the modernist movement’s pioneer is all around. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #3

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Culture and nightlife

Cutting-edge theatre, bustling arts centres, lively music venues and nightspots to suit many a taste. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #4

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Glasgow Cathedral

A 12th-century cathedral surrounded by the city’s oldest buildings, and the burial site of St Mungo. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #5

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Whisky

A distillery overlooking the Clyde, and numerous bars filled to the rafters with whisky. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #6

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University of Glasgow

Captivating cloisters and imaginative exhibitions at the university’s Hunterian Museum. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #7

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George Square

A great place to relax on a sunny day, surrounded by central Glasgow’s best shopping and dining. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #8

Getty Images

Scottish football

Old Firm rivalries, international matches and plenty of other teams make Glasgow the home of Scottish football. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #9

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Riverside Museum

Family-friendly transport museum in Zaha Hadid’s impressive riverside building. For more information, click here.

Top Attraction #10

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Loch Lomond

The jewel of the Trossachs, surrounded by pretty villages and hiking trails. For more information, click here.

A Perfect Day in Glasgow

9.00am

Glasgow Necropolis

Get a sense of Glasgow’s rich past as well as a good view of the city from the vantage point of the Glasgow Necropolis. Wander among the tombs of the city’s revered past citizens and keep an eye out for tombs designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Alexander ‘Greek’ Thompson and others.

10.30am

Tron Gate

Discover Victorian Glasgow in the form of the grand monuments and statues on Glasgow Green and learn about the city’s industrial past at the People’s Palace. Stop for a cup of tea in the museum café or grab a pint in one of Glasgow’s oldest pubs, The Saracen Head, on Gallowgate.

12.00pm

Explore Merchant City

Cross over from Tron Gate into the dynamic and historic Merchant Quarter, past the old 18th century sandstone buildings and warehouses that have been transformed into gin bars, glamorous restaurants, stylish boutiques and concept stores. Look out for the huge Badminton, Billy Connolly and Fellow Glasgow Residents murals that adorn several buildings.

1.30pm

Lunch

Have a burger heaped high with fillings at Maggie Mays or stop in at one of the cafes of Merchant City, like McCune Smith, for a craft coffee and a light bite to fuel up for the second half of the day. Then head towards Glasgow Central, stopping in at the Gallery of Modern Art on the way.

3.00pm

Shopping in Glasgow Central

Start out in George Square, surrounded by its grand public buildings, and indulge in some shopping at Princes Square Shopping Centre and along Buchanan Street before heading to the Willow Tea Rooms, its exquisite interiors designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, for afternoon tea.

4.30pm

Wander along the Clyde

Follow the riverside path west along the north bank of the Clyde past iconic modern riverside monuments like the Clyde Arc and SEC Armadillo. Cross the river at Bell’s Bridge to see traditional steamships like the PS Waverley, the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world, moored to the quay beside the Science Centre.

7.00pm

Dinner in the West End

Begin your evening with a tipple in The Ben Nevis, a traditional Glaswegian pub with occasional live folk music. Then pick from among a fine selection of restaurants along Argyle Street or around Byres Road in Glasgow’s lively West End to sample some classic Scottish fare.

9.00pm

‘Glesga’ nightlife

Sample Scotland’s finest clubbing scene at a city centre venue like Sub Club. Alternatively, catch a live theatrical performance at one of Glasgow’s many theatres, or some live music at Òran Mór in the West End or the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. There are plenty of smaller gigs at various pubs across the city too.

Introduction

Scotland’s largest metropolitan area, and very much the country’s phoenix from the