Glasgow

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city and has undergone one of the most remarkable urban transformations in European history. Once a byword for post-industrial decline, shipyard closures and urban deprivation, it has reinvented itself as a European City of Architecture and Design (1999), European Capital of Culture (1990) and one of the UK's most vibrant, creative and genuinely welcoming cities. The Charles Rennie Mackintosh legacy is the starting point for any cultural tour. The reconstructed Glasgow School of Art (the original Mackintosh building suffered devastating fires in 2014 and 2018 and is being restored) represents the pinnacle of Arts and Crafts design; his Hill House in Helensburgh and the Willow Tea Rooms in the city centre are accessible. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is one of the UK's finest free museums, housed in a beautiful red sandstone building in the West End. The Riverside Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid, is a spectacular transport museum on the Clyde. Glasgow's food and bar scene has exploded in quality and ambition. Finnieston in the West End, along Argyle Street, is the best neighbourhood for restaurants and craft beer. The Barras market, the Merchant City and the East End's creative industries zone are all worth exploring. The people of Glasgow are famously direct and welcoming — the city's much-cited friendliness is entirely genuine. Day trips to Loch Lomond, the Trossachs and Stirling Castle are straightforward.