Glasgow tourist attractions

Built in the 19th-century, this huge, sandstone fantasy castle is home to one of the finest civic collections in the world. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery is best known for its famous Dali painting, Christ of St John of the Cross, but there are also works by the likes of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet, Gauguin, Pissarro, Cézanne and Renoir. As if that wasn’t enough, the gallery also boasts a World War II Spitfire, and a stuffed elephant which was once a resident of the Glasgow Zoo.

The work of celebrated architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, has come to be synonymous with Glasgow, and admirers of his work should definitely visit Mackintosh at the Willow on Sauchiehall Street. Originally created for one of his contemporary supporters, these trendy tea rooms are an excellent example of Mackintosh’s superb ability to fuse function with decoration.

Glasgow’s famous 15th-century cathedral has long been a focus for Christian learning and culture in Scotland. The exquisite interiors are illuminated by vivid stained-glass windows and the sacristy was the birthplace of the city’s university over 500 hundred years ago.

Dominating the West End skyline, the turreted tower of the University of Glasgow, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the mid-19th century, overlooks the glades edging the River Kelvin; the university itself was founded in 1451, which ranks it as the fourth oldest in the English-speaking world.

The florid splendour of the City Chambers, opened by Queen Victoria in 1888, occupies the entire eastern end of George Square. Its intricately-detailed facade includes high-minded friezes typical of the era, and the vaulted ceiling of the entrance hall is covered with an astonishing 1.5 million Venetian mosaic tiles.

This striking multi-million-pound museum houses more than 3,000 objects that trace the history of transport, most of them relating to Scotland, from a velodrome of bicycles suspended from the ceiling to a wall of classic cars and motorbikes spanning the decades. Most popular, particularly with children, are the old trams, bus and subway carriage – climb aboard to get a real sense of travel in days gone by.

Often described as the Highlands in miniature, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park boasts a magnificent diversity of scenery, with distinctive peaks, silvery lochs and mysterious, forest covered slopes. The area covers over seven hundred square miles of scenic territory, and outdoors enthusiasts come in droves for hiking, tours, mountain-bike excursions, horse riding, fishing and boat trips on the lochs.