A WEEKEND IN GLASGOW: WHAT TO DO AND SEE

I love Scotland. Many years ago I spent two weeks there with my family and since then I've returned twice over the years, visiting Edinburgh and on a car road trip across the Highlands - super recommended!! Last June, in the early stages of summer and over a cup of coffee in Barcelona with a friend of mine, we realized just how upset we'd be once the summer holidays were over. September, together with January, are the worst months ever! So, on the spur of the moment, we took our iPhones out and booked a Ryanair flight to Glasgow in late September. Why Glasgow? Cheapest option. What did we know about Glasgow? Almost nothing. It was an AMAZING weekend break and today I wanted to tell you about it and give you my list of recommendations. Enjoy ;-)

Glasgow. How to get there

We flew to Glasgow Prestwick airport from Barcelona. As I already told you, it was an impromptu decision... if we had planned it a little bit we would have chosen Glasgow International Airport, only 11 KM west of the city centre (6.9 mi).  But you know Ryanair... so we ended in Glasgow's second airport, located 51KM from the center of Glasgow (32 mi), at 23.55h on Friday night. The airport was practically empty (only the passengers of our flight actually) and 90% of them had their own car waiting for them outside. The only option was to take the  X77 bus (departing 1h later) so we decided to take a taxi. And yes - it was way too expensive. But we were tired and we had a Trossachs tour scheduled for the next day starting at 8:30h!

Where to stay. 

As you probably noted, it was a low budget weekend, so we weren't looking for fancy hotels this time :p After a quick online search, we decided on Premier Inn, voted Hotel Chain of the Year at the British Travel Awards, and we booked at their Glasgow City Centre Argyle Street Hotel. We liked it because it served traditional English breakfast (I always prefer to have it at the hotel!) and it was centrally located (only 5 min away from Glasgow central train station, where we would take the train to the airport on Sunday). We paid 214 GBP for a double room, 2 nights, including breakfast. 

The hotel was OK, average. Slept well, clean room, nice staff, nice breakfast... worst part: no free wifi! This is something I personally can't understand... You can read my review on TripAdvisor here :)

What to do in Glasgow? Go on a day trip to the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park!!!

When we booked our Glasgow trip and told our family and friends, almost everyone said: "why Glasgow instead of Edinburgh? It's not that nice and you can see everything in half a day! It's very industrial looking, you won't like it" bla bla bla. Of course we knew Edinburgh was a very beautiful town - I've already been there and absolutely love it! But we chose Glasgow because it was cheaper, and because we knew it was a perfect starting point to visit Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park - the REAL reason of our trip :)

It was SO BEAUTIFUL! And we couldn't believe our luck: it didn't rain at all for the whole weekend, the sun was up and shinning - and this is exceptional in Scotland as you probably know! 

Just take a look at the pictures below and you will see how fantastic it was. I recommend you book the day tour with Discover Scotland Tours: we paid 35 GBP each for their Loch Lomond, Stirling Castle and The Trossachs Tour and enjoyed every minute of it :) Again, you can read my review on TripAdvisor here :)

What else to do in Glasgow? 

1. Shop in Glasgow's Style Mile: Buchanan Street! Shops open on Sundays, so that's what we did on Sunday morning.
2. Visit Glasgow's medieval Cathedral and the Necropolis - great views from the top of the hill!
3. On Saturday night we had dinner in central Glasgow: many great pubs & restaurants to choose from!

So all in all, this was my super short weekend break in Glasgow :) I would absolutely recommend it if you plan to do the day trip and visit the Lake Lomond and The Trossachs, it's enough if you leave the city of Glasgow for the last day, do some shopping and tour the city and the Cathedral ;-)

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond

pretty village of Luss

shop in Luss village

shop in Luss village

Luss village

having lunch in Aberfoyle village

Sterling Castle

view from Sterling Castle

Sterling Castle

view from Sterling Castle

Glasgow Cathedral

Glasgow Necropolis

breakfast at the Premier Inn Argyle Street Hotel