Things to do in Glasgow right now
Glasgow has the best free museums of any British city outside London and it rains often enough that you will use them. When it clears, the West End, the parks and the Clyde come into their own, and Loch Lomond is an hour away. After dark the city is about music, food and talk in roughly equal measure. This list is re-ordered for the weather and the time in Glasgow right now.
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Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
West End
Dali, a Spitfire, dinosaurs and a daily organ recital in a red sandstone palace, free.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Riverside Museum and the Tall Ship
Pointhouse Quay
Trams, locomotives, a recreated 1900s street and a three-masted ship moored outside, all free.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Ashton Lane and the West End
Hillhead
A cobbled lane of fairy lights, pubs, restaurants and a cinema behind Byres Road.
Mostly under cover.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
The Burrell Collection
Pollok Country Park
A shipping magnate’s nine thousand treasures in a glass building in the woods, free.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Half a day
Glasgow Science Centre
Pacific Quay
Three floors of hands-on science, a planetarium and an IMAX in a silver shell on the Clyde.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Glasgow Botanic Gardens and Kibble Palace
West End
A Victorian glasshouse of tree ferns and statues in a free riverside garden at the top of Byres Road.
Mostly under cover. Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
University of Glasgow cloisters
Gilmorehill
Gothic Revival towers on a hill above the park, with the cloisters that stood in for Hogwarts.
Mostly under cover. Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
Gallery of Modern Art
Royal Exchange Square
Contemporary art in a neoclassical bank, with the traffic-cone statue outside, free.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis
Townhead
The medieval cathedral and, on the hill behind it, a Victorian city of the dead with the best view in town.
Free.
- Free
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
The Hunterian and the Mackintosh House
University of Glasgow
Scotland’s oldest public museum, with Roman finds, Whistler and Mackintosh’s reassembled home.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Free; Mackintosh House cheap
Glasgow Film Theatre
Rose Street
An Art Deco independent cinema with three screens and a bar, home of the Glasgow Film Festival.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Mackintosh at the Willow
Sauchiehall Street
Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s tea rooms restored to 1903, with afternoon tea in the Salon de Luxe.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Exhibition cheap; tea by booking
Barrowland Ballroom
Gallowgate
The sprung-floored ballroom under the neon sign that bands call the best venue in the world.
Comes alive in the evening.
- £10 to £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Celtic Park stadium tour
Parkhead
Behind the scenes at Paradise, with the trophy room and a walk out of the tunnel.
Mostly under cover.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
Ibrox stadium tour
Ibrox
The marble staircase, the trophy room and the pitch at Rangers’ listed stadium.
Mostly under cover.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain
- Good with kids
St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art
Cathedral precinct
A small museum of the world’s religions beside the cathedral, with a Zen garden, free.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter. Free.
- Free
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Finnieston
Finnieston
The strip of Argyle Street that became the city’s restaurant quarter, with the crane at the end.
- £10 to £25
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
The Tenement House
Garnethill
A flat kept exactly as its owner left it in 1965, a time capsule of Glasgow tenement life.
Indoors, so the rain doesn't matter.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut
St Vincent Street
The 300-capacity venue where Oasis were signed, with a gig almost every night.
Comes alive in the evening.
- Under £10
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
Theatre Royal
Cowcaddens
Home of Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet, with a striking modern foyer on an old auditorium.
Comes alive in the evening.
- Over £25
- Indoors
- Under 2 hours
City Centre Mural Trail
City centre
Two dozen giant murals on gable ends around the centre, from St Mungo to a taxi full of tigers.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Kelvingrove Park
West End
The West End’s Victorian park along the Kelvin, between the museum and the university.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
Pollok Country Park
Pollokshaws
Woodland, a river, a stately home and a fold of Highland cattle, ten minutes by train from the centre.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Half a day
- Good with kids
Loch Lomond from Balloch
Day trip
Fifty minutes by train to the bonnie banks: boat trips, lochside walks and the start of the Highlands.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Under £10
- Outdoors
- A full day
- Good with kids
Free; train fare, cruises ticketed
Glasgow Green
Calton
The oldest park in the city, along the Clyde, with the Doulton Fountain and the Templeton carpet factory.
Wet right now, so save this for a dry spell.
- Free
- Outdoors
- Under 2 hours
- Good with kids
The Barras
Calton
The city’s weekend flea market, part indoor, part street, with the Barrowland Ballroom above it.
Runs on Saturdays and Sundays.
- Free
- In and out
- Under 2 hours
- Fine in rain