GlasgowTravel Guide

One scheduling fact shapes everything else: the Barras market runs Saturdays and Sundays only, typically from around ten in the morning until about four in the afternoon, with some stalls opening earlier and the indoor food hall running later.

The University of Glasgow's Gothic Revival tower dominates the West End skyline, but the secret is underneath: the vaulted undercroft cloisters, all ribbed columns and long shadows, open to anyone who wanders in.

Still the Southside, still skipped.

One street over from the busy Byres Road, this cobbled back lane glows with strings of lights, a tiny cinema and pubs whose beer gardens stack up the walls.

The city's oldest public park stretches along the Clyde east of the centre, anchored by the People's Palace, a museum of Glasgow's own social history — tenement life, wash-houses, dance halls — fronted by the ornate Doulton Fountain.

Breakfast in Glasgow means a soft morning roll holding a slice of Lorne sausage — square, peppery, sliced from a block rather than stuffed into a casing — and, if you are doing it properly, a potato scone alongside and a mug of tea strong enough to stand a spoon in.

Glasgow's South Asian communities have shaped how this city eats for sixty years, and the standard at the cheap end is unusually high.

Elsewhere pakora is a starter.

Traditional pubs across the centre and the Southside serve Scotch pies and steak pies at prices that shame most British cities.