Glasgow & Inverness, United Kingdom

Glasgow is the most Scottish of cities, boasting a unique blend of friendliness, energy and urban chaos. It features excellent museums and art galleries as well as numerous good-value restaurants, countless pubs and bars. In Northern Scotland, Inverness is a busy and prosperous hub and a good jumping-off point for exploring the more remote parts of the Highlands.

Getting to and around Glasgow & Inverness

Glasgow

Glasgow International Airport is 16km west of the city, and Glasgow Prestwick Airport 48km southwest of Glasgow. Many budget airlines fly from Prestwick Airport to London Stanstead Airport. There are buses every 10 or 15 minutes from Glasgow International Airport to Buchanan bus station. There are taxis available at both airports.

All long-distance coaches arrive and depart from Buchanan Bus Station. Buses from London are very competitive with a variety of lines available. Prices and the duration of the journeys vary. There's a daily direct overnight bus from Heathrow Airport to Glasgow, usually departing late evening.

As a general rule, Glasgow Central Train Station serves Southern Scotland, England and Wales, and Queen St Train Station serves the north and east. There are buses every 10 minutes between them. From London's Euston station there are up to seven direct trains a day (5 hour journey). They are much faster and more comfortable than the bus. There are also up to seven direct services from London King's Cross. Purchase a Freedom of Scotland travelpass or a Highland Rover pass if you plan to travel extensively around Scotland by train.

The best way to get between Glasgow's city centre and the West End is to use the Underground. The service is easy to use: there's a flat fare or you can buy a day ticket. The main city stations are Buchanan Street (connected to Queen Street train station by a moving walkway) and St Enoch. Hillhead station is in the heart of the West End, near the university. Bus travel around the city is often confusing. The Travel Centre on St Enoch's Square provides information on travel passes and timetables.

Inverness

There are direct air services from London and other European cities to Inverness. The airport is at Dalcross, seven miles east of the city. Both buses and taxis are available into town. From Europe it's often cheaper to fly to London, and then catch a train or bus north. There are reasonably good train and long distance buses from major cities around Britain.

Straddling a nexus of major road and rail routes, Inverness is an inevitable port of call if you're exploring the Scottish Highlands by public transport. Buses and trains leave the city regularly for communities across the far north of Scotland. The bus station and train station both lie off Academy Street to the east of the centre

Inverness is small enough to visit on foot. Alternatively, explore the city (in good weather!) on the open-topped double-decker bus. You can buy purchase tickets on the buses, which leave from Bridge Street near the tourist office.

Glasgow Highlights

Glasgow has an interesting history and deserves at least a few days of exploration. The first settlers arrived in the 6th century to join Christian missionary Kentigern – later to become St Mungo – in his newly founded monastery. Later on, William the Lionheart gave the town an official charter in 1175 and in the mid 15th century the university was founded. The city continued to grow and Glasgow soon expanded into a major industrial port. The first cargo of tobacco from Virginia offloaded in Glasgow in 1674, and led to a boom in trade with the colonies until American independence.

Following the Industrial Revolution, coal from the abundant seams of Lanarkshire fuelled the ironworks all around the Clyde, worked by the cheap hands of the Highlanders and, later, those fleeing the Irish potato famine of the 1840s.

The Victorian age transformed Glasgow beyond recognition. The population boomed and new tenement blocks swept into the suburbs in an attempt to cope with the choking influxes of people. By the turn of the 20th century, Glasgow's industries had been honed into one massive shipbuilding culture. In the harsh economic climate of the 1930s, however, unemployment spiralled. Shipbuilding, and many associated industries, died away almost completely in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving the city depressed and jobless.

Although Glasgow lacks the inspiring beauty of Edinburgh, it's one of Britain's largest and most interesting cities. Featuring appealing Victorian architecture and several distinguished suburbs of terraced squares and crescents, this southern Scottish city is lively, interesting and back on its feet again.

Glasgow's top attraction, the Burrell Collection, was amassed by shipping magnate Sir William Burrell before it was donated to the city. Now housed in a prize-winning museum in the Pollok Country Park, this idiosyncratic collection includes everything from Chinese porcelain and medieval furniture to paintings by Renoir and Cézanne.

Glasgow Cathedral - a grand example of pre-Reformation Gothic architecture - is the only mainland Scottish cathedral to have survived the Reformation. Most of the current building dates from the 15th century (only the western towers were destroyed in the turmoil). This has been hallowed ground for over 1500 years. The cathedral is dedicated to the city's patron saint and reputed founder, St Mungo. The saint’s tomb rests in the chapel of the lower church.

The fascinating St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life & Art focuses on objects, beliefs and art from Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism. There are three galleries, representing religion as art, religious life and, on the top floor, religion in Scotland. Portrayals of Hindu gods are juxtaposed with the stunning Salvador Dalí painting St John of the Cross.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh's greatest building, the Glasgow School of Art, still houses the educational institution. It's hard not to be impressed by the precision of the design. The interior design is strikingly austere and the library, designed as an addition in 1907, is a masterpiece. Sombre oak panelling is set against angular lights adorned with primary colours, dangling down in seemingly random clusters. Now one of the most prestigious art schools in the country, the only way to see the school is by taking a student-led tour.

For an interesting experience, visit the small apartment in the Tenement House. It gives an insight into middle-class city life in the late 19th/early 20th century, with box-beds, the original kitchen and the belongings of the family who lived here for over 50 years.

Not to be outdone by Edinburgh, Glasgow has initiated several festivals of its own, starting each January with the two-week Celtic Connections music festival. February sees the City of Love, a festival celebrating St Valentine (whose partial remains lie in a Glasgow church). The city's biggest arts event is the two-week long West End Festival of music in June, with the excellent Glasgow Jazz Festival following in July.

Inverness Highlights

Inverness is the only "city" in the Highlands – a status it attained in 2000 as a millennium gesture by the government. Though boasting few conventional sights, the city's setting on the banks of the River Ness is appealing. Inverness is an obvious base for discovering the attractions of Scotland's famous Highlands and Islands. The mountains, seacliffs, glens and lochs that cover the northern two-thirds of the country make up one of Europe's last great wilderness areas.

The logical place to begin a tour of Inverness is the central 19th century Gothic Town House on High Street. Looming above the Town House and dominating the horizon is Inverness Castle, a predominantly 19th century red sandstone edifice perched above the river. It houses the Sheriff Court and, in summer, the Castle Garrison Encounter - an interactive exhibition in which the visitor plays the role of a new recruit in the 18th century Hanoverian army.

Below the castle, the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery gives a good general overview of the development of the Highlands. Informative sections on geology, geography and history cover the ground floor, while upstairs you'll find a selection of silver, taxidermy, weapons and bagpipes.

The Kiltmaker Centre in the Hector Russell shop is interesting to visit. A visitor centre explains everything you ever wanted to know about tartan, and you can see various tartan products being made in the workshop. The finished products are on sale in the showroom, along with a good selection of Highland knitwear, woven woollies and Harris tweed.

St Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral was intended by its architects to be one of the grandest buildings in Scotland. However, funds ran out before the giant twin spires of the original design could be completed. From here, you can wander a mile or so upriver to the peaceful Ness Islands, an attractive public park reached and linked by footbridges.

The approach to the city on the A9 over the barren Monadhliath Mountains from Perth and Aviemore provides a spectacular introduction to the district, with the Great Glen to the left, stretching southwest towards Fort William. Beyond this are the peaks of Glen Affric. To the north is the huge, rounded form of Ben Nevis (Britain’s highest mountain), whilst to the east lies the Moray Firth, boasting a lovely coastline and some of the region's best castles and historic sites. The gentle and fertile green landscape provides a contrast to the windswept moorland and mountains that almost surround it.

If you are traveling from Aberdeen, there is a lot to see en route to Inverness including the low-key holiday resort of Nairn, with its long white-sand beaches and championship golf course. Nearby is Cawdor Castle (featured in Shakespeare's Macbeth) and Fort George, one of several impressive Hanoverian bastions erected in the wake of the Jacobite rebellion.

One of the main attractions of the Highlands is Loch Ness. Day tours depart from the tourist office or, if you have a car, you can visit independently. Loch Ness stretches for 37km from Fort Augustus almost as far as Inverness. Its bitterly cold waters have been extensively explored for Nessie, the elusive Loch Ness monster. Although some visitors claim to get lucky, most have to be satisfied with a visit to the fascinating Loch Ness Exhibition in Drumnadrochit.

Nearby is the 14th century Urquhart Castle which was taken and lost by Edward I, held for David II against Edward III and fought over by everyone who passed this way. The castle was finally blown up in 1692 and its remains perch dramatically on the edge of the loch.