8 Things You Need To Know Before Going To Glasgow

 


Glasgow has been my home since March and for most of my life, I have considered this city home and now I can truly say that it's an amazing city with plenty to offer. If you're looking for great museums and awesome bars, then Glasgow might just be worth visiting. It's also a very liveable city and loads of people come to the Western Scottish city as the universities have a great reputation. It's important to know what Glasgow is really about as this city is hugely misunderstood. 

1. Getting To Glasgow

If you live in the UK, it's possible to take the train or coach to Glasgow, Glasgow central, Queen Street station and the coach terminal are all located right in the city centre. Flying to Glasgow is possibly easier and there are two airports, Glasgow airport and Prestwick airport. To get from Prestwick to Glasgow, it's possible to take the train, however you're more likely to land at Glasgow airport. The transport to get into the city centre from the airport isn't the best, however I recommend taking the shuttle bus. Taking a taxi proves way too extortionate, once I was charged £40 to go from the airport to my house.


2. Getting Around Glasgow

Public transport in Glasgow isn't the best and it's a fairly walkable city, but if you come here, you may have to rely on public transport. Glasgow has a subway, but it is very flawed. The subway only has one line which goes in a circle meaning that there are only a few places that you can get to using it, a return ticket also costs £3.30. The most common form of public transport is to take the bus, knowing which bus to take can be quite confusing, however this can be cleared up using google maps. 

3. It's Not A Touristy City

You wouldn't think Glasgow was one of the top ten holiday destinations in Europe and you'd be right. It's a much less known Scottish city compared to Edinburgh. This means that finding accommodation can be difficult, there are hardly hostels for backpackers and most places charge about £40 or over a night. However, being in a lesser-known city isn't that bad, it's so much better than an overrated city which gets constant praise when in reality it's a dump. There are no crowds of tourists anywhere, it isn't watered down for tourists and the city doesn't lie to you. Loads of streets in the city centre look absolutely dilapidated, however in other parts there are some really beautiful places which are completely unknown by tourists and even locals. 

Sauchiehall Street looks like something out of Fallout


4. Football Is Taken Very Seriously

Glasgow is home to the Old Firm, possibly the biggest rivalry in European football, it is notorious as the violence goes beyond football, but it's also about religious sectarianism. You might not get attacked for wearing green or blue, but there's a high chance that you will get dirty looks from people. If you want to buy a football shirt as a souvenir, I'd say it's best to just get a Scotland top to wear during your visit. On match days of either team, the traffic around Parkhead and Ibrox will be very busy and people may be displaying rowdy behaviour, especially in pubs. In most cases, this is just them having a bit of fun and if you're not a fan of either club, I recommend steering clear of either Celtic or Rangers pubs. 

Firhill Stadium - known to be Scotland's very own Bernabeu

Glasgow is also home to Queen's Park FC, one of the oldest clubs in world football and Partick Thistle. Partick Thistle's ground is about a 15 minute walk away from me and although they're in the 3rd tier of Scottish football, their fanbase is distanced from sectarianism. 

5. Some Museums Are Free 

There are some brilliant museums which aren't to be missed, a must visit is the Kelvingrove Museum which is a very interesting place with a little bit of everything. Down towards the side of the Clyde is the Riverside Museum, it's also got admission free of charge and is certainly worth visiting. The Riverside Museum is a fascinating place full of loads of different kinds of vehicles such as cars and trains. There are a few more museums that you can visit for free, but Kelvingrove and Riverside museum are the two which are worth visiting. 

6. It's A Safe City

The reputation that Glasgow gets for knife crime and drugs is exaggerated. I have seen on a website somewhere that Glasgow had been considered more dangerous than Grozny. The risk of being a victim of crime if you walk around the city centre, mugging and pickpocketing is extremely rare. There are no scams that I'm aware of, but there are a few professional beggars on the streets, but they are completely harmless. I'd even say that it's fairly safe to walk around at night, however you do have to be careful of drunk people who might be looking for a fight, it's someone seems aggressive, just walk away. There are a few inner-city areas which have a reputation for being sketchy, the areas of Parkhead and Possilpark are known to be bad place, but there's no reason to go there in the first place.

7. Drinking In Public Is Prohibited 

It might come as a surprise that drinking in public in Glasgow is considered against the law, even some people do it and get away with it anyway. If the police find you drinking in public, they may just ask you to pour it out or they could even give you a fine. Furthermore, it's not quite common to see people drinking in public, however it's more common to see people smoking weed in public and the smell of it is in a lot of places around the parks. 

8. There Are Loads Of Great Pubs Around

One of the things that makes Glasgow a great city, there are a number of decent bars around the West End. One of my favourite pubs is the Inn Deep which has a huge selection of craft beers on tap. Near towards Maryhill is the Brewhaus, where you can have some decent food and there's a huge selection of beers from all over the world such as Super Bock and Brahma. There are loads of pubs with character in the West End area, there's also Bar Brel on Ashton Lane and The Oran Mor which is inside of an old church. 



Is Glasgow worth visiting? Definitely yes, but I don't think it should be the first place you should come to in Scotland. If you want to get an experience of Scottish culture, I recommend going to Edinburgh first and if you want to see some amazing places, they are not far from Glasgow. Loch Lomond, The Trossachs and Glencoe are all fairly within close driving distance of Glasgow. 



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