How to Time Your Trip to Glasgow

Glasgow is a thriving modern city, which retains many reminders of its past. Notice this exciting mixture of old and new in the architecture, with perfectly preserved Victorian and Georgian buildings next to wildly avant-garde structures, and in the art scene, famous in Europe for both its traditional and boldly experimental theater, music and dance.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

General Considerations

1. Be prepared for rain, which is always possible in Glasgow. The seasons are softened by the Gulf Stream. May and June are the sunniest months, while December and January are the most windy. The average January low is 35 degrees F, and the average July high is 68 degrees F.
2. Find out about festivals, attractions and live performances.
3. Plan your flight, transportation and accommodations.
4. Check the weather forecast for Glasgow shortly before leaving.

Attractions and Seasonal Events

5. Experience the Celtic world's enchanting music and culture at Celtic Connections in the second half of January.
6. Get blown away at the World Pipe Band Championships, a one-day affair in the middle of August.
7. Sip Scottish single malts with some cool cats at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival in the beginning of July.
8. Attend competitions of Scotland's traditional sports, including caber-tossing and hammer-throwing throughout the summer. Get details from the Scottish Tourism Web site.
9. Visit the exquisite 13th-century Glasgow Cathedral. It seems strange today, but it was this structure that first put Glasgow on the map.
10. Tour Glasgow's new Gallery of Modern Art, located downtown in the neoclassical Royal Exchange Building.
11. Play golf even if it's not your game; this is the land where it was invented. There are courses around Glasgow, but the most famous Scottish links - St. Andrew's, Gleneagles and Troon - are a bit further.