Edinburgh is the place to be if you want to immerse yourself in the traditional Scottish culture. However, Glasgow is the perfect choice if you want a bustling, dynamic, modern city with a vibrant nightlife.
These cities appeal to various individuals for different reasons, so picking which one to visit is ultimately a matter of personal choice.
Scotland is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. While traveling to the north is necessary to see Scotland’s breathtaking grandeur, your trip should also include visiting two of Scotland’s major cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
They draw a sizable number of tourists yearly due to their unique beauty and distinct attractions. However, some tourists need clarification about which city is best for their Scottish adventure.
With only an hour’s worth of proximity, these locations feel far more different than the distance between them. Having various cultures, activities, and landscapes, Glasgow and Edinburgh symbolize two drastically different faces of Scotland.
So if you feel torn between Glasgow and Edinburgh, this article is for you.
Glasgow at a glance
Glasgow is Scotland’s biggest city, with a population of around 600,000. You can find this city along with River Clyde in the country’s west central lowlands.
Glasgow is well-known across the globe for its dynamic combination of culture, architecture, and art. It also has several museums that regularly draw large crowds of tourists. Glasgow also has the third-oldest system of underground railways in the world.
Culture
Glasgow has combined traditional Scottish culture with modern and foreign elements caused by its increasing population of millennials. It is an eclectic combination of old and new and gritty and refined, much like its architecture.
You can also observe some differences in the local culture within the city’s borders. The majority of the residents in the East End are the working class, whereas a sizeable population of University of Glasgow students occupies the West End.
As a result, the regional tongue, or Glasgow patter, is most prevalent outside the city’s core and west end, where foreigners are less evident.
Traffic
For seven reasons, traffic congestion is present in Glasgow:
- Cars are affordable, and many families own more than one car, meaning plenty of vehicles are on the road in a day.
- Most people in Glasgow think public transport is expensive, while some, especially those who live in villages and work nightshifts, live in areas with poor public transport networks. Hence, their only option is to drive a car, as no bus is within reach.
- People who live in the suburbs can only use a few roads when driving toward the city center. Examples of these roads are the M8, M74, and M77. Because so many people utilize these routes to go in the same direction, traffic on them becomes backed up.
- Some of these roads meet on a few main arteries, like the Great Western Road, which means many cars are heading in the same direction.
- Glasgow only has a few bridging points. There are only a few places in the city where you can cross the River Clyde. Many will need to cross the river at only a few locations, like the 170,000 vehicles passing over the Kingston Bridge daily.
- Numerous streets in the city center are old. Some of these roads were already present in the medieval period. Hence, cars had trouble fitting into tiny roadways, causing bumper-to-bumper situations.
- In Glasgow, heavy delivery vehicles often cause damage to the roads, especially those built in the olden times. Hence, significant delays and bottlenecks happen as they close and require resurfacing, causing traffic congestion.
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Accommodation
Glasgow is the hub of Scotland’s most incredible accommodations. Three of the most popular accommodations in the city include:
Radisson Red Hotel
The Radisson Red Hotel believes in being your home away from home in Glasgow.
This hotel is close to some of the city’s most popular restaurants and attractions, such as the Red Sky Bar, the Clyde Arc Bridge, and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
Hence, the Radisson Red Hotel is an excellent destination for tourists who are not only hoping to get the best of Glasgow at their fingertips but are also looking forward to a luxurious, enjoyable, and relaxing experience.
The rooms at Radisson Red range from £103.05 to £112.85.
Dakota Glasgow
Dakota Glasgow is a modern and classic boutique hotel with spacious and stylish rooms. Located at the city’s heart, this hotel is only a walk away from Glasgow’s shopping centers, nightlife, and gastronomic scene.
It is also near the Glasgow Film Theater, the Glasgow School of Art, and the Bon Accord. So if you’re looking to spend your Scotland trip basking in the country’s beauty and sophistication, then Dakota Glasgow is a perfect choice.
Prices range from £112.75 to £112.85.
Point A Hotel
Point A is a cozy, central hotel recognized as excellent value for money. It has a guest atrium that’s perfect for dining and working. This accommodation has bedrooms that have an airy, clean aesthetic that looks excellent with their trademark mood lighting.
You can find Point A Hotel on Buchanan Street, just a few minutes away from Queen Street Station, Glasgow’s galleries, and shopping establishments. It’s also close to the city’s train and bus stations, so public transportation for tours won’t be a problem.
Staying at Point A Hotel costs around £57.
Edinburgh at a glance
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the country’s second most populous city. Located in Southern Scotland, the beauty of this city is picturesque and spectacular. Edinburgh is more than just a face.
To this day, it may still embody Scotland’s historical and architectural style. Still, Edinburgh also has an array of fun and jaw-dropping itineraries for you and your family.
Known as the world’s best festival city, Edinburgh is a formidable force in terms of heritage, history, comedy, art, culture, education, and many more.
Culture
The city of Edinburgh hosts several cultural organizations and centers. It has a vibrant social scene featuring the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and a lengthy and intriguing history.
The main festivals of Edinburgh, which have been held every year for more than 70 years, are the focal point of the city’s cultural life. With over 2.6 million tickets sold for more than 50,000 events in 2017, these festivals collectively rank among the most significant ticketed events in the world.
According to research from 2016, the biggest festivals in Edinburgh contributed more than £280 million to the local economy. The city, which struggles with a population doubling during the preceding festival month of August, needs help due to the festivals’ popularity.
Traffic
Edinburgh ranks fourth in terms of traffic congestion in the UK. Based on current research, traffic in Edinburgh makes driving 66% longer during rush hours at night and 53% worse in the daytime peak.
Additionally, it determined that a 30-minute commute makes drivers lose 86 hours annually due to traffic jams. Three reasons cause such traffic conditions:
- 1.46 billion vehicle miles were driven on the city’s roadways in 2020, leading to traffic issues.
- As commuters travel to and from work, the office and commercial buildings at Edinburgh Park influence traffic in that
- The Old Town in Edinburgh’s city center has crooked, twisting streets, making traffic conditions much worse in the city.
So if you want to explore Edinburgh, take note that the worst time to commute, travel, or look around is Wednesday night, between 7:00 and 8:00. The city’s weekday rush-hour travel durations are also approximately 80–85% longer than those during free-flow periods.
As a result, a trip that generally takes 30 minutes during a calm period is extended by 24 minutes during peak hours. For this reason, Edinburgh ranks well in the congestion league tables.
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Accommodation
Accommodation in Edinburgh is quite expensive. Three of the best hotels in this city include:
Cheval Old Town Chambers
The Cheval Old Town Chambers is only a five-minute walk to many of the city’s best tourist attractions, including Edinburgh Castle, the national museums, and galleries of Scotland, the Greyfriars, and even Waverly Station.
The hotel is around three wonderfully gorgeous historic courtyards, with the entrance on the Royal Mile opposite St. Giles Cathedral.
This architectural marvel fuses the deft reinterpretation of 15th-century housing projects with the thoughtful application of modern materials like zinc, glass, and stone. This harmonious union ties ancient characteristics like exposed stone and lofty ceilings to sharp, pure, contemporary layouts everywhere.
Staying at the Cheval Old Town Chambers can cost you around £145 to £370.
The Balmoral
The Balmoral is located at the eastern end of Princes Street, next to Waverley station. From The Balmoral, it would only take five minutes to walk to the National Gallery, shops, and the Old Town.
Being close to the bus, tram, and train stations, you might find the outside premises noisy. However, the congested mayhem outside quiets down once you walk past the kilted concierges.
The Balmoral is a gorgeous example of a Victorian interpretation of Renaissance architecture. Originally constructed as a railroad hostel, this accommodation comes with grand staircases, classical columns, and plasterwork with royal icing. The dome-ceilinged centerpiece enhances its modern interiors with palm trees, paintings, and a harpist on the balcony.
Rooms at the Balmoral may range from £180 to £450.
Rock House
The Rock House is a magnificent 18th-century house you can rent for a peaceful Edinburgh stay.
Located near Princes Street, this exceptional property hides behind an elaborate private entry gate at the end of a charming Georgian terrace on the slopes of Calton Hill. This apricot-walled estate is entirely secluded and is only accessible by foot.
In addition to restaurants, The Rock House is just five minutes away from various stores, theaters, and movie theaters, including one with a Michelin star and another on Calton Hill itself. This accommodation also gets many of the most excellent views that Calton Hill offers of the city.
Sleeping at The Rock House can cost you around £250 to £650.
Which city has the most beautiful views?
Glasgow is renowned for being fun and lively, whereas Edinburgh is famed for being eye-catching and stunning.
You can think of Glasgow as a city that never sleeps. It’s a bustling metropolis with a cosmopolitan feel. You can participate in many fantastic activities and visit plenty of tourist spots.
Glasgow is a city that becomes even more attractive at night, so visiting during the day only provides a partial view of the city. One of the most unusual nighttime activities in Glasgow that is guaranteed to make your evening one to remember is an event called Glasglow.
Glasglow is a magical light show that happens annually at the Botanic Gardens. Taking place around the end of October to mid-November, Glasglow has a street food market, laser displays, and lots of photo opportunities. To view this extraordinary event, you will have to pay £12 during off-peak days, Thursday to Sunday, and £16 from Monday to Wednesday.
Another would be Popworld, a bar with a bright retro dance floor, colorful accents, and all of your favorite guilty pleasure songs from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
Their early closing hour, 23:00, makes it the perfect destination for anybody who wants to be in bed at a reasonable time without compromising on pleasure. Their helpful staff serves lively yet reasonably priced beverages that get your night off to a groovy start.
However, if you’re more of a person who appreciates the beauty of history and medieval architecture, Edinburgh might be more suitable and enchanting.
To understand this type of scenery, you can visit the sophisticated Old Town and Royal Mile, a steep cobblestone street flanked by various old stone buildings, taverns, cafés, restaurants, stores, and tours.
You can also visit Harry Potter sites, where you’ll see some quaint cafes from which JK Rowling drew inspiration in imagining the wizarding world.
But, all factors considered, like nighttime views and entertainment, our pick would be Glasgow.
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Which city has the best landmarks?
Both cities have beautiful landmarks to visit. Most, if not all, famous landmarks in Glasgow and Edinburgh are fabulous Victorian buildings.
Some notable landmarks in Glasgow include the Glasgow Cathedral, Necropolis, and the Duke of Wellington statue.
Glasgow Cathedral, established between 1136 and 1197, sits on top of a hill in the city’s East End. It is the oldest church on the Scottish mainland and the city’s oldest structure. From the outside, this Cathedral appears to be a basic medieval Romanesque structure. However, once inside, you will be astounded by its massive size, dazzling architecture, brilliant stained glass windows, and the distinctive characteristics of the lower chapel.
The lovely Victorian Necropolis cemetery is adjacent to Glasgow Cathedral, behind the Wishart Street Brewery. On a tiny hill, the Necropolis has about 50,000 tombs, most of which are from the Victorian era.
You can also find massive ornamented monuments constructed by renowned Glaswegian architects like Charles Rennie Mackintosh to honor affluent people in business and dignitaries.
The Duke of Wellington is a statue with a construction cone on his head. It is an 1844 equestrian monument in front of the Gallery of Modern Art.
For the past 30 years, this monument has had a cone that vandals put up whenever removed by the town. However, because of the annual expenditures, the locals agreed that the Waterloo victor’s crown would remain in place indefinitely. As a result, it has become the city’s most recognizable symbol.
On the other hand, Edinburgh also has different historical landmarks to boast about, three of which include the National Monument of Scotland, the Scottish Parliament, and the Dean Village.
The public subscription-funded National Monument atop Calton Hill is Scotland’s tribute to the Scottish soldiers and sailors who served and died in the Napoleonic Wars. This monument, modeled after the Parthenon in Athens, lends credence to Edinburgh’s complimentary moniker as the “Athens of the North.”
Resources to finish it notoriously ran out just three years after construction began in 1826, and while there have been other suggested schemes to finish it, all of them failed.
The Scottish Parliament, which includes the 17th-century Queensferry House, is a historic landmark built after devolution restored self-government to Scotland in 1999. The first discussion under the new structure occurred in 2004, approximately 300 years after the previous Scottish Parliament disbanded.
Enric Miralles, the Parliament’s Spanish architect, relied on symbolism from Scotland’s landscapes and culture while designing the structure, making him build it with Scottish resources such as Kemnay granite and Caithness flagstone.
The Dean Village is a verdant sanctuary, with the cascading Water of Leith flowing through its heart. The village, which once housed numerous significant grain mills, is approximately 800 years old, but Well Court is its most notable structure. As a model housing for mill employees and their families designed in 1886, this refurbished property has unique red sandstone elements, including a clock tower and a courtyard, which are now the focal points of a peaceful haven for its locals.
Because both cities are made of almost the same materials while embodying the same cultural and historical values, Glasgow and Edinburgh win this round.
Which city is best in terms of food and accommodation?
Both Glasgow and Edinburgh provide a variety of dining options and lodging. Besides Edinburgh’s generally higher pricing, there needs to be better differentiation between these cities’ food and accommodation choices.
Glasgow’s culinary industry is growing. Apart from the city’s famous chip chops and haggis suppers, there are always new restaurants opening up with cuisines from all over the world. The famed Indian cooking ‘Tikka Masala’ is said to have originated in this city.
One of the best restaurants in Glasgow is Fanny Trollope’s, a cafe that uses Scotland’s finest seasonal produce, specializing in seafood, Scottish beef and lamb, fowl, and game. The prices of their dishes may range from £10 to £30.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh offers numerous award-winning restaurants and a wide range of other international options.
One of the best restaurants in the city would be Dine, a culinary legend offering the best local food in the country, along with British, Contemporary, and European options. Food at this restaurant may cost you around £7 to £39.
Because both restaurants offer delectable dishes, our primary consideration for this part would be the price. And because accommodation and restaurants in Edinburgh cost more, our pick for this segment would be Glasgow.
Which city offers the most exciting things to do outdoors?
Besides the Edinburgh Festival, the largest arts and cultural event in the world, Edinburgh is significant for historical sightseeing. On the other hand, Glasgow is famous for its nightlife, parks, and kid-friendly museums.
The largely Unesco-endorsed center in Edinburgh may be the most comprehensive and scenic location in the UK, giving tourists a sensation of traveling back in time.
Meanwhile, Glasgow is renowned for being a city that lives through the night. Glasgow is more of a city for doing than seeing. There are weekly activities, including music, comedy shows, performances, and parties.
Furthermore, if you have kids, a strong interest in history would be necessary for them to appreciate Edinburgh. However, taking them on Harry Potter walking tours will likely add to the city’s appeal.
Hence, our pick for this part would be Glasgow.
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Conclusion
The beauty of Edinburgh focuses more on history and tradition, while Glasgow’s charm comes from all the fun activities it offers, even at sundown. So if you’re interested in getting to know Scotland from a traditional perspective, Edinburgh is great. But if you want to enjoy the country in a light, enchanting, and fun manner, you might want to give Glasgow a shot.
However, despite their differences, both cities have beautiful things to offer, so it all boils down to your personal preference. After all, Scotland is a lovely country, so no matter which city you decide to go to, you are guaranteed to have a great time.
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