Things to see in Glasgow

Visitors can get a breath of fresh air in Glasgow Botanic Gardens. The 17-hectare (42.5-acre) gardens provide a park-like setting for the glasshouses, the most notable of which is the Kibble Palace.

Echoing the silver curves of the 'armadillo', the GSC's titanium-clad shell houses the Science Mall , with hundreds of hands-on exhibits covering the spectrum of natural and applied sciences, as well as a planetarium. A tunnel leads to the base of the 127m-high (417ft)  Glasgow Tower , poised like a pencil standing on its tip. It is the only tower in the world that rotates to face the oncoming wind and although it offers stupendous views of the city, there is a fair bit of sway on the observation level. Rounding out the £75 million project is an IMAX Theatre .

This gallery and museum, which underwent a £28 million refurbishment and reopened in 2006, houses 8,000 works of art, including a range of European paintings covering the 15th to the 17th centuries and the 1890s to the 1960s, as well as arms, armour, archaeology and natural history displays. There is also a collection of Egyptian treasures, a gallery dedicated to Charles Rennie Mackintosh and a Spitfire LA198 from the Glasgow Squadron. The permanent Glasgow 1900 exhibition features paintings, furniture and decorative art objects dating from turn-of-the-century Glasgow. Don't miss Salvador Dali's Christ of St John of the Cross, an affecting vision of the crucifixion painted as if from above.

This unusual museum has exhibitions that cover all the major religions and includes a Zen garden and a Mexican Day of the Dead skeleton. A short walk away is Glasgow Cathedral, founded by the city's patron saint, St Kentigern (or Mungo), in the sixth century - the present building dates from the 14th century. 

Adjacent to the cathedral is the remarkable Necropolis, a Victorian garden cemetery that has some intriguing funerary architecture including pieces by Rennie Mackintosh and Alexander ‘Greek' Thomson.