Glasgow

Free Glasgow – Kelvingrove, GoMA and the Cathedral

A day by Subway and on foot, from Kelvinhall Subway to Cathedral Square.

The route

Some of Glasgow's great rooms cost nothing to walk into, and this day is made from them: the city's own museums and galleries, a photographers' gallery and the medieval cathedral, every one of them free at the door.

It runs from Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in the West End to Glasgow Cathedral, in the oldest part of the city. The only things you need to pay for are the Subway and lunch, and wherever a donation box stands by the door, what you give is up to you. It's about two and three-quarter miles on foot on city pavements, with one ride on the Subway in the middle, and everything you come to see is indoors.

The day

Glasgow

A day of free doors across Glasgow, from Dalí and the great hall at Kelvingrove in the West End to St Mungo's tomb under the cathedral. A short ride on the Subway carries it into the city centre for lunch in a gallery, and the afternoon follows the Trongate and the High Street up to the medieval quarter.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
An attraction
Take the Subway to Kelvinhall, five stops from Buchanan Street, and it's an 11-minute walk to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the red sandstone palace built for Glasgow's exhibition of 1901. It opens at 10am, or 11am on Fridays and Sundays, and like every stop today it's free, with donations welcome, though a special exhibition may carry a ticket. Go first to Dalí's Christ of St John of the Cross, then let the free digital guide lead you round the rest. Leave at about noon.
More about Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
8 min by train, 6 min on foot
Gallery of Modern Art
An attraction
Walk 11 minutes back to Kelvinhall and board the Outer Circle train, whose next stop is Hillhead. It's an 8-minute train ride to Buchanan Street, then 6 minutes' walk to the Gallery of Modern Art on Royal Exchange Square; check the times on SPT's site. The gallery fills a merchant's townhouse of 1778, with the Duke of Wellington on his horse outside, usually wearing a traffic cone. Have lunch in its café, give the free galleries an hour, and be away by 2.30pm. A special exhibition may carry a ticket.
More about Gallery of Modern Art
9 min on foot
Street Level Photoworks
It's a 9-minute walk south-east to the Trongate, one of Glasgow's oldest streets, and Street Level Photoworks at number 103. A group of Glasgow photographers set it up in 1989, and its gallery shows photography made close to home and far beyond. It's free, open from Tuesday to Sunday, noon to 5pm, and it closes for a few days between exhibitions, so look at its site or ring before you come. Half an hour is plenty.
18 min on foot
Provand's Lordship
Walk 18 minutes east along the Trongate to Glasgow Cross and its old Tolbooth steeple, then up the High Street and Castle Street to Provand's Lordship. Bishop Andrew Muirhead built it in 1471 as part of St Nicholas's Hospital, and Glasgow Life, who look after it, call it the city's oldest house. Inside are 17th-century furniture and royal portraits, and it's free. Behind it lies the St Nicholas Garden, home to the sculptures known as the Tontine Heads. Give it half an hour.
4 min on foot
Glasgow Cathedral
An attraction
It's a 4-minute walk across Cathedral Square to Glasgow Cathedral, where a church was dedicated in 1136, though much of today's building went up in the 1200s. It's free, and still a working parish church. Take the steps down to the lower church, where St Mungo's tomb drew pilgrims for centuries. This day is for April to September, when last entry is 4.15pm; from October to March it's 3.15pm, too early for this day, so keep the Cathedral for another morning. High Street train station is 11 minutes' walk downhill.
More about Glasgow Cathedral

If it rains

Everything you come to see is indoors, so rain changes little. The walks come to about an hour in all, counting the way to and from Kelvinhall Subway, and none of them is under cover, so bring a coat with a hood. The longest is the 18 minutes along the Trongate and up the High Street. Kelvingrove's cloakroom takes coats for a small charge, cash only. If a downpour sets in at the end of the day, St Mungo Museum, free and across Cathedral Square from the Cathedral, is the place to wait it out, and it has the toilets the Cathedral lacks.

Worth a detour

Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery
The Hunterian Museum, in the University's main building, is a 12-minute walk up the hill from Kelvingrove. It's free and shut on Mondays; half an hour takes in the Roman stones of the Antonine Wall. Hillhead Subway is 8 minutes' walk down from it, and the train into town from there is the same Outer Circle line.

Where to eat