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The Hunterian Museum – Fossils, Roman Stones and Lunch

A few hours, from Buchanan Street Subway and back.

The route

The Hunterian calls itself Scotland's oldest museum, and it lives inside the University of Glasgow's great Gothic building in the West End.

It's free, and its long main hall is full of fossils, Roman stones from the Antonine Wall and old curiosities, all under a dark timber roof. Lunch is a 10-minute walk away at the University Café on Byres Road, a family café since 1918.

Before you go

  1. Book accommodation nearby

    If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.

    The nearest of ours is Moment Blythswood Street. Sleeps 2.

The day

Glasgow

A morning among fossils, Roman stones and old curiosities, with a short Subway ride at either end. Take your time in the great hall, then wander down to Byres Road for lunch in a café that has hardly changed in a hundred years.

About four hours

  1. Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery

    Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery

    An attraction

    Take the Subway from Buchanan Street, beside Queen Street station, four stops to Hillhead (check the times with SPT). From there it's a 10-minute walk down Byres Road and up University Avenue to the Gilbert Scott building and the Hunterian Museum, free and open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am. There's no visitor parking on campus on weekdays, so the Subway is the easy way. Inside, the long main hall has iron balconies down both sides and a dark timber roof. Look for the Bearsden Shark, the Cleopatra coin and the Roman stones from the Antonine Wall, and give it an hour or two. There's a lift, accessible toilets with baby changing, and cushioned benches in the main hall.

    More about Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery

  2. 10 min on foot

    The University Café

    The University Café

    Lunch

    Lunch is at the University Café at 87 Byres Road, 10 minutes' walk from the museum. The Verrecchia family have run it since 1918, and it still has its old booths, its pies and fish suppers, and ice cream made to the original recipe. It opens from 10am and you can just walk in. Hillhead Subway is 7 minutes' walk back up Byres Road.

    More about The University Café

If it rains

All of it is under a roof except the short walks from Hillhead Subway, so it suits a wet morning just as it is.