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The Riverside Museum and lunch at the Riverside Café
Glasgow

Riverside Museum – Trams, Trains and an Old Glasgow Street

A few hours.

The route

The Riverside Museum is Glasgow's transport museum, and on a wet day it's hard to beat for young children.

Old trams, trains, fire engines and bikes fill one huge hall, and a cobbled street of shops and a subway station takes you back a hundred years. It's free, it's all under one roof, and the café inside looks out over the Clyde.

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, 2 miles away. Sleeps 2.

The day

Riverside

The whole morning is indoors, beside the river. Walk round the old trams, stroll down the cobbled street and see how many cars, bikes and engines the children can name, then stay put for lunch looking out at the Clyde.

About three hours

  1. Riverside Museum

    Riverside Museum

    An attraction

    The Riverside Museum stands where the Kelvin meets the Clyde. Its own pay car park has about 100 spaces and fills quickly at weekends and in school holidays, so come for opening time; the machines take cash and contactless, and RingGo works too. If it's full, there's more parking on Bunhouse Road by the Kelvin Hall. Entry is free and there's no need to book. Inside, children can walk round old Glasgow trams, a red fire engine and rows of old cars, with a ring of bicycles hung from the ceiling. Then stroll down a cobbled street of old shops that even has its own subway station. There are lifts to every floor, baby changing and room for pushchairs.

    More about Riverside Museum

  2. The Riverside Café

    The Riverside Café

    Lunch

    When everyone is hungry, lunch is in the Riverside Café inside the museum, so nobody goes back out in the rain. It serves breakfast, sandwiches and hot dishes, with a view of the Clyde. The café's own hours aren't published, so go by the museum's: 10am to 5pm, and 11am to 5pm on Fridays and Sundays. The museum is step-free throughout, with lifts, baby changing and feeding, and only assistance dogs are allowed.

If it rains

All of it is under a roof, from the trams to lunch in the café.

Worth a detour

  1. Glasgow Science Centre

    The Glasgow Science Centre is across the Clyde at Pacific Quay, with hands-on science and a planetarium. In autumn and winter it opens Wednesday to Friday from 10am to 3pm, and at weekends and in local school holidays from 10am to 5pm; book tickets on its website. It adds about 8 minutes of driving.