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Glasgow

Kelvingrove Art Gallery – the Organ and Afternoon Tea

A day, from Buchanan Street Subway to Glasgow Central.

The route

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is Glasgow's great red sandstone treasure house, free to wander, with a Spitfire in the hall, Dalí on the walls and an organ that still plays every day.

Afterwards, it's a short walk along Argyle Street to the Hidden Lane, a tucked-away lane of artists' studios, and a vintage tearoom known for its afternoon tea. It's an easy afternoon, rain or shine.

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.

  2. Book Afternoon tea at the Hidden Lane Tearoom

    Book afternoon tea at the Hidden Lane Tearoom online at least 24 hours ahead, for about 2.30pm; it opens every day (to 5.30pm on Saturdays, 4.30pm on weekdays and 5pm on Sundays) and costs about £22 to £25 a head at the time of writing.

The day

Glasgow

A gentle afternoon of paintings, the organ in full voice and a stroll down Argyle Street, ending with scones and a pot of loose-leaf tea in a lane of artists' studios.

About five hours

  1. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

    Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

    An attraction

    Take the Subway from Buchanan Street, beside Queen Street station, to Kelvinhall (check the times), then it's 12 minutes' walk to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. It's free, and opens every day from 10am, or 11am on Fridays and Sundays. Be in the Centre Hall at 1pm, when the great organ plays for half an hour (3pm on Sundays). Then wander: Dalí's Christ of St John of the Cross, Sir Roger the elephant and a Spitfire hanging above one of the great halls are all here. There are lifts to every public floor, and the cloakroom costs £2 in cash.

    More about Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

  2. 8 min on foot

    The Hidden Lane Tearoom

    The Hidden Lane Tearoom

    Afternoon tea

    Walk 11 minutes east from the museum along Argyle Street to number 1103 and into the Hidden Lane, where the Hidden Lane Tearoom serves afternoon tea with home baking, loose-leaf tea and plenty of scones. It opens every day, to 4.30pm on weekdays, 5.30pm on Saturdays and 5pm on Sundays. Afternoon tea must be booked online at least 24 hours ahead; ask for a ground-floor table if you have a wheelchair or a pushchair. Exhibition Centre station, for the train back to Central, is 8 minutes' walk away.

    More about The Hidden Lane Tearoom

If it rains

All of it is under a roof except the 11-minute walk along Argyle Street; on a wet day take a taxi from the museum to the tearoom.