The Merchant City pretty much covers everything from George Square to High St, and is one of my…read morefavourite parts of Glasgow. Classed as a residential area, you'll also find all sorts of businesses: from the City Chambers, GOMA, bars, cafes and restaurants. Not to mention music venues like The Fruitmarket and City Halls. The buildings are beautiful - you'll find quite a few of them poem to the public during Doors Open Day each September - look out for St Andrews in the Square. One of the focal points is Merchant Square - a converted market with an awesome internal roofed courtyard, which is surrounded by bars, restaurant, and is home to a weekly craft and design fair. The Merchant city festival runs for around 10 days every July, and is well worth a wander round. All in all, one of the friendliest and most vibrant places to be.

My first ever visit to Merchant City was pretty underwhelming - I'm going to say that during the…read moreday in the middle of the week, this area can seem a bit dull. At night is when it really comes alive and there's lots going on! You have the obvious drawcard of Merchant Square but personally, I don't love the offerings. Other streets of Merchant City have great bars and restaurants, and a few favourites for me are Guy's Restaurant, Wilson Street Pantry for brunch, Spitfire Espresso for a great cake/meeting/working spot and Blackfriars for a pint. New additions like BrewDog and Hutchesons are just wonderful, and really add something special to this great part of Glasgow. Parking can be a pain so I recommend parking at King St car park which is a great excuse to pop into the 13th Note/Mono for a pre-post soft drink. There's also a fabulous walking tour/art trail you can do if you pick up a leaflet at GOMA which shows off some of the amazing art in this area.

It's just one of many interesting closes along the Royal Mile. This one is named after the Lord…read moreAdvocate's House. The house of Sir James Stewart used to be at the lower end the stairs near Cockburn St. It's literally steps away from the Supreme Courts building in Parliament Square. Well, about 70 steps up. Today, it's more of a shortcut between Market Street and the Royal Mile. The best feature of Advocate's Close is actually the perfectly framed view of the Scott Monument through the archway. You'll also see how high you are on the hill when walking up or down this steep & worn set of stairs. Hopefully they will add handrails to it one day like others that we've seen throughout the city. I mean, they don't call them "Death Stairs" for nothing. Oh, and theres's a very popular gastropub called the Devil's Advocate near the bottom of the steps. We didn't get to visit it, but it came highly recommended. It's just another reason to visit it.

Edinburgh is riddled with closes and Advocate's Close is a fine example of these narrow lanes that…read moreconnect streets throughout and behind the Royal Mile. The tall buildings that line the path give many closes a canyon-like feel with many of them sloping steeply down from the Royal Mile. It's like walking into the underground! Advocate's Close is particularly popular with tourists and I can see why. At the top, it offers a beautiful peek-a-boo view of the Sir Walter Scott Monument in the distance and some of Edinburgh's central buildings. Walk all the way down and it connects you to Cockburn Street below. Definitely try walking through a close or two as they are great shortcuts to get from one street to another along the Royal Mile.

The oldest pub in Linlithgow, this tavern actually derives its name from the town coat of arms…read more The pub is a traditional, local pub, but very welcoming. They are proud of their namesake, which centres on the story of the black greyhound of Linlithgow, whose master was imprisoned on an island in the middle of the nearby Loch and sentenced to starve to death. Everyday the greyhound swam out to her master with food and ended up saving his life. The locals call themselves 'Black Bitches' after the dogs symbolic loyalty. A great local, if quiet, tavern serving a range of real ales. It also has a nice beer garden. Apparently there is a folk music night every third Sunday of the month too.

Despite an incredibly un-PC name, The Black Bitch in Linlithgow is quite surprisingly not filled…read morewith wall to wall Ku Klux Clan members and Daily Mail readers. Instead it's an old-fashioned, traditonal pub in an Edinburgh dormitory town filled to bursting with old fashioned, traditional pubs. Apart from the bizarre cross-burning moniker, there's not too much to get excited about. A few years back my cronies and I would come out in Linlithgow quite a bit as we begun to look for a more serene nightlife experience. The Bitch wasn't always on our radar, but on the occasions we did come in it was perfectly adequate.

It's a tired cliche in Scotland to harp on about the stunning countryside "on our doorstep" that we…read morepay little attention to, but a trip on The West Highland Line proves that even if Scotland is a country filled with bitter, self pitying drunkards, it's an exceptionally good looking one. This rail line is considered amongst the most scenic in the world, and takes you through Loch Lomond, various mountain ranges, past Oban then onto Fort William. The scenery really is beyond belief at some points, with notable money shots being the Loch Lomond section which is viewed from halfway up a mountain (or a big hill, I'm not sure), and towards the end of the line when the train crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct, a magnet for tourists as it was used in the Harry Potter films. There is one slight downside. Despite the summer months being packed with bumbag wearing tourists, Scotrail use an older, slower, and sometimes quite uncomfortable train for this service. It's either down to bad business sense or deliberate usage of a slower train for lovers of the rugged terrain, but it grates that they don't even bother with the buffet car. It's not too huge a deal though, and shouldn't detract from what's always a jaw dropping journey.

We did the hour long tour and that was a perfect amount of time and information for our family. Our…read moreguide Louis B was very awesome without being an obnoxious tour guide. We've had some tour guides that are super cringy, but he wasn't. He had a wealth of information without being dry or boring. This tour was very interesting and I am very happy we went on it.

The close is a popular attraction, so I booked a tour. It's located on the Royal Mile in Old Town…read more The close is named after Mary King, a merchant burgess who resided on the close. A close is a narrow alleyway leading from a main street to private shared courtyards, residential areas, or homes. The close was partially demolished and buried due to the building of the Royal Exchange and it was later closed to the public for many years. It used to be open-air alleyway. We were led by a guide dressed as a period character. We watched interactive projections of Mary and others tell us about who they were and life at that time. We also entered small rooms that housed many people. The most interesting part to me was about the plague. There was also a ghost story, which I don't care for. Overall, I enjoyed learning about the history.

Banging. Might just be the best chocolate I've ever had, bloody brilliant, it was amazingread more

They make the best tea, cakes and caramel biscuits. They are so delicious and satisfying. I live in…read morethe USA and buy them all the time. I am so glad they import them here. It brings back memories of my mom who was born in Scotland.

Callander House is a nice place to visit for a day out with children. The house is free to visit…read moreand had a great Scottish gift shop. They have a cute, wee museum that tells you about falkirk and it's past including Antonine's Wall which is in Callander park. They also have an exibition room that has different events on that are mostly interactive. The tearoom has been reopened where you can have afternoon tea. The Georgian kitchen is a cosy kitchen where you can try their Georgian foods.

I only heard about Callendar House because of an exhibition on that I wanted to visit. It's located…read morein a beautiful big park right in Falkirk so is a really nice place to visit even if you're not all that interested in what's inside (and it's free). We decided to have lunch in the tearoom which was quite strange - they really only have tables of 4/6 so you have to sit with people you don't know for lunch. The menu is pretty basic and what you'd expect of a cafe, I got a baked potato with mince and requested cheese, but even though the waitress noticed I didn't have cheese when she delivered the meal, she never then went to get it which was a bit of a bummer. That being said, the food was way nicer than it looked. We then went to see the Rob Ryan exhibition which is on til 4 September. The space is a little hard to find as you walk through the usual exhibition which is on here but we got there eventually. The exhibition is a little small (maybe 15 pieces) but it was amazing to see the papercuts in person, especially the really large pieces. There's a shop right inside the front door of Callendar House which has some nice souvenirs (tat) and all the staff were really friendly and helpful. There's a huge grassed area around Callendar House so it's worth having a picnic or bringing the dog.

Fantastic street murals. We arrived in town very tired only 1 night but I wanted to see the murals…read moreso we set off walking in the cold rain. We didn't find them all but most i wanted. The mural of the breast feeding woman is covered by construction.. hope they don't destroy it.

Though my particular walking tour of Glasgow was not focused on the City Centre Murals, per se, it…read morewas inevitable that I'd come across these giant works of art; the tour took me through Merchant City where many of the murals can be seen. Commissioned by Glasgow City Council to revitalize the city, there are around 29 murals beautifying buildings & walls. If you aren't on a guided tour, google will point you to several mural maps, locations, & descriptors. Murals that stood out for me were the Strathclyde University Wonderwall which celebrates the 2014 Commonwealth Games & the two popular pieces by street artist Smug, St. Mungo as well as St. Enoch and Child. I absolutely love strolling through a new city to get to know its distinct areas; these murals made my stroll that much more fascinating.

From all the social media post I've seen, this was on my list for places to check out in Edinburgh…read more First visit, we actually went to the wrong location...lol.... Made up for the next time. It's a good 15 min or so in the car from downtown Edinburgh or you could walk. We ended walking as it gave us a chance to see things that we've missed from all the other time we've visited. It was probably a half hour walk just taking our time. Faster if we didn't stop to look at things and take pictures. Right when you get to the location, there's Dean Bridge that crosses over. If you reached it, the village is right below. There's a little cobble stone street that literally takes you to the Instagram spot where I've seen. It's another little bridge that looks down to the town. A river below which was somewhat frozen. Of course everyone is there for the same reason, to get the perfect shot. The cute painted homes and rustic architecture gives it a gothic vibe. Walking along the cobble stone streets and checking out the little village was pretty calm. There's even a path that runs along the river you can walk along. The village itself isn't that big. Even though it was winter, the place was still beautiful. Imagine the warmer season when everyone is walking around, it'll get crowded but beautiful. If you walk under Dean Bridge, there's a main path that will take you back to the city. It's wider and below the homes but a really nice walk. People out for their jog or casually strolling. This place was very cute. Nothing big but something worth checking out. The power of social media know what it's doing.

Agree with all the other reviews! Dean Village was such a charming walk during our time in…read moreEdinburgh. On a rainy day, it wasn't too crowded, and the views are beautiful, especially considering how close it is to the city center.

This bridge of sighs is not the one in Venice unfortunately but we have our very own in the…read morebeautiful Glasgow! Bridge of sighs allows you to go to and from the Necropolis cemetery which houses around 3,500 graves and the bridge of sighs is named because of the amount of funeral processions that crossed the bridge to the Necropolis.

Anyone that knows me, knows I love me a good bridge…read more And this is one of Glasgows finest. The Bridge of Sighs spans the old Molendiner Burn (now redirected into a big pipe), linking Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis. In years gone by, folks had to carry the coffins of their loved ones across this bridge - hence the melancholy name. Nowadays, the bridge connects war memorials with the Commonwealth Graves in the Necropolis. It's one of those bridges that people always forget about, but which was important to Glasgows history. And you get a nice view from it, looking our across Glasgow.