Glasgow, Scotland, travel guide and things to do: Nine highlights

One of Glasgow's best-known murals, by street artist Smug, depicts a modern-day St Mungo which references the story of the Bird That Never Flew. Credit: Jane Barlow - PA Images

THE ONE DISTILLERY

Clydeside Distillery is near the Scottish Event Campus that's hosting the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) from October 31-November 12. When the distillery reopens to the public from mid-November, learn about its light single malt whiskies on the one-hour Clydeside tour, the 90-minute Chocolate and Whisky tour or the two-hour Distillery Manager tour. The cafe serves whisky flights and whisky-glazed doughnuts. See theclydeside.com

THE ONE MUSEUM

To reach the Riverside Museum, one of Glasgow's many free museums, board the hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus. It stops outside the transport-focused museum that's four kilometres west of George Square. Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Dame Zaha Hadid, created the building's distinctive zig-zag roofline to reflect the once-industrial city's new dynamism. See glasgowlife.org.uk

THE ONE MURAL

Embrace sustainability by exploring Glasgow on foot. A highlight of Glasgow's mural trail is the image of St Mungo, the city's patron saint, adorning a High Street wall. The modern-day interpretation (Mungo wears a beanie) incorporates a robin, a nod to a legend about the Bird That Never Flew that's on the city's Coat of Arms. Australian-born artist Smug painted the work, recently named the UK's sixth most Instagrammed street mural. See citycentremuraltrail.co.uk

THE ONE PERCH

Hark back to the golden age of rail travel. The voco Grand Central Glasgow is part of the Victorian-era Central Station and travelling by train is a great way to cut your carbon footprint. The hotel also houses the fancy Champagne Central bar that overlooks comings and goings on the concourse below. Grab a window seat and sip champagne, a dram of single malt or a Scottish gin such as the amusingly named Glaswegin. See champagnecentral.co.uk, ihg.com, sleeper.scot

THE ONE STATUE

Glaswegian humour is on display outside the Gallery of Modern Art in Royal Exchange Square. Look for the statue of the Duke of Wellington astride a horse. Citizens usually ensure the duke is wearing an orange traffic cone atop his head. At times, the cone disappears and at other times there's more than one (in 2018, 10 traffic cones were somehow balanced on the statue). See glasgowlife.org.uk

THE ONE BEER GARDEN

A mural of one of Glasgow's most beloved sons, architect, designer and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh, overlooks the ruined beer-garden of the Clutha, a pub in central Glasgow. Despite this poignant reminder of the 2013 police helicopter crash that claimed 10 lives, it's a good spot to discover why a recent Rough Guides poll voted Glasgow the world's friendliest city. No website, see Clutha at Facebook.

THE ONE TEAROOM

To drink in Mackintosh's talents in a more formal way, book a table at the fairytale Salon de Luxe within Mackintosh at the Willow. The tearooms, which reopened in 2018 after painstaking research and restoration, are considered one of the world's finest Art Nouveau schemes. See mackintoshatthewillow.com

THE ONE NEIGHBOURHOOD BAR

Hanging to hear traditional Scottish and Irish tunes? Drop in to The Ben Nevis Bar in inner-city Finnieston. The cosy pub, with its jaw-dropping feature wall of whiskies, hosts lively toe-tapping jam sessions three nights a week. See thebennevisbar.com

THE ONE EATERY

Platform is an atmospheric venue set within a series of Victorian brick arches that form part of Central Station's sub-structure. Thanks to COVID-19, the casual indoor street-food set-up has evolved into a more structured arrangement: food is ordered via an app and brought to your table. Drinks include beers from the in-house micro-brewery and cans from the beer fridges. See platformgla.co.uk

ONE MORE THING

The Glasgow Science Centre – across the River Clyde from the Scottish Event Campus – will host the public as the COP26 Green Zone. In response to COP26, the centre is hosting an exhibition that reimagines the role museums could play in becoming catalysts for radical climate action (these concepts are also viewable at museumsforclimateaction.org). See glasgowsciencecentre.org

Katrina Lobley was a guest of Glasgow Life, see peoplemakeglasgow.com