City Sightseeing

As an American, not much is more synonymous with the UK than a double-​decker bus… a bright red double-​decker bus! When we saw these driving around town we decided it was the perfect way to spend our one and only day in Glasgow (because it actually stopped at all of the places we wanted to visit anyways)!
There are close to 30 stops and you can hop-​on and hop-​off at any of them, though the main stop is in George Square (where you can actually buy tickets). This tour kind of also serves as an awesome means of transportation (it shares bus stops with other major public transit in the city and even appears on the screens that show estimated arrival times, which is really helpful… and it was always on time)!
On top of going all around town and stopping at many of the most important sites, this tour provides wonderful commentary. Some buses have a live guide and some have pre-​recorded information that you listen to on earphones (they provide free *new* earbuds to everyone). Both the live and pre-​recorded information was incredibly informative and interesting. There are even different languages available for the pre-​recorded commentary.
Tickets are valid for two consecutive days which is quite amazing; you can really get an awesome introduction to the city AND use this as your transportation, too! I thoroughly enjoyed this tour and the guides/​staff were all very welcoming! I highly recommend this tour and I would even do it again if I were ever back in town!

My husband and I are big fans of taking double decker bus tours when we’re visiting new cities, and City Sightseeing tours have always proven themselves to be the best, with the Glasgow tour being no exception.
The bus has a multitude of stops, one which was right outside the subway station near our B&B, Ashton Glasgow, in the West End… super convenient. The bus covers a lot of ground but the pre-​recorded commentary is super informative and interesting and also available in a wide variety of languages. You can also hop on and hop off at each stop without having to pay any extra, so it really helps you explore the city without paying a ton of extra money for cabs/​public transit. I especially liked the Glasgow tour because we never lingered very long at each stop, which kept the tour moving along nicely.
The one and only downside is that some of the inputs for your headphones don’t work, so you may need to hop around to find a seat with a working plug. Since the commentary is a huge piece of the tour I really think they should do a better job maintaining these. Even with that being said, I still highly recommend City Sightseeing as a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to see the city!

I thought this was a great way to view the city. I bought a ticket on-​line, which I think is cheaper than buying it on the bus. It picked up right in front of the Marriott and went all across the city. There’s no actual tour guide, but it’s great if you speak another language bc U can choose the language on the headset. I think this is the best, easiest and most cost effective way to view the city.

This is a fantastic tour which I tried two weeks ago. I’ve already been on guided bus tours before (in Belfast, Cork, Bath, Liverpool, Cardiff and around the Isle of Bute) and think it’s the best way to see and learn about a place. I thoroughly enjoyed the Glasgow City Tour and can recommend it 100%.
The ticket is valid for 2 days and you can hop on or off at any of the bus stops along the route (one of the best things about it). You can thoroughly explore one of the areas or buildings on foot and then pick up the next tour bus there’s not long to wait for the next one.
There’s a choice of multi-​lingual commentaries in English and about 8 other languages via headphones, or there are English speaking guides on some of the buses both methods are excellent. You learn about history of the city and different buildings of interest along the way.
Some of the places visited are the new Riverside Museum, Kelvingrove Art Gallery, Scottish Exhibition centre, Glasgow Science Centre, Cathedral, Merchant City, Glasgow Green and People’s Palace, St Enoch Shopping Centre, Universities, the main railway stations, and much more.
Buses start at George Square from 09.30 until 16.30 and the whole tour lasts nearly two hours.

I’ve been on several City Sightseeing tours in various cities and have always found them to be enjoyable and good value for money. The Glasgow tour is a must for visitors to this fine city, and even for new residents like me who can use it to find their bearings. The new commentary by Neil Oliver is well worth a listen, not least because his voice is like velvet!

The tour bus is a great day out for tourists and locals alike and people of all ages. Last year I decided to take a trip on the tour bus with a few friends thinking it would be a good laugh, and it was. I learnt some cool facts about Glasgow that I didn’t know before, like the fact that Glasgow has it’s very own Leaning Tower of Pisa. Well… not exactly, it’s just a lop sided well that you will be able to see at Charing Cross.
The tour bus passes all the main spots around the city from the SECC, to George Square, right along to the University of Glasgow and the West End. It’s great for tourists as a ticket is valid for two consecutive days meaning that you can hop on and off and spend time at certain places without having to hop on and off buses/​subway all day. You will also get historical facts and information thrown in from the friendly tour guide.

It’s hard to miss these huge red double decker buses all over Glasgow.
It’s a good way to spend the day, particularly during the summer, but is ideally suited for tourists trying to cover some ground. There are around 20 stops where you can get off and jump back on the next one with regular services throughout the day. Timetables and maps are on the website.
It doesn’t go everywhere of course, but does provide a good introduction to Glasgow City Centre and apart from anything else, is a decent way to get around. Far nicer than the tube.
It isn’t cheap, at £10 for adults and £8 for students, but its cheaper than the one in Edinburgh.
There are commentaries available in different European languages, and live commentaries in English on some services. I have never caught this, and so don’t know how good it is.
It is a good service, and covers some good locations in Glasgow.

My single adventure on the sight-​seeing bus involved a bored relative: this really isn’t something that I would usually do as a Glasgow resident, who spends far too much time «sight-​seeing» on foot. Since I went during the late summer, it was not an unpleasant way to ride around the city, and the upper deck did offer a few perspectives on the city that I hadn’t seen before: the city halls are more elegant that I had imagined, but the various building works were predictably drab.
As open top bus tours go, this one was pretty standard, only Glasgow has never really cared for its built environment enough: The Macintosh fetish aside, there is little respect for the Victorian and older buildings, and even the redevelopment of the East of the city centre is dominated by new, open spaces rather than making the most of some interesting, older buildings. This also feels like a whistle-​stop tour: it turns out that, although there are plenty of beautiful bridges and buildings, and churches as you head towards the west end, they don’t turn into a coherent or fascinating tour.
I’d agree: stick to the subway day pass.

I’m a massive fan of Glasgow, but to be honest I’m not sure that sightseeing is one of it’s best selling points. Still, this open-​top bus tour has been going for years now, and despite being a bit pointless in parts it does have a certain charm.
The tours, which have guides as well as commentaries in numerous foreign tongues, start from George Square and take in a number of landmarks in the centre and West End including The Tall Ship, The University, and the morbid yet fascinating Necropolis. However, the validity of some of the sights has to be questioned. The SECC is great if you’re actually going to an event there, but I doubt seasoned tourists who have seen The Pantheon and Niagra Falls will be too impressed driving past what from the outside looks like a massive warehouse. It’s somewhat telling that the main sight most people remember is a suspicious looking sex shop in the East End.
It also grates a bit that the tour at no point goes South of the river, where a few miles away sights such as Holmwood House and the city’s grandest parks and most opulent houses reside. They’re quite a trek away though so their omission is perhaps forgivable.
Tours can be very busy or very quiet, dependant on weather and time of year, and the crowd is always a mix of tourists, local irony merchants, and a few confused faces wondering why they haven’t passed the castle or Holyrood Palace yet.
At £10 an adult ticket, I’m struggling to recommend this one. For £3.50 you could buy an all-​day Subway ticket and actually go into the exciting places such as Kelvingrove and The Science Centre, rather than drive past while being told how great they are.
The subway doesn’t have foreign commentary though, and doesn’t go near the sex shop, so a thumbs up for the tour.

This is actually a great tour, i was quite suprised. As a native showing around a tourist i was anticipating being really bored going around all these places i knew, but it was actually really good! Its a full audio guide in 6 (i think!) different languages with lots of interesting little bits of information. Its really cold in winter though!
Also keep a hold of your ticket, City Sightseeing is in cities across the world and if you can show your ticket in another city you get a percentage off and i used my ticket from here for discounts in Edinburgh, then London and even Rome, Sorrento and Berlin!