Staying in Glasgow

We arrived the day before, and spent an afternoon and night in Glasgow. I struggled to find a place to stay, not knowing the city very well. Eventually, through hotels.com, I purchased a night at Jury's Inn on Jamaica Street. It was much cheaper through hotels.com than it was booking directly. (I think I paid $120 American, and when we arrived it was 120 pounds--double the price.)One advantage to pre-booking using American dollars (if you're American, that is!) is you won't have to pay an international fee on your debit-card. If you choose to book online, the neighborhood you are looking for will not be labeled as Queen Street Station. I used the search term Buchanan Street Station, and found many options. The two train stations are very close together, and the other is well known. Many of my friends have booked B & Bs for Glasgow. I knew that I'd be jet-lagged, and wouldn't really appreciate anything nice, so I went for something very basic.

We took a taxi from the airport, although we could have taken a city bus. Taxis were very cheap.

Jury's Inn was fine, an American-style hotel with private baths. It was very clean. It was about a 10-15 minute walk to the train station the next morning, and about 20 minute walk to the Glasgow Cathedral and St. Mungo's museum, which entertained us in the afternoon.

On the return, we stayed at the hostel, which was cheap, (less than half that of the hotel), very clean, very safe, and staffed by very helpful people who aided us in finding traditional Scottish fare for our last night. If I had it to do over again, I would have just stayed there both nights. The accommodations are spartan--metal bunk beds, linoleum floors. But, unlike many hostels, you can actually book a private room or a room for 2 (as we did) with a private bathroom. Since all we wanted to do in our room was sleep, it was perfect. There was a tiny coin-operated TV in the room, but I really couldn't see hanging out there very long. There are also lounges, laundry rooms, a bar and a kitchen that were probably all more comfortable--but we never went to check them out.