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Glasgow

Coming & Going

AIR

Two airports serve Glasgow: Glasgow Airport in Paisley 13km west of the city centre and Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire 48km south of Glasgow. Edinburgh airport is also less than an hour away.

Glasgow Airport

Most flights use the more conveniently located Glasgow airport (tel (0141) 887 1111; website www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/glasgow/), which is by far the busier of the two airports. It handles trans-Atlantic flights to Chicago, New York and Toronto and more than 200 flights each week to London. All the big, established airlines use this airport.

Paisley Gilmour Street is the closest train station to the airport. At Gilmour Street station you can transfer to a connecting bus to the airport. You can buy a ticket to Glasgow Airport from any train station in Scotland; this ticket will include the connecting bus from Gilmour Street.

The SPT travel centre in the terminal building sells a ticket that combines both the bus to Gilmour Street station and train travel to Central Station. If you want to travel to a different station you will need to hand over your bus ticket at Gilmour Street station and the value of this ticket will be discounted off your train ticket.

Scottish Citylink (tel 08705 505050; website www.citylink.co.uk) operates a frequent shuttle bus between the airport and Buchanan Bus Station. Buses run every 10 minutes during peak periods and the 25-minute journey costs £3.30 one-way or £5 return.

Prestwick International Airport

Prestwick Airport (tel (01292) 511006; website www.gpia.co.uk) is a popular airport with charter and budget airlines like Ryanair.

There are direct train connections from Central Station that bring the airport within 45 minutes of central Glasgow. A big advantage of flying into Prestwick is that you can get a 50% discount­ off the train fare to anywhere in Scotland if you show your airline ticket when you buy your ticket for the train. This deal is only valid on the same day as your flight.

BUS

Buses depart from Buchanan Bus Station on the corner of North Hannover Street and Killermont Street. There is a frequent bus service that links Central and Queen Street train stations with Buchanan Bus Station.

FERRY

Ferries to Belfast in Northern Ireland depart from several ports close to Glasgow.

The most convenient is the Seacat ferry (website www.seacat.co.uk) from Troon, only 30 minutes from central Glasgow and easily accessible by train.

Stena Line ferries (tel (08705) 707070; website www.stenaline.com) sail from Stranraer, which is around two hours south of Glasgow by train, but it is a shorter ferry trip.

P&O Irish Ferries (website www.poirishsea.com) is probably the least convenient as the ferries sail from Cairnryan, which is near Stranraer but not accessible by train, to Larne near Belfast.

HITCHHIKING

The M74 is the main road heading south to England. The M74 becomes the M6 after passing Carlisle and you'll want to hitch a ride on this motorway if you're going to Liverpool, Manchester, Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Oxford or London. You can find a good hitching spot close to the city centre at the Carmyle Road entrance to the M74. Take a train to Carmyle and you'll find the motorway entrance just north of the station.

The Bothwell motorway service area is just south of Glasgow and is also a good place to wait for a southbound lift. To get to the services, take the train to Bellshill and walk 2km up Hamilton Road.

The A80/M80 is the main route north. Thumb a lift on this road if you want to go to Stirling, Aberdeen or anywhere in the Highlands. The M80 becomes the A80 at Stepps, north of the city and at this point most of the traffic will be long distance. Take the train to Stepps and then bus 36, X3, X37 or X39 to Crow Wood Golf Club.

If you want to go to Edinburgh, you may want to try hitching on the Glasgow and Edinburgh Road (A8), which later becomes the M8. Take a train to Bredisholm Road and walk south down Langmuir Road until you reach the A8. However Edinburgh and Glasgow are so close and there are frequent and cheap transport connections between the two so it hardly seems worth your while to hitch.

TRAIN

Glasgow has two train stations. Central Station has trains to England and southern Scotland. Queen Street Station has trains to northern Scotland. Trains to Edinburgh leave from both stations.