To best discover Glasgow, old and new, at least two to three days are required. Try to avoid parking a car near the city centre although, if you must, there is good parking facilities at the St Enoch Centre. Public transport, in the form of taxis, buses and an underground train system, is more than satisfactory. It is also worth noting that there is a rapidly developing Glasgow and Clyde Coast Cycle Route Network which can be used both in the city and through to outlying areas as far as Ayrshire. Details are available from the tourist offices.

A good reference point for starting a tour of the central and eastern side is Glasgow's Queen Street Station and George Square lying at the heart of the city. George Square, a spacious concrete piazza dotted with trees and flower-beds and surrounded by wide streets, was also the heart of Victorian Glasgow. At its centre is the 80ft (24m) high column and statue to Sir Walter Scott who, in truth, had little to do with the town. The column had been intended for a statue of George III but his failure to preserve the American Colonies along with Glasgow's lucrative tobacco trade, saw this favoured plinth given to someone else. Statues of Queen Victoria, Robert Burns and, the famous Scottish inventor, James Watt, surround Sir Walter, besides hundreds of pigeons.

Public transport around Glasgow is easy enough to negotiate. There is the circular subway euphemistically called the 'Clockwork Orange' or the bus network with several companies, all in their own distinctive livery and often heading for the same destination. St Enoch Travel Centre, housed in a fantastic, neo-Gothic outhouse at the bottom of Buchanon Street, provides maps, timetables and helpful travel information. The Visitor's Transport Guide is the best free map of the city and West End areas. The easiest way to cover distances, of course, is by taxi.

Sir William Burrell was a wealthy Glasgow shipping magnate who, using the fortune amassed from the astute timing of the sale of his fleet, spent his life travelling the world in search of works of art and antiquities that he liked.The Burrell is now one of the most popular galleries in Britain. Chinese ceramics, Persian carpets, medieval European furniture and stained glass along with modern painting and sculpture make it one of the most diverse collections of artefacts found anywhere in the world. Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt are also well represented. Pollock House is in the same grounds as the Burrell, built in 1750 and housing one of the finest collections of Spanish paintings in this country. There are woodland areas and a pleasant river in front of the house.

The ferry to Dunoon sails form Gourock taking only a few minutes to cross the Clyde to reach this popular holiday resort. The Tourist Office is on Alexander Parade, which is also useful for locating accommodation. Behind the town, the Cowal Peninsula is formed by Loch Fynne and Loch Long and offers a variety of landscapes from the peaks of Argyll Forest Park in the north to the more temperate environs of the south-west.

The Isle of Bute stands below the Cowal Peninsula. Its main attraction is the seaside town of Rothesay which, like Dunoon, has attracted Scots holiday-makers for decades. There are moves to bring it into the late 90s and make use of its Winter Gardens, the Promenade, the pier and the many guest houses. Rothesay Castle sits above the bay.

Lanark is an old market town with the world's oldest bell cast in 1130, but otherwise the town is rather bleak. The double-laned main street now choked with traffic, is overlooked by a statue of William Wallace who lived in Lanark for a time and struck the first blow for Scottish Independence in this area after the English had murdered his wife and so, commencing the struggle for freedom. Lanark Golf Club is frequently commended for its challenging heathland course and comfortable clubhouse.

Following Braxfield Road from the town of Lanark, you approach the village of New Lanark only 1 mile (2km) from the centre of the old town. The view looking down into the valley is quite stunning. With misty sprays rising above the village, this was one of the first communities to bring together industrialism with social development. New Lanark was founded in 1785 by rich industrialist David Dale and his partner Richard Arkwright, with the purpose of yoking the power of the Falls of Clyde for their cotton mills. It was Dale's son-in-law, Robert Owen who had the vision to create a model community when he became manager of the estate. He called his experiment the 'village of unity' and in 1798, he created the country's first infant school, adult education facility and a series of reforms that concerned the welfare of the workers as well as the profitability of the mills.