Glasgow travel advice please help!

[axelrod]

Hi

I'm looking to book tickets to the GlasGLOW event at the Botanic Gardens in October. Firstly, has anyone been and is it worth the travel and £20pp prices?

We'd be driving up from south of Glasgow (M74) but I'm struggling to know where we would park the car as I know parking is so limited in the west end and it will be really busy with the event on.

The best I can think to do is drive to the city centre and park somewhere like Buchanan Galleries then get the subway out to the west end in the evening? We would probably be looking to spend the afternoon in the centre anyway. But it just feels like it will be a mission getting home afterwards, especially with the wee ones in tow!

Can anyone advise? Thanks

I can't advise you on the event but would recommend you park and use the subway to travel to the city centre and the west end. I think Buchanan Galleries is quite pricey if you're there for a while. You could pay to park in the Gorbals at the Bridge st car park or for free on the street at Cessnock or Kinning park. Then you can travel to the west end by subway and then back again at the end of the night. Plus, it saves you from getting back on the motorway in the city centre at night.

There’s Lilybank car park behind Byres Rd on Great George Street

I'm not sure what that car park is like at night but during the day, during term time it's a bloody nightmare.

I've always parked on the streets nearby, parking is also free outside of certain times, just be aware that some.streets are permit only. There's a park and ride at Kelvin Bridge Station too and parking in Partick which is fairly close too. Alternatively you could also fo a park and ride at a train station or subway outside of the city centre.

Would suggest coming off M74 at Shields Rd and parking at the subway there - big surface and multi storey carpark and then use subway to Hillhead or Kelvinbridge

Think subway P&R is about £5 for the car and driver. Buchanan Galleries is expensive.

I went to a few years ago. It was okay but I felt rushed. The queue to enter was huge. When you order tickets you select a time but on the day were checked based on day and not the time scheduled so everyone was just going in non stop. There were loads of people walking around and the stewards kept it moving so it felt like a walking tour. Great for young kids but older ones were bored pretty quickly. It was also very political which goes over the childrens heads and not overly fun for adults just wanting a night out.
We parked on a street just down the road. The street itself is closed off but there was more on street parking a few streets away. The park and ride idea is great!

Brilliant - thanks so much for all the replies! I'll go have a look at the different options you've all suggested. Park and Ride sounds like it might be the easiest option!

Thanks very much - I've been unsure about booking as quite a few of the reviews have said similar.

I'd be taking a 3 year old who absolutely loves dinosaurs (it's a dinosaur theme this year) and a 6 month old who I think will be mesmerised by the lights. So I'm hoping they will enjoy it!

I was going to say this almost word for word. I wouldn't go back. We were through the whole thing in less than an hour.
And a word of warning - some of it is really, really dark so if anyone is a bit unsteady on their feet, be careful! My mum was considering coming and I'm glad she didn't. And also my nieces were a bit scared at some parts.

What was political?

Captain - I'm sure I read that there were some references to Brexit a couple of years ago and then last year it was based around the cop26 summit.

Hmmm you have all put me off to be honest

On the off chance - can anyone recommend any other events / days out or places you visit over Halloween / bonfire night and in the lead up to Christmas for kids? With covid this is really the first year we've been able to do anything with them!

We parked on the car park on Ashton Lane and didn't have any bother but always went on weeknights.

I'm skipping it this year though: it doesn't quite feel worth the price, and if you add on marshmallows and stuff it can get very expensive.

@CaptainCreepsBourgeMobile there was a whole load of pumpkins slating different political parties, a lot about brexit and then there was also another section really pushing independence. I almost missed it but people in the crowd pointed it out.
I agree some sections were very dark so not great when walking in a crowd. Some parts were a little frightening for younger children. A steward stopped us going in and gave us a little word of warning which is annoying when you feel it’s apparently aimed at children too.

Hands down the best Christmas thing we've done is Santa's Woodland Experience in Balfron. It's truly magical.

@Haudyourwheesht we've done the Balfron and Pitlochry one, both were great and Pitlochry was obviously more expensive and bigger but I really thought the Balfron one was great and good value.

You'll never get parked within DC's walking distance. It was rammed last year!

There's a huge park and ride multi storey car park at the sheilds road subway. (Car park is on Scotland Street). It's very handy off the m74. Use that and get the underground but I'd get it to Kelvinbridge rather than hillhead as that was so busy last year there wasn't space on the pavement to walk to the event!

I think it's your luck if you do or don't as we did and there was also plenty room to walk.

We've always parked too but know the area as used to live nearby.

There are new parking restrictions in place that didn't exist last year. Nowhere near has free parking anymore. It will be very different!