Nice places with an hour of Glasgow

[langkaw]

I am going to Glasgow the weekend after next with two 9 year olds. I'd like to go somewhere before then for 3 nights that is less than 1.5 hours away by train from Glasgow. I'd like to go somewhere quiet and beautiful if possible. I've looked at loch Lomand and balloch is a possibility but it sounds busy and the best bits of the loch are not accessible by public transport I think.

I'd love some suggestions please!

Stirling. There’s a castle, the Wallace monument, some shops and the like. Not sure what is open right now though. Perth could be a shout but is really stretching the time from Glasgow parameter.

Arrochar is a tiny quiet place on the west coast, I think you can possibly get a train there from Glasgow. Very quiet indeed. Not much to do there though!

What about Largs? Or Troon. Most of ayrshire is less than 1.5 hours from Glasgow- ayr is 50 minutes ish depending on the train, Troon 10 or so minutes less. I'm not sure about Largs, at a guess I'd say 30 minutes possibly.
Ayr is busier, but Troon is lovely. Largs is fairly busy, but you could have a trip over to millport, day at kelburn Castle.
Everywhere will be much quieter now the schools are back up here.

Ayr also might be a shout there’s the beach and some old Roman artefacts and a river

Millport? I've heard it's nice.

Millport? Get the train to largs then the ferry over to millport and rent bikes and cycle round the island. This was a common day trip for me growing up in Glasgow. We used to go with the girl guides and with my parents. There is also a big Viking museum in Largs (although not sure if it's open due to the pandemic).

Thanks for all of these suggestions. I've decided to go to Arran as I think it should be quite easy to get to, although accommodation seems to be a problem!

But now I'm thinking millport looks lovely too...

Arran is lovely but could be busy and I'm not sure how the boats are working for foot passengers but for car bookings it was limited numbers and only a few weeks in advance so make sure you can get on that before you book accommodation.
If you want to be by the water then train to Gourock and ferry to Dunoon might be an option. I think that's just a "turn up and get on" boat rather than pre-booking required.
There are some relatively good rates at caravan sites along the west coast in Ayrshire.
Or Edinburgh is under an hour by train and very different to Glasgow, you can get to the beach at Cramond or Portobello easily by bus, or a bit further beyond Edinburgh on the train to North Berwick or Dunbar.

You might be hard pushed to get ferries calmac has had waiting times for ferries everybody and their granny wants to go to Arran . Same with Millport. Go to Stirling half hour on the train public transport to get around castle to look around or look at mainland Ayrshire although last time I was in Largs it was looking a bit run down.

sorry you want somewhere beforehand still stirling is nice Google for glamping i nof stirling ( area) there is loads of options.

Dumfries and Galloway have lots of cool castles, abbey's and adventure parks that the kids would enjoy. There is also lots of lovely wee beaches etc along the Solway firth. I took my 7 year old niece camping at kirkcudbright a few years ago and she loved it.

I've just booked the old cathedral guesthouse in millport. It looks exactly what we need! I think the ferries there are 'turn up and go' and I'm hoping it'll be slightly less busy now the schools are back.

Thanks again everyone.

Callander.

Enjoy your break